E 379R  Poets and Punks

Instructor: Nehring, N Unique #: 36225 Semester: Spring 2014 Cross-lists: n/a

Prerequisites: Six semester hours of upper-division coursework in English.

Description: English Culture After 1945 — The postwar Age of Affluence elicited very different reactions in English literature and popular culture. The anger of the , such as , resulted in large part from their frustrated uncertainty over what was happening to the class structure. Was the working class really disappearing? In this respect the myth of Affluence seems to have befuddled the literary. As if to fathom the ostensibly new society, English writers turned to examination of popular culture to a historically unique extent, leaving an exorbitant, though largely hostile record. On the other hand, as the field of "cultural studies" has shown, working-class youth subcultures, through an ensemble of commodities and musical allegiances, exposed quite successfully the limits of affluence. The very opulence of the Mods, for example, in Swinging London in the 1960s highlighted the irony that their income came from dead- end jobs. When the punk subculture arose in 1976, as a confirmation finally in popular culture of the continuing existence of social misery and the working class, a new relationship with literature was struck by radical bohemians. Graham Greene was placed in the service of the Sex Pistols—to the considerable illumination of both.

This course in postwar English culture will concern the ways in which different types of cultural productions and activities succeed and fail to penetrate the veil of popular myths like "affluence.” My particular aim is to inject volatility into conventional notions of the hierarchy of high and mass culture. The postwar fiction, poetry, drama, and music studied in the course will lead on to an England far removed from traditional "literary landscapes": the seaside amusements of Brighton, the sleazy Soho of Absolute Beginners, and the Carnaby Street that embraced Clockwork Orange (quite subversively, given the Tory pedantry at the core of the novel). The realm of art, I will argue, can be drawn into everyday life with progressive results. The course will be concerned with history, literature, music, and subcultural sociology—the fields that have made up cultural studies.

Please note that although the titles below are all by males we will have a good deal of reading on the situation of young women in postwar British music and youth subcultures, as well, and will track the evolution of race relations after the influx of African and West Indian immigrants in the 1950s.

Texts: Fiction: Colin MacInnes, Absolute Beginners; Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange; Graham Greene, Brighton Rock; Nick Hornby, High Fidelity. Drama: John Osborne, ; , Saved; Trevor Griffiths, Oi for England. Sociology: Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style. Online readings at Blackboard.

Requirements & Grading: Because participation contributes to the class grade, attendance is strongly encouraged. Plus/minus grades will be given, and determined on the following basis: Term Paper=90%; Class Contribution=10%. Students will write 2 papers of 6-7 pages apiece, which will be combined with a third 6-7-page essay into a single term paper of 18-25 pages.

The term paper is due by the date and time that the final exam schedule lists for our class period.

Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.

Provisional Schedule (subject to alteration upon notice by the instructor):

M 13 Jan.: First day of class W 15 Jan. / F 17 Jan: British Society 1956-63 M 20 Jan.: Holiday W 22 Jan. / F 24 Jan. / M 27 Jan. / W 29 Jan.: John Osborne, Look Back In Anger F 31 Jan. / M 3 Feb. / W 5 Feb.: Colin MacInnes, Absolute Beginners F 7 Feb. / M 10 Feb.: Alan Sillitoe, Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner W 12 Feb.: Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style HAND OUT FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT F 14 Feb.: Angela McRobbie, “Settling Accounts with Subcultures" M 17 Feb. / W 19 Feb. / F 21 Feb. / M 24 Feb.: Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange FIRST PAPER DUE W 26 Feb. / F 28 Feb.: Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style M 3 Mar.: Caroline Coon, 1988 W 5 Mar.: Dave Laing, “Interpreting Punk Rock" F 7 Mar.: Fred and Judy Vermorel, The Sex Pistols M 10 Mar.-F 15 Mar.: SPRING BREAK M 17 Mar. / W 19 Mar.: Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle F 21 Mar. / M 24 Mar. / W 26 Mar. / F 28 Mar.: Graham Greene, Brighton Rock HAND OUT SECOND PAPER ASSIGNMENT M 31 Mar. / W 2 Apr.: Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style F 4 Apr.: Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie, “Rock and Sexuality" M 7 Apr. / W 9 Apr.: Sarah Champion, And God Created Manchester SECOND PAPER DUE F 11 Apr.: Angela McRobbie, “Shut Up and Dance” M 14 Apr.: Steve Redhead, Rave-Off W 16 Apr. / F 18 Apr. / M 21 Apr. : Nick Hornby, High Fidelity HAND OUT TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT W 23 Apr.: Coursepack: Bracewell, When Surface Was Depth 13-23, 204-8. F 25 Apr.: Coursepack: Vulliamy, “Broken Britain” M 28 Apr.-F 2 May: Wrap up course T 13 May: TERM PAPER DUE BY 12:00 NOON

Policies: Please note that four unexcused absences will result in a failing grade.

Documented Disability Statement: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone), or visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd.

Honor Code: The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.

Academic Integrity: Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. For additional information on Academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php.

Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of a pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Web Site: Blackboard via UT Direct

Instructor: Neil Nehring