Examines the relationship between social upheaval and literary production focusing on key moments in the culture of modernity including the French Revolution, the American Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. Considers literature of protest and reform in civil rights movements that have profoundly reshaped conceptions of the individual, community and the state. Will include fiction, drama and poetry and consider the political charge of oratory and forms of disobedience played out in experimental writing. Comprises modules focused on literary analysis and a component of creative writing.