Apocalypse Then: Reading the Impact of the Great War in Literature

Step into the world of literature transformed by war.This course explores the far-reaching literary impact of the First World War, moving beyond the familiar focus on the War Poets and the Western Front. The Great War was a defining moment of the twentieth century, profoundly shaping literature in the decades that followed. Our aim is to gain a sense of this scope through a gentle introduction to major works of early modernism, with plenty of opportunity for discussion. Across the sessions, we will study influential prose and poetry, including:

• Mrs Dalloway (1925) – Virginia Woolf
• A Passage to India (1924) – E.M. Forster
• Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) – Ezra Pound
• The Waste Land (1922) – T.S. Eliot
• A Farewell to Arms (1929) – Ernest Hemingway
• In Parenthesis (1937) – David Jones

Each week will focus on selected texts and extracts, offering a gentle encounter with some of the great works of the early twentieth century and their response to the seismic changes brought about by war.

Tutor
Philip Healy is an Emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford University. Formerly Director of Public Programmes at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education (2000–2010), Philip now lives in north Herefordshire and regularly teaches literature courses for the SMAG adult education programme.

• Thursday, 29 January – Thursday, 12 March, 2026
• 1.00pm – 2.30pm
• [No class on Thursday, 19 February, 2026 – Half-term]