The main aim is to invite students to look into a selection of twentieth-century novels and poetry, and to participate in certain of the major debates that have animated twentieth-century literature and criticism. Starting from the variety of historical contexts in which the literary texts and the critical debates have arisen, the course attends in detail some of the most intriguing texts of the twentieth century and the debates that followed their publication. The course is organized into two modules, with each module focussing on a particular literary genre (prose and poetry). For each literary text, the course will undertake a close analysis of its literary language; examine its historical context(s); discuss competing critical and theoretical interpretations; and relate the particular text and its critical reception to the general debates covered in the module. The objective is that the student should feel encouraged to develop his/her own readings of the texts by combining close critical analysis and historical contextualisation, in relation to the relevant critical and theoretical perspectives.