Modernism
In recent years, modernist studies has proven to be a dynamic field of ongoing inquiry, encompassing everything from canonical aesthetics to primary evidence for the latest modes of critical analysis. Here at Buffalo, an engaging faculty is paired with remarkable archival resources to produce an atmosphere singularly conducive to modernist studies. True to the development of the field, the English department offers ample opportunity to discover modernism in its most expansive and challenging articulations. The intellectual and scholarly tenor of the department strongly encourages the necessary expansion of the study of modernism to include contiguous fields, periods, and disciplinary approaches.
Faculty members and graduate students pursue the study of modernism in the varied, mutually informing contexts of: material textuality / archival institutional critique (the Poetry Collection / Rare Books Room possesses world-renowned holdings in the textual history of the twentieth century); post-colonial studies and imperial conditions; the politics of modernist aesthetics; as well as the interplay between elite and popular cultural practices.
Resources
Modernisms
The Modernisms research group focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration and discussion in Modernist studies, between graduate departments across the university, as well as between graduate students and faculty. The group encourages discussion of any facet of Modernism in transnational and global contexts and in contiguous periods and fields, covering the 1850-1950 period in general and bringing in the contiguous fields of Victorian, fin de siècle, and postmodernism. Designed to be flexible and adaptive, Modernisms features a variety of forums including reading groups, works-in-progress, and visiting speaker sessions. In addition, the group has collaborated with speaker series, graduate events, and conferences already in place at the University at Buffalo