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This course explores the origin stories of several literary and cultural forms that we now take for granted, including free verse, film, the literary magazine, and stream-of-consciousness narration. To do so, we will look at how early 20th century American and British writers and artists worked to reconceive foundational notions such as class, race, gender, self, sex, and time in response to the collapse of traditional Victorian values. Readings and viewings include works by Chaplin, Eliot, H.D., Griffith, Hughes, Joyce, Larsen, Loy, Pound, Toomer, Woolf and other possibilities. Attention given to the various scholarly methods for studying this rich and diverse literature.