Modernist thought and literature that dominated the 20th century continue to influence our globalized world. HUM 321 invites students to delve into the myriad ways modernism has shaped the modern world, with a specific focus on modern texts and literary themes, forms and styles. In addition to fostering critical thinking, reading and writing skills, this course situates literature within its historical, social and cultural contexts to explore how written works serve as both reflections of, and catalysts for, societal change. It encourages students to use literature as a tool to understand themselves and their individual and collective positions within a global framework of interdependency. This semester, we will be reading works of poets and writers such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Rhys.