Humanities 220: Modern Humanities

Spring Semester, 1998

 

 

Texts in order of use:

 

Robert Tucker, ed.: The Marx-Engels Reader (Norton)

Marshall Berman: All that is Solid Melts into Air (Penguin)

T.J. Clark: The Painting of Modern Life (Princeton)

Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary (Bantam)

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground (Bantam)

Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals (Random House)

Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness (Norton Critical Edition)

Peter Gay, ed.: The Freud Reader (Norton)

Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories (Schocken)

Paul Fussell: The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford)

Clement Greenberg: Art and Culture (Beacon)

T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land and Other Poems (Harcourt Brace)

Alban Berg: Wozzeck (Riverrun Press)

Sheila Fitzpatrick: The Russian Revolution (Oxford "New Edition")

Robert Tucker, ed.: The Lenin Anthology (Norton)

Detlev Peukert: Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life (Yale)

Primo Levi: Survival in Auschwitz (Collier)

 

There are also readings on reserve from Robert Hughes: The Shock of the New, and a Humanities 220 Second Semester pamphlet.

 

 

Readings and Lectures

 

WEEKS 1 and 2 (JAN. 26-FEB. 6): MARX AND MODERNITY

Robert Tucker, ed.: The Marx Reader (your instructor will select the readings for your conference)

Marshall Berman: All that is Solid Melts into Air, 87-129

First lecture on Marx: Peter Steinberger, Mon., Jan. 26

Second lecture on Marx: Christine Mueller, Mon., Feb. 2

 

 

WEEK 3 (FEB. 9-13): MID-CENTURY PARIS, MANET, AND MODERNITY

T.J. Clark: The Painting of Modern Life, Chap. 1 and 3

Baudelaire, selected poems from Paris Spleen (Humanities pamphlet)

Optional: Berman: All that is Solid Melts into Air, 131-164

Lecture on Manet: William Diebold, Mon., Feb. 9

 

 

WEEK 4 (FEB. 16-20): AN END TO ROMANTICISM: REALISM AS SUBVERSION

Flaubert: Madame Bovary

Flaubert: "The Novelist on his Art," 311-329

Lecture on Madame Bovary: Rachel Shuh, Wed., Feb. 18

 

 

 

WEEK 5 (FEB. 23-27): IRRATIONALITY AND THE MORAL LIFE

Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground

Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals, I and II

Optional: Berman: All that is Solid Melts into Air, 174-195, 206-232

Lecture on Dostoevsky: Scott Smith, Mon., Feb. 23

Lecture on Nietzsche: David Reeve, Wed., Feb. 25

 

 

WEEK 6 (MAR. 2-6): EUROPE ENCOUNTERS "ERS "THE OTHER"

Conrad: Heart of Darkness

"Backgrounds and Sources" in the Norton Critical Third Edition, pp. 79-81, 84-97, 103-113, 125-130

Critical essays in the Norton Critical Third Edition, by Chinua Achebe: "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Frances B. Singh: "The Colonialistic Bias of Heart of Darkness," and C.P. Sarvan: "Racism and the Heart of Darkness"

Lecture on Heart of Darkness: Roger Porter, Wed., Mar. 4

 

 

WEEK 7 (MAR. 9-13): THE UNCONSCIOUS

Peter Gay, ed.: The Freud Reader (your instructor will select the readings for your conference)

Lecture on Freud: Lena Lencek, Mon., Mar. 9

 

 

WEEK 8 (MAR. 16-20)): MODERN ANXIETY

Kafka: The Complete Stories (your instructor will select the readings for your conference)

Lecture on Kafka: Roger Porter, Mon., Mar. 16

 

 

-- SPRING BREAK --

 

 

WEEK 9 (MAR. 30-MAR. 31): THE GREAT WAR

Paul Fussell: The Great War and Modern Memory, chapt. 1-2

Selected poetry from the World War (Humanities pamphlet)

Lecture on World War I: Ed Segel, Mon., Mar. 30

 

 

WEEKS 9-10 (APRIL 1- 10): DIFFICULTY IN MODERN POETRY, MUSIC AND ART

T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land

Clement Greenberg: Art and Culture, 3-33, 70-83, 133-138, 154-157

Robert Hughes: The Shock of the New (on reserve only), 15-34

Alban Berg: Wozzeck (the libretto). The video presentation of the opera is Sun., April 5, and Mon., April 6, both nights at 7:30 p.m., in the Psychology Auditorium. (The film is approximately 1 1/2 hours long.)

Lecture on The Waste Land: Ellen Stauder, Wed., April 1

Lecture on Modern Art: William Diebold, Wed., April 8

Lecture on Wozzeck: David Schiff, Mon., April 6

 

WEEK 11 (APRIL 13-17): THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Sheila Fitzpatrick: The Russian Revolution, 15-31, 40-67, 83-92

Robert Tucker, ed.: The Lenin Anthology, 23-31, 67-79, 311-325, 335-346, 368-394, 423-432, 461-488

Lecture on the Russian Revolution: Scott Smith, Mon., April 13

 

 

WEEK 12 (April 20-24): THE RISE OF NAZISM

Detlev Peukert: Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in Everyday Life, 14-46, 67-96, 145-174, 182-242

The Triumph of the Will (film). The video presentation of the film is Tues., April 21, and Wed., April 22, both nights at 7:00 p.m., in the Psychology Auditorium. Katja Garloff will give an introduction to the film. (The film is approximately 3 hours long).

Susan Sontag: "Fascinating Fascism" (Humanities pamphlet)

Lecture on Nazi Germany: Scott Smith, Mon., April 20

Lecture on The Nazi Aesthetic: William Diebold, Wed., April 22

 

 

 

WEEK 13 (April 27-MAY 1): THE HOLOCAUST

Primo Levi: Survival at Auschwitz

Shoah, Part I (film). The video presentation of the film is Tues., April 28, and Wed., April 29, both nights at 7:00 p.m., in the Psychology Auditorium. (The film is approximately 4 1/2 hours long).

Lecture on the Holocaust: Katja Garloff, Mon. April 27

 

 

 


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