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Who wrote it?
Karl Marx
B. in Trier, Germany on 5 May 1818 – D. 14 March 1883 in London
When was it written?
1848
In what language was it written?
German
Where was it written?
Germany
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Introductory remarks on Monday. On Wednesday, we will see the first part of Eisenstein's famous film Battleship Potemkin. The Manifesto is available online here. Read only these sections: I: Bourgeois and Proletarians II: Proletarians and Communists IV: Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties Forum assignment: The Communist Manifesto is a complex, perhaps bewildering mix of politics, economics, history, and rabble-rousing. Its most important aspect for our purposes would be its instances of utopian thinking. What kind of utopia is Marx interested in? How would it differ from the current world of capitalism? How does he expect this utopia to be achieved? |
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Readings by Lenin and Trotsky in Solomon.
Who wrote them?
Valdimir Ilyich Lenin (B. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
on 22 April 1870 – D. 21 January 1924), leader of the Bolshevik faction of the
Russian Communist Party, and Leon Trotsky (B. Lev Davidovich Bronstein on
7 November 1879 – D. 21 August 149, assassinated in Mexico), leader of the
Red Army during the Russian Civil War.
When were they written?
1915-1930
In what language were they written?
Russian
Where was it written?
In Russia, later the Soviet Union
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No class Monday (MLK holiday.) We will finish watching Battleship Potemkin on Wednesday. DUE WEDNESDAY: Paper #1 assignment: Select a passage or passages from the Marx we have read (either the Manifesto or the excerpts in Solomon), and write a brief essay (2-3 pp.) discussing what implications it might have for the creation, consumption, and judging of art (any art). Submit the paper on Inquisition. (I will have the paper feature set up in time, really!) Forum assignment: Submit a question about this week's theoretical readings (Marx, Lenin, Trotsky). |
Battleship Potemkin
MPEG2/4 video on the Internet Archive.
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Selected poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky: [1914-1915] "The Cloud In Trousers" (p. 61-109) [1916] "To His Beloved Self, The Author Dedicates These Lines" (pp. 133-135) [1921] "Order No. 2 To The Army Of The Arts" (pp. 145-149) [1925] "Brooklyn Bridge" (pp. 173-181) [1925] "Back Home" (pp. 183-189) [1930] "At The Top Of My Voice" (pp. 221-235) [1930] "Past One O'clock..." (p. 237) Who wrote it?
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky
B. 19 July 1893 – D. 19 April 1930
When was it written?
1915-1930
In what language was it written?
Russian
Where was it written?
Russia, later the Soviet Union
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Background reading:
All the Lenin and Trotsky selections in Solomon.
DUE WEDNESDAY: Paper #2 assignment: Write in 2-3 pages a discussion of how the movie "Battleship Potemkin" conveys its revolutionary viewpoint, in particular, the ideas of class struggle and class consciousness. You can discuss this in terms either of cinemtic technique or narrative structure, ideally both. Forum assignment: Select one of Mayakovsky's poems and talk about the speaking voice he uses in it. Why does he take such a stance, adopt such a voice? Give a couple of examples. What's revolutionary about this material -- anything? 
Mayakovsky reads for a radio broadcast. |
Mayakovsky At The Top Of His Voice (MP3 format):
 Mayakovsky Reads "And Could You?"Mayakovsky Reads "An Extraordinary
Adventure"Lily Brik Reads "Street to Street"
Lily Brik Reads "Fop's Blouse"
Yevtushenko Reads From "A Cloud in Trousers"
Reading From "At the Top of My Voice"
Reading From "Jubilee"
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Cement
Who wrote it?
Fyodor Vasilyevich Gladkov
B. 21 June 1883 – D. 20 December 1958
When was it written?
1925
In what language was it written?
Russian
Where was it written?
The Soviet Union
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Forum assignment: One implication of Marx's theory of man is that "human nature" is really mostly a matter of nurture, not nature, and is therefore highly malleable. In later attempts to put Marxist ideas into literary form, the theme of the "New Socialist Man/Woman" is prominent. What is new about Gladkov's characters? What does he see as the major ways that "human nature" has to change if a just and equitable society (i.e., socialism) is to emerge? How are these changes dramatized in the novel? |
Fyodor Gladkov
Cover from a Soviet edition of Cement.
Fyodor Gladkov
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