MODERNISMS

What Does "Modern" Mean a Century Later?

This is the general question that will guide our journey through the many early twentieth century artistic movements that touted themselves as modern. The desire to embrace the new, and to detach oneself from the past - together with the impossibility of doing so - will be one theme. Another will be the multilayered tangle of art and politics that is so characteristic of the period.

"Comparative Literature"? What's That?

Comparative Literature examines literature with an international, interdisciplinary approach. No other orientation serves as well for studying a transnational movement such as Modernism. We will dip into the national literatures of the United Kingdom, Ireland, America, Soviet Russia, France, Italy, Bohemia, and several different manifestations of Germany. For the foreign language works we will employ English translations as necessary.

Who Are Some of the Authors We Will Read?

Anna Achmatova Guillaume Apollinaire Walter Benjamin Bertolt Brecht Andre Breton Mikhail Bulgakov Hart Crane e.e. cummings Hilda "H.D." Doolittle T.S. Eliot Fyodor Gladkov James Joyce Franz Kafka Wyndham Lewis Stephan Mallarme F.T. Marinetti Vladimir Mayakovsky Friedrich Nietzsche Ezra Pound Marcel Proust Gertrude Stein TristanTzara Christa Wolf Virginia Woolf W.B. Yeats and more.

What are the Nuts and Bolts?

We will read poetry, fiction, drama, theory, and much stranger things. We will watch movies, look at art, and listen to music. The grading will be based on a short paper, a long paper, an oral presentation, a final exam, and participation in an on-line discussion forum. As much of the reading (and other stuff) as possible will be distributed on a CD-ROM for convenience and economy.

Grading

You will be writing a short (maximum 5-page) paper examining the work of an author you find on the UbuWeb site or CD-ROMS. A research paper (12-20 pages) will be required at the end of the term; the topic will be selected in consultation with the instructor. Part of this assignment is to submit a written prospectus once you have arrived at your topic. The balance of the grade will derive from Participation (specifically, the quality of your contributions to the on-line forum plus your class participation) and the Final Examination. I guarantee there will be a question about Ulysses on there!

Short Paper	15%
Participation	10%
Research Paper	45%
Final Examination	30%

Schedule of Classes

Classes meet from 6:30 - 9:15 pm in Newton 2206. This schedule is subject to change.

Week 1
Monday	8-27	Introductory remarks. Survey of the field.
Week 2
Monday	9-3	LABOR DAY HOLIDAY. Class will meet online according to instructions provided. Reading: Begin Joyce's Ulysses, Chaps. 1-3 (Telemachus, Nestor, Proteus).
Week 3
Monday	9-10	Ulysses, Chaps. 4-5 (Calypso, Lotus Eaters). French Symbolist Poetry (handout).
Week 4
Monday	9-17	Ulysses, Chaps. 6-7 (Hades, Aeolus). T.S. Eliot (handout). Hart Crane (handout).
Week 5
Monday	9-24	Ulysses, Chap. 8 (Lestrygonians). Kafka, stories. SHORT PAPER DUE.
Week 6
Monday	10-1	Ulysses, Chap. 9 (Scylla & Charybdis). Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog.
Week 7
Monday	10-8	Ulysses, Chap. 10 (Wandering Rocks). Ezra Pound (handout; guest lecture). Imagism (handout)..
Week 8
Monday	10-15	Ulysses, Chap. 11 (Sirens). Italian Futurism (handouts).
Week 9
Monday	10-22	Ulysses, Chap. 12 (Cyclops). Russian Futurism, Dada, Surrealism
UlyssesWeek 10
Monday	10-29	Ulysses, Chap. 13 (Nausicaa). Time: Proust, Bergson (handouts).
Week 11
Monday	11-5	Ulysses, Chap. 14 (Oxen of the Sun). Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE..
Week 12
Monday	11-12	Ulysses, Chap. 15 (Circe). Brecht, The Measures Taken. PAPER WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE.
Week 13
Monday	11-19	Ulysses, Chap. 16 (Eumaeus). Gertrude Stein (handout). Sound Poetry, including Beckett (CD-ROMs).
Week 14
Monday	11-26	Ulysses, Chap. 17 (Ithaca). Post-Modernism as theory and canon (guest lecture; date tentative). Readings TBA.
Week 15
Monday	12-3	Ulysses, Chap. 18 (Penelope). Wolf, The Search for Christa T.

Research Paper due December 7, a day that will live in infamy.

Final Examination: Out-of-class final due by Tuesday, December 11, at noon, by e-mail or delivered to my office in meatspace.