"Il faut être absolument moderne." --Arthur Rimbaud
MODERNISMS
The 20th Century Avant-Garde in Literature and Everywhere Else
-----------Dr. David W. Robinson-----------
ENGL 7630-A (Graduate Seminar in World and Comparative Literature) - Spring 2004
"Il faut être absolument moderne." --Arthur Rimbaud
The 20th Century Avant-Garde in Literature and Everywhere Else
-----------Dr. David W. Robinson-----------
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?
Guillaume Apollinaire Hugo Ball Walter Benjamin Bertolt Brecht André Breton Mikhail Bulgakov Hart Crane e.e. cummings T.S. Eliot James Joyce Franz Kafka Wyndham Lewis Stephan Mallarmé F.T. Marinetti Vladimir Mayakovsky Marcel Proust Gertrude Stein Tristan Tzara 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 CD-ROMs for convenience and economy.
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 project (12-20 pages) will be required at the end of the term; the topic will be announced. 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!
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| Week 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Jan. 5 | Introductory remarks. Survey of the field. French Symbolist Poetry (on-line text). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Jan. 12 | Begin Joyce's Ulysses, Chaps. 1-3 (Telemachus, Nestor, Proteus). Discussion of Berman's All That Is Solid Melts Into Air. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week MLK | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Jan. 19 | MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY. Class does not meet. However, we will use this week to get a jump on the Ulysses reading, and we will discuss the assigned chapters on-line. Ulysses, Chaps. 4-5 (Calypso, Lotus Eaters). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Jan. 26 | Ulysses, Chaps. 6-7 (Hades, Aeolus). Discussion of T.S. Eliot poems (on-line). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Feb. 2 | Ulysses, Chap. 8 (Lestrygonians). Discussion of Yeats poems and excerpts from A Vision (on-line). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Feb. 9 | Ulysses, Chap. 9 (Scylla & Charybdis). Kafka, stories. SHORT PAPER DUE. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Feb. 16 | Ulysses, Chap. 10 (Wandering Rocks). Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | Feb. 23 | Ulysses, Chap. 11 (Sirens). OTHER READING ..... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | March 1 | Ulysses, Chap. 12 (Cyclops). Italian Futurism (handouts). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Week 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | March 8 | Ulysses, Chap. 13 (Nausicaa). Russian Futurism, Dada, Surrealism | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spring Break 3-15 to 3-19
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| Week 10
| Monday
| March 22
| Ulysses, Chap. 14 (Oxen of the Sun). Time:
Proust, Bergson (handouts).
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| Week 11
| Monday
| March 29
| Ulysses, Chap. 15 (Circe).
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway PAPER
PROSPECTUS DUE.
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| Week 12
| Monday
| April 5
| Ulysses, Chap. 16 (Eumaeus). Brecht, The
Measures Taken. PAPER WORKING
BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE.
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| Week 13
| Monday
| April 12
| Ulysses, Chap. 17 (Ithaca). Gertrude
Stein (handout). Sound Poetry,
including Beckett (CD-ROMs).
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| Week 14
| Monday
| April 19
| Ulysses, Chap. 18 (Penelope).
OTHER READINGS ......
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| Week 15 |
Monday
| April 26
| TBA
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Research Paper: TBA.
Final Examination: TBA.