20th-Century Civilization I: Revolutionary Modernism(s)


Salvador Dalí, The Persistance of Memory (1931,  oil on canvas, MoMA New York)

Honors 102-06: First-Year Seminar (11883); Fall 2004
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-3:45
Dickson Hall 261
<http://chss.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/civ1.html>

Prof. Wendy Nielsen
Dickson Hall 324
Email: nielsenw@mail.montclair.edu
Office Hours: T 11:50-12:50, TR 4-5, and by appt.

Texts (available at University Bookstore):
Course description:

What are the common experiences of modernity? How do the fields of history, literature, psychology, philosophy, and political science document mass paradigm shifts in our understanding of what it means to be an “individual"? These are just some of the questions we will consider as we read major European writers of the 19th and 20th centuries in search of what makes Modernism(s) revolutionary. We will read and discuss intellectuals from various genres (political manifesto, drama, nonfiction prose, novel, poetry, music, as well as film, painting, and other visual mediums) who illustrate the same questions this course addresses. Discussion topics include (but are not limited to) work, family, and defining both "modernity" and "revolution." The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the benefits for cultural critique that come from a comparative, interdisciplinary perspective. Students will leave this course with a profound appreciation for the social, historical, and political movements that shaped the last two centuries and an understanding of the role that the liberal arts play in these changes. A field trip to a NYC art museum (date TBA) will supplement students' practical understanding of the Modernist (1910-1930) period, the parameters of which this course explores (ca. 1848-1945).

Requirements:

Grading Rubric: 98-100  A+; 93-97 A; 90-92 A-; 87-89 B+; 83-86 B; 80-82 B-; 77-79 C+; 73-76 C; 70-72 C-; 67-69 D+; 63-66 D; 60-62 D-; 0-59

Please observe the following:

  • Your classmates and your instructor depend on your presence in class and your full participation. Participation therefore counts for a substantial part of your grade.  Please be in class at the start of the hour with work completed. 3 absences are automatically excused, but failure to attend class beyond that number will affect your final grade. 
  •   Papers should be no longer or shorter than the length assigned and submitted on time. Use twelve-point type, in Times New Roman or CG Times (or 10 pt. in Veranda, etc.). Late papers will result in grade reductions. Never submit a paper without proofreading it carefully.
  • To teach students to avoid plagiarism, lectures will also include instruction in MLA documentation of all work. Submitting work and words that are not your own will result in failing this course and disciplinary action by the Dean of Students.
  • Accommodations are always arranged for students with disabilities. Please call, email, or see the instructor personally.   

    • Tentative Class schedule--Please check website <http://chss.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/civ1.html> for updates
    Date
    		 Topic
    		 Readings/Assignments due

    		Unit I—19th-century Revolutions:
    		Marx/Engels, Lenin/Trotsky, and Freud/Jung
    1. R 9/2
    		 Class/Course Introduction; What are disciplines? Modern Revolutions Journal 1: What is modernity?  Tuesday's reading assignment is in the cell below
    2. T 9/7 Review of L. 1; Why Marx? Marx and Engels: Keywords and Outline; What is the Marxist revolution?  Sign up for presentations; Blackboard instructions

    		Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Dover 123-50); 3 discussion questions due (will be collected--written)
    3. R 9/9 Class Cancelled--but online discussion counts as attendance. Submit your best discussion question to your peers on Blackboard <http://montclair.blackboard.com> in the Discussion section. Pose and answer at least one question. There are 6 labs on campus <http://oit.montclair.edu/cale/publiclabs.html>


    		 Marx, Capital--Ch. 1, Section 1 and 4 only, Principles of Communism (online--bring printout to class on Tuesday);
    4. T 9/14 Review of L. 2; Bb Discussion; Student discussion questions; Religion and Marxism; Discuss presentations

    		Marx, Introduction to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (online--bring printouts to class); Bring 3 discussion questions to class 
    5. R 9/16 Review of L. 4; Europe in 1850;  What is revolution? What is critique? Presentation project discussion part II; introduction to Sprague Library resources 
    		 Journal 2: Reading response (or: What is Marxism?)--ca. 1 page or 250 words
    6. T 9/21 Review of L. 5; 20th-century Marxist Revolutions: Russia, India, China, and Ireland;  Chrono. of Russian Revolution; Presentation #1; Yeats, September 1913, Yeats, Easter 1916

    		 Lenin (Dover 200-03), Trotsky (213-14), Gandhi (249-58), Mao Zedong (259-64)
    7. R 9/23 Review of L. 6; Freud: Bio and Terms; Civilization and Its Discontents
    		 Freud (10-21); Bring three discussion questions to class (will be collected)
    8. T 9/28 Review of L. 7; What is the importance of family? Essay 1: Modern Revolutions assigned

    		 Freud (22-82); Journal 3: Reading response (or: What is revolutionary about psychoanalysis?)--post to Blackboard (under Discussion)
    9. R 9/30
    		 What is the Freudian critique of society? Writing a prospectus

    		 Freud (83-112); Bring three discussion questions to class (will be collected)
    10. T 10/5 How does Freud differ from his predecessors? Presentation #2 
    		Chapters from Carl Jung's works (Electronic Library Reserves); password = wendy; Prospectus due
    11.  R 10/7 Peer review of papers
    		Draft of paper due (at least 2 pages)
    12. T 10/12 Film, Modern Times (Chaplin, dir., 1936)
    		Essay 1: Modern Revolutions due

    		Unit II: Modernist Families
    		 Kafka and Brecht
    13. R 10/14 Kafka: Biography; What is allegory?
    		Kafka, “The Metamorphosis,” (1-17)
    14. T 10/19 What laws do work and family dictate in Kafka’s world? Kafka, “The Metamorphosis,” (18-54); Journal 4: Reading response (or: What would Marx or Freud say about Gregor and his family?)
    15. R 10/21 Presentation #3 Kafka, “Letter to His Father,” (186-210), “Before the Law,” (174-81), misc. (157-60)
    16. T 10/26 Brecht biography; Mother Courage and Her Children I
         		Brecht, scenes 1-7; Bring three discussion questions to class
    17. R 10/28 Mother Courage and Her Children II; Essay 2 assigned
    		Brecht, scenes 8-12; Journal 5: Reading response
    18. T 11/2 Presentation #4 Brecht (online/Blackboard); Email prospectus to instructor by Monday 11/1
    19. R 11/4 Peer review of essays
    		Bring draft of essay (at least 2 pages) to class

    		Unit III--The Great War and its Aftermath Existentialism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Fascism
    20. T 11/9 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Essay 2: Literary Revolutionaries due
    21. R 11/11 Caligari; Expressionism; Existentialism; Nietzsche Bio Nietzsche (Portable: 29-30, 48, 93-6, 440-46; online: Beyond Good and Evil, pts. 1-5 only); Trotsky (Dover 223-6); Wilfred Owen: "Strange Meeting," "Dulce et Decorum Est" (online);  Journal 6: Reading (or, regarding Caligari, Viewing) response
    22. T 11/16 Presentation #5; WWI Chronology, Maps, Summary; WWI Poets Siegfried Sassoon: "They," "Does it Matter?," "The Rear-Guard," "Banishment," "Dreamers," "Glory of Women," "Suicide in the Trenches" (online); Isaac Rosenberg: "Break of Day in the Trenches" & "Louse Hunting" (all online)
    23. R 11/18

    		 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
    		 Nietzsche (121-45); Bring 3 discussion questions to class
    24.  T 11/23  The Dada Movement, Surrealism; (Virtual) Manifesto; Second Manifesto (1925)
    		 Readings available on E-Reserves, or: Tzara, Tristan. Dada Manifesto, 1918 and Lecture on Dada [2nd half of doc]
    Breton, Andre. First Surrealist Manifesto [frag.], 1924
    Ball, Hugo. Dada Fragments, 1916-17 (pdf file)
    Breton, Andre. Marcel Duchamp (no link available)
    25.   T 11/30
    		 Review; Thus Spoke Zarathustra; Evaluations Nietzsche (156-77, 197-205); 
    26.  R 12/2
    		 Review; Thus Spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche (211-17, 225-31, 249-56, 264-75)
    27.  T 12/7 Thus Spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche (279-90, 298-307, 375-95); 3 questions
    28.  R 12/9 Final assigned and final review
    		Nietzsche (434-39); Portfolio due (journals, discussion questions, and any other evidence of your participation in class) 


    Friday 12/17 1-2 pm in 324 Dickson (early submission encouraged)                  

    Take-home final