Course / Student Introduction


-    Interview in groups of 3-4:

•    Name

•    (possible) major/concentration

•    favorite reading or music



Course goals for the Modern European Novel: Authoring the Experimental Self

-    Genre: Focus on the development of the novel during the period of European Modernism 

-    Period: European Modernism (ca. 1910-1930) and its roots in the late nineteenth century (Dostoevsky)


- Philosophical themes: Existentialism, Nihilism, and Surrealism (“Authoring the Experimental Self”)


-    Student Writing: Be able to demonstrate a sophisticated level of discourse about the emergence of the novel by articulating its relation to late nineteenth-century and late twentieth-century issues

           

-    Course thus addresses 2 main questions:


1) How did the Modernist novel (Hesse, Kafka, and Breton) influence the contemporary novel (Kundera)?


2)    How does the European novel inform notions of “modern identity” and vice versa?


What is the novel?





What is modernity? 


- Etymology: Late Latin modernus, from Latin modo (just now), from modus (measure)


- Self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression



not quite the same as Modernism . . .

- Modernism (1910-1930s/before WWII): Literary, artistic, and intellectual movement associated with many other ones (Dada, Surrealism, Futurism, etc.)

QUOTES:

1. "Modernity exists in the form of a desire to wipe out whatever came earlier, in the hope of reaching at least a point that could be called a true present, a point of origin that marks a new departure." -- Paul De Man (1919–1983), Belgian-born U.S. literary critic.


2. “'Modernity' signifies the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art of which the other half is the eternal and the immutable." Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), French poet, critic.


3. "By Modernism I mean the positive rejection of the past and the blind belief in the process of change, in novelty for its own sake, in the idea that progress through time equates with cultural progress; in the cult of individuality, originality and self-expression." -- Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949), British architectural critic.

In-class Writing:  What does modernity mean to you?


What is the modern European novel?

1. Modernism

    * not contemporary
    * 1910-1930
    * related to other artistic movements (Surrealism, Cubism, Dada, jazz, etc.)

2. European

•    Linguistically: German, French, Russian, Czech
•    Nationally: before the Great War: France, England, (greater) Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire
•    the period between the wars: exodus to Switzerland (Hesse), separation of Central Europe into (new) nation states
•    Bookmarks: Dostoevsky and Kundera

3. Novel

    * "new" form of literature
    * "trashy," "low" reputation -- ideal for Modernist expression
•    exposition, turning point(s), climax, and denouement

Questions we will address:

1) How did the Modernist novel (Hesse, Kafka, and Breton) influence the contemporary novel (Kundera)?

2)    How does the European novel inform notions of “modern identity” and vice versa?

Student Ques.--Day 1 of Dostoevsky

p. 22-23: “If I am wrong . . . as it should be“ How does this show the contemporary ideals and politics of Raskolnikov? How does it relate to his mother’s mention of the “fashionable modern unbelief” (33)?

Why does the author say “we”? (8) What type of narration is going on here?

What’s the symbolism behind Raskolnikov’s dream—and the mule being female?

Unanswered:

What roles do the women and men play in the novel? What kind of sacrifices do the men make, and the women?

How does Raskolnikov’s mother view her son? Does she fear him?

Does money represent greed or guilt? Does it bring about inner darkness or is it an offering to ease a sense of remorse? How are the pawnbroker, Raskolnikov, Marmeladov iconic of these images?

(many): How does Raskolnikov's environment affect him?


Recurring Motif of Women, Property, and Beating:

* Marmeladov's wife Katerina Ivanovna
* horse in Raskolnikov's dream
* the mistreated drunk woman
* Sonya, Marmeladov's daughter
* Dunya, Raskolnikov's sister
* Foreshadowing!

How to cite web  page in Works Cited:

Nielsen, Wendy C. “Crime and Punishment.” Sept. 2008. ENLT 376: Modern European Novel Home Page. Accessed [insert date].
Why does Raskolnikov kill the pawnbroker and her sister, Lizaveta?

- to help the oppressed

- b/c of his two sides:
- Feels guilty about family's sacrifices (emasculation)

- First born and only male

Character Sketch


1) Name(s); 2) appearance; 3) major conflicts; 4) keywords used by the author in reference to this character; and 5) speculate what character "type" this figure represents.


Marmeladov:  Semën Zakhárovich Marmeladov; come down in the world; alcoholism; drunk; "glib" (9); absent/failed father, fallen civil servant, self-pitying drunk

Katerina Ivanovna: surname Marmeladov; unnaturally flushed (TB);  suffers drunk husband and poor circumstances;  women who hold the household together--fallen civil class

Sonya: young, gaudily dressed as a prostitute; sacrificing herself and outcast and martyr;  innocent drawn into "sin" and selling themselves

Peter Petrovich Luzhin: called Luzhin; dandy; conflicts with Raskolnikov; inflictor; rising bourgeoisie

-    Comically represents the intellectuals of the 1860s that Dost. feared would corrupt the youth of the day

-    According to their idealistic doctrines, the individual ought to make society’s interests his own and eventually the world would become a better place. As the novel demonstrates, the opposite turns out to be the case: they make their self-centered interest the goal of all.

-    With comic irony, Dost uses him to show the contradictions in the radical ideology of Utopian Socialism.
-    These characters claim to do things for the good of society, but at heart they are egotists who believe in nothing but their own theories and their own pleasures.
-    Pretends to be a representative of the ‘young’ p. 125.
-    p.127 = “self-congratulatory babbling” (Added by WCN)


Ilya Petrovich: Russian cop; playing with Raskolnikov/suspects him of murder; "gunpowder" (85); detective

--> different than the main detective in the case, Porfiry Petrovich (204)
Review--Student Ques.

1.    On p. 318, what does the reference to horns mean?
2.    On p. 303, has Raskolnikov changed b/c of Sonya? Why
Does he say “God will forgive”?

3.    Why does R’s defense of the Socialists seem shocking to
readers (233)?

4.    Why would R want to tell Sonya about killing L?
5.    Should R be more like Napoleon (289)? If he is, isn’t he undermining
his own argument about reason?

Clarification: When they read the Bible together on ca. p. 275 (part four, ch. four), Raskolnikov does not confess to Sonya about the murders.

Characters' Dual Sides


Sonya: prostitute / religious Christian, mother, innocent child, sufferer, wise

Raskolnikov: murderer / philanthropist, brother/son

Luzhin: philanthropist, entrepreneur, man of new ideas / greedy, reactionary, schemer

 Katerina Ivanovna: consumptive mother / childish

Svidrigaylov: pervert, possibly a murderer, adulterer / philanthropist, aristocrat w/money

Marmeladov: drunk / civil servant
Student Ques.

1. Who is the narrator of the first part? the Treatise?
2. What's the symbolism of the auracaria plant (only native in S. America and Australia)? and the azalea?

3. What does wolf of the Steppes refer to?

4. What's the symbolism to references to water and land?

Unanswered Ques.:

C&P: How does Steppenwolf resemble Crime and Punishment? In what ways is Harry Haller like Raskolnikov; the extraordinary man like the Steppenwolf; and the girl in the bar like Sonya? (Michelle, Nathaniel, Tyler, Derrick, Evan, Wesley, Alex, Jensen)

Harry Haller / Raskolnikov
 Steppenwolf / Extraordinary Man
Hermine / Sonya

Review for Midterm: Consider the following questions either alone or in groups.

1. Extraordinary man/Steppenwolf: What is the extraordinary man? Who is the Steppenwolf? Why are Raskolnikov and Haller so dissatisfied with their present existences? Why do Dostoevsky and Hesse seem to fear men who believe they can live outside the bounds of society?

2. Suicide: What are Raskolnikov’s, and Haller’s, religious views? Would death be a release from their pain, or a punishment? What is the significance that a woman tries to drown herself in Crime and Punishment, and that Svidrigaylov shoots himself? In what ways does Haller metaphorically kill himself/his selves?

3. Gender: In what ways are women’s material lives more limited than men’s in these two books? Which characters embody traditional gender roles in each book? Who seems to push the boundaries of conventional femininity and/or masculinity?

All: What do Crime and Punishment and Steppenwolf say that is similar about war and genocide? In what ways do Dostoevsky and Hesse differ in their depictions about why men commit violence?
Kafka Ques.

1. Why is JK arrested and then not apprehended?

2. What authority arrests him? Was it normal for this to happen to
people then?

3. Why does JK give up so quickly after the arrest?

4. How does the woman know that the 'carpenter Lanz' is JK?

5. Why doesn't JK know anything about the law?

6. Why does K get so physically and mentally ill while touring the courts?

7. Do the law and court actually exist, or only if K is actually guilty? (8, 39)

8. Why don't people react to physical invasion, and yet there are laws around spatial invasion?


Library Tutorial

1. Primary source: work of art, sculpture, or photography; musical recording or performance; literary text; film

2. Secondary Source: Peer-reviewed, scholarly article or book [chapter]
 
- Databases under Articles and More: EBSCO (select Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed); ProQuest;

- Under Articles and More/Art: Art Full Text

- Do NOT select book reviews

- Books: check to see that a book is published by a university press; that it's author is an academic by training or profession; and/or most importantly, if the book cites its sources and includes an extensive bibliography or footnotes.

3. Reference: Literary Movements for Students (REF PN597 .L58 2002); Literature and Its Times ( REF PN50 .L574 1997); Dictionary of Art ( REF N31 .D5 1996); Schirmer Encylopedia of Art (REF N 31 .L3 2002)

Under Articles and More/Music: Grove Music Online
K.'s Crimes/Sins
Qualities of Modernism

temporal distortion/dicontinuity of time/non-linearity/circularity

Freudian images

Questions perspective

overturning the past

change

machinery / technology

Student Ques. Nadja
  1. Why does the narrator write that he is afraid of the three images on p. 27?
  2. Why does Breton include his account of the play (39-41). What does the balloon symbolize?
Nadja + Surrealism
Nadja + Sonya
Free-write: In what ways is the narrator of Nadja--Andre Breton--similar to other male protagonists we have read, such as Raskolnikov, Harry Haller, and/or Josef K.?

- on the search for their 'real' selves, on a mission of self discovery, question themselves; have internal conflicts
- arrogant, self-centered, slightly humorless, take themselves too seriously
- consider themselves intellectuals -- and seem to employ themselves that way
- dependence on women of lower social class
- consider themselves to be above other people

Differences:

- Breton seems disconnected
 Crime and Punishment

Experimental Novel (Nadja)