European Cultural Studies

98-99 University Bulletin Entry for:

(file last updated: [8/10/1998 - 15:22:48])

Objectives

European Cultural Studies (ECS)offers students the opportunity to study English and continentalliterature in translation in conjunction with one or morerelated disciplines: fine arts, history, music, philosophy, politics,sociology, theater arts.

Students will be able to countappropriate courses taken in clusters toward the ECS concentration.

ECS is for those students whofeel adventurous, who want to explore the interrelationships ofliterature with various other disciplines in order to gain a broaderperspective of what constitutes "culture." With theadvent of an ever-changing Europe, students in ECS will be betterprepared, in all areas, to keep abreast with current and futureevents.

Many of our students spendsome time abroad to get a feel for the cultures in which theyare most interested. ECS concentrators have gone on to graduateschools (in history, politics, English, and other fields), haveentered law school, business school, and advanced programs ininternational studies.

How to Become a Concentrator

It is highly advisable thatstudents make a decision no later than the middle of their sophomoreyear in order to take full advantage of the ECS concentration.

Normally, students will chooseto focus on either the early period (from the Middle Ages to themid-1700s) or the modern period (from mid-1700s to the presentday). Variations within the scheme can be worked out with thecoordinator.

Each concentrator will plana program in consultation with the coordinator.

Committee

Stephen Dowden, Coordinatorand Undergraduate Advising Head

(Germanic and Slavic Languages)

Rudolph Binion

(History)

Eric Chafe

(Music)

Dian Fox

(Spanish)

Jane Hale

(French)

Gila Hayim

(Sociology)

Arthur Holmberg

(Theater Arts)

Edward Kaplan

(Romance and Comparative Literature)

Jytte Klausen

(Politics)

Richard Lansing

(Italian)

Paul Morrison

(English and American Literature)

Jerry Samet

(Philosophy)

Nancy Scott

(Fine Arts)

Robert Szulkin

(Russian)

Requirements for Concentration

The concentration consistsof 10 semester courses (11 if the student elects to write a thesis).

A.ECS 100a (The Proseminar), to be completed, if possible, nolater than the junior year.

B.HUM 10a (The Western Canon) and at least one comparative literaturecourse. The student is particularly encouraged to select thissecond course from among COML 102 through COML 107. However, anyCOML offering is acceptable, so long as its subject matter isEuropean and it is otherwise relevant to the student's program.

C.Three courses in European literature. The six European literaturesoffered are: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.The foreign literature courses listed below have been specificallydesigned for use in the ECS curriculum and are taught in translation.Courses in English literature may be used to fulfill this requirement.For courses in comparative literature consult the appropriatesection of this Bulletin.

D.Three courses selected from the following seven related disciplines:fine arts, history, music, philosophy, politics, sociology, andtheater arts. In consultation with the coordinator, students maybe able to use courses from additional departments (e.g., NEJS,anthropology, etc.) so long as such courses are appropriate tothe student's program in ECS.

E.Students who elect to write a Senior Thesis will enroll in ECS99d. Before enrolling, students should consult with the coordinator.An appropriate GPA is required to undertake the writing of a thesis.Honors are awarded on the basis of cumulative GPA in the concentrationand the grade on the honors thesis.

F.All seniors not enrolling in ECS 99d (that is, not electingto write a senior thesis) have a choice of electing oneadditional course in any of the three segments of the concentration:either an additional course in comparative literature, or an additionalcourse in any of the six European literatures, or an additionalcourse in any of the seven related areas.

Special Notes Relatingto Undergraduates

Courses in the seven relateddisciplines are generally available for ECS concentrators. Anyquestions should be addressed directly to the appropriate representativeof the department (fine arts, Professor Scott; history, ProfessorBinion; music, Professor Chafe; philosophy, Professor Samet; politics,Professor Klausen; sociology, Professor Hayim; theater arts, ProfessorHolmberg).

ECS concentrators are encouragedto pursue study abroad, either in England or on the continent.Credit will be applied for appropriate equivalent courses. Interestedstudents should consult with the coordinator and the Office ofUndergraduate Academic Affairs.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for UndergraduateStudents

ECS 99d Senior Thesis

Signature of the instructorrequired.

This course is independentresearch under the supervision of the thesis director. Usuallyoffered every year.

Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduateand Graduate Students

ECS 100a European CulturalStudies: The Proseminar

[ cl²⁶ wi hum]

Enrollment limited to 18.

The theme for 1998-99: Modernism.Usually offered every fall.

Mr. Dowden

European Literature

The following courses are appropriatefor the ECS concentration and their respective foreign literatureconcentrations: French, German, Russian, and Spanish. The courseabbreviations have the following values: FECS=French and EuropeanCultural Studies, GECS=German and European Cultural Studies, IECS=Italianand European Cultural Studies, RECS=Russian and European CulturalStudies, and SECS=Spanish and European Cultural Studies.

FRENCH

FECS 134a Women and Moralistsin the Ancien Régime

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Examines women's part in changingthe literary, artistic, intellectual, and political culture ofthe 17th- and 18th-century French monarchy. Topics include: salonsand social mobility, learned ladies and renegade nuns, scienceand morality, and subverting authority. Usually offered in evenyears. Will be offered in the spring of 1999.

Ms. Harth

FECS 157a Topics in FrenchFilm

(Formerly FECS 184a)

[ cl¹³ cl²³cl²⁶ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation. Signature ofthe instructor required. May be repeated for credit with specialpermission.

Topics may include: Méliès,the Lumière brothers, and the early years; politics inthe cinema; films of the Occupation and the Resistance; womendirectors; the Cahiers du Cinéma group; the NouvelleVague; France and (versus?) Hollywood. Usually offered every thirdyear.

Ms. Harth

FECS 170b History of FrenchCulture

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

We shall illuminate the relationshipbetween the moralist tradition and the daily lives of four representativeauthors. We shall locate the writers in their periods, outlinetheir cultural and social frameworks, and try to understand theirviews of life and death, passion and reason, pleasure and pain.Usually offered in odd years.

Mr. Gendzier

FECS 174b Contemporary FrenchCivilization

[ cl²³ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Organized around the notionof La Vie Quotidienne in France. We shall study the worldof ideas, letters, movies, theater, and painting, the currentstatus of political and literary theory, architectural innovations,and feminist criticism. Usually offered in even years.

Mr. Gendzier

FECS 182b French Literatureand Painting

[ cl²³ cl²⁶hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Explores the interrelationsbetween French painting and literature through selected textsand corresponding visual images of the 19th and 20th centuries.Topics include Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, Surrealism, Cubism.Usually offered every third year. Last offered in the fall of1993.

Ms. Hale

GERMAN

GECS 165a German Film inCultural Context

[ cl¹³ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

A study of important Germanfilms, from the time of silent movies to the present, and theirrelationship to the literary, artistic, and political developmentsof their time. Films are chosen to highlight their varied functionsas works of art, entertainment, information, propaganda, and socialcriticism and to allow comparison with their literary sources.Usually offered in even years.

Mr. Frey

GECS 166b Dreams and Nightmares:The Third Reich on Film

[ cl¹³ cl²⁷hum ]

Explores the reflection ofNational Socialism and life under its regime in the films of theThird Reich (1933-45), and looks at the reaction to its triumphsand horrors in post-war German films and abroad. Unabashed propaganda,use of mass psychology, escapism and estheticism, conformity andindividuality, collaboration and resistance are some of the topicswe discuss. Conducted in English with special assignments forGerman concentrators. Usually offered in odd years.

Mr. Frey

GECS 170b Starting fromZero: German Literature Since World War II

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in German and in English translation.

We will trace efforts of anew generation of writers to come to terms with the horrors ofwar and totalitarianism, with post-war

materialism, and with Germany'seast-west division and reunification. Literary investigation,supplemented by films, will focus on major writers and poets suchas Grass, Borchert, Wolf, Böll, Celan, Duürrenmatt,Frisch, Weiss, and Handke. Usually offered every third year. Lastoffered in the spring of 1994.

Mr. Frey

GECS 180b European Modernismand the German Novel

[ hum ]

A study of selected novelistswriting after Nietzsche and before the end of World War II. Thiscourse will explore the culture, concept, and the developmentof European modernism in works by Broch, Canetti, Döblin,Jünger, Kafka, Mann, Musil, Rilke, and Roth. Readings anddiscussions in English. Usually offered in even years.

Mr. Dowden

GECS 182b Nietzsche

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Covers Friedrich Nietzsche'slife and writings, emphasizing the historical and cultural setting.Usually offered every third year. Last offered in the spring of1998.

Mr. Dowden

GECS 183b A History of Death

[ hum ]

Signature of the instructorrequired.

How has the literary imaginationresponded to the perpetual outrage of death? We survey ancientand modern works of literature that explore the meaning of lifefrom the standpoint of death. Special emphasis falls on deathin German philosophy and literature. Topics include disease, war,murder, suicide, eroticism (Liebestod), immortality, aestheticism,and humor.

Mr. Dowden

GECS 195b German Modernismand the Fascist Backlash

[ cl²⁶ cl³³hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Focusing on Berlin in the headytwenties and troubled thirties, we explore German literature andfilm, theater and cabaret, and art and architecture, which initiallyflourished in excessive freedom and then reacted to intense politicalpressure and repression. Usually offered every third year. Lastoffered in the spring of 1996.

Mr. Frey

ITALIAN

IECS 135a Shifting Grounds:Social Change in Italian Fiction and Film

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English.

Charts various aspects of socialchange in Italian society and culture through close readings anddiscussions of literary and cinematic texts. Usually offered everythird year. Will be offered in the spring of 1999.

Mr. Mandrell

IECS 140a Dante's DivineComedy

[ cl³⁹ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

A close study of the entirepoem--Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso--as a symbolic visionof reality reflecting the culture and thought--political, philosophical,theological--of the Middle Ages. Readings will include two minorworks, the Vita Nuova and On Monarchy. Usually offeredin even years.

Mr. Lansing

RUSSIAN

RECS 130a Nineteenth-CenturyRussian Literature

[ cl²⁵ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

A comprehensive survey of themajor writers and themes of the 19th century including Gogol,Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others. Usually offeredin even years.

Staff

RECS 134b Chekhov

[ hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Offers a detailed investigationof the evolution of Chekhov's art, emphasizing the thematic andstructural aspects of Chekhov's works. Attention paid to methodsof characterization, use of detail, narrative technique, and theroles into which he casts his audience. Usually offered in evenyears.

Mr. Szulkin

RECS 135a The Short Storyin Russia

[ cl²⁵ hum]

Conducted in English withreadings available in Russian for concentrators and in Englishtranslation. No prerequisites for nonconcentrators.

Focuses on the great traditionof the short story in Russia. This genre has always invited stylisticand narrative experimentation, as well as being a vehicle forthe striking, if brief expression of complex social, religious,and philosophical themes. Usually offered in even years.

Staff

RECS 137a The Heroine inNineteenth-Century Russian Literature

[ cl⁷ cl³⁷hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Examines questions of femalerepresentation and identity in readings from Pushkin, Lermontov,Gogol, Aksakov, Goncharov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, andChekhov. Usually offered in even years.

Staff

RECS 143b History of Russianand Soviet Film

[ cl²⁵ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English.

A history of the developmentof Russian/Soviet film from the 1890s to the present. The courseis conducted as a lecture course, but with considerable emphasison the viewing and critique of many of the films discussed, inwhole, or in some instances in part. Usually offered in odd years.

Ms. Broude

RECS 146a Dostoevsky

[ cl²⁰ hum]

Conducted in English withreadings available in Russian for concentrators and in Englishtranslation. No prerequisites for nonconcentrators.

A comprehensive survey of Dostoevsky'slife and works, with special emphasis on the major novels. Usuallyoffered in odd years.

Staff

RECS 147b Tolstoy

[ cl¹¹ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

Studies the major short storiesand novels of Leo Tolstoy against the backdrop of 19th-centuryhistory and with reference to 20th-century critical theory. Usuallyoffered in even years.

Staff

RECS 149b Twentieth-CenturyRussian Literature, Art, Film, and Theater

[ cl¹³ cl²⁵hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

We focus on the three decadesfrom 1900 to 1930 and their various artistic movements as reflectedin literature, painting, and theater. We will explore the interrelationshipsbetween artistic movements and the political scene. Usually offeredin even years.

Mr. Szulkin

RECS 154a Nabokov

[ cl²⁵ hum]

Enrollment limited to 18.

A concentrated study of VladimirNobokov, the most noted Russian author living in emigration andone of the most influential novelists of the 20th century. Studyfocuses on the novels, but readings will also include lecturesand autobiography. Usually offered in even years.

Mr. Swensen

SPANISH

SECS 150a Golden Age Dramaand Society

[ cl² cl³⁰hum ]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

The major works, comic andtragic, of Spain's 17th-century dramatists. We will consider Cervantes'sbrief witty farces; Tirso's creation of the "Don Juan"myth; Lope's palace and "peasant honor" plays; and Calderón'sBaroque masterpieces, which culminate Spain's Golden Age. Usuallyoffered in odd years.

Ms. Fox

SECS 169a Columbus: Encountersand Inventions

[ cl³ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

The course's purpose is tofamiliarize the student with the vicissitudes of the figure ofChristopher Columbus, in literature, selected historiographicalworks, and those texts that have come down to us as his. Usuallyoffered in even years.

Staff

SECS 182b The Spanish CivilWar

[ cl²⁹ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

We will focus on works illustratingthe background of the Civil War, its development and influenceon fiction, art, film, theater, poetry, and journalism of laterdecades. Usually offered every third year. Last offered in thefall of 1995.

Mr. Mandrell

SECS 183a Spanish Fictionsand Films of Modern Life

[ cl¹³ hum]

Open to all students. Conductedin English with readings in English translation.

A consideration of literary,visual, and cinematic texts that address modern life, includingthe nature of the modern and of modernity, in late 19th- and 20th-centurySpain. Topics include the individual in the modern world, technology,and fragmentation. Usually offered every third year. Last offeredin the fall of 1994.

Mr. Mandrell

A Selected List of Courses

For comparative literature,consult the comparative literature offerings in this Bulletin;for English literature, consult the offerings under the Departmentof English and American Literature.

The following courses fromthe various departments associated with ECS represent, in mostinstances, a mere selection from among the total courses in thatdepartment that "count" toward the completion of theECS concentration. For full descriptions consult the appropriatedepartment. Be sure to consult Theater Arts for ECS courses althoughthey are not cross-listed. Check with the coordinator for a listing.

FINE ARTS

FA 58b

High and Late Renaissance inItaly

FA 60a

Baroque in Italy and Spain

FA 70a

Paris/New York: Revolutionsof Modernism

FA 71a

Modern Art and Modern Culture

FA 170b

Nineteenth-Century EuropeanPainting and Sculpture

HISTORY