GERM 350 – PARIS-BERLIN
Unit(s): 4
Taught in English. Fulfills Core-C Literature requirement. Cross-listed with French Studies. Listed as elective for International Studies, European Studies, and Jewish Studies and Social Justice. This course explores the profound social and intellectual changes which marked the turn into the 20th century in Europe, particularly Germany, Austria, and France, and the reflection of these changes in the arts. The concepts of “modernity” and “modernism” will be the point of departure for an overview of the “_isms” by which this period is defined in political (e.g. Nationalism, Imperialism, Socialism, Capitalism, Feminism), philosophical (e.g. Social Darwinism, Rationalism, Idealism), and artistic terms (e.g. Naturalism, Postimpressionism, Expressionism, Symbolism, Surrealism). We will analyze groundbreaking theoretical works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and others, and delineate their influences on literature and film. Special attention will be given to the interplay of different movements and ideas, and the (self-)awareness of the subject in a rapidly changing and challenging world.
