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ROMANTICISM: WL389, EH 300, RL380, GN403/572 |
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Fall Semester 1997 |
Prof. Elaine Martin |
Description:
This interdisciplinary seminar will focus on the revolutionary aspects of Romantic literature, art and music (socially and politically challenging, artistically innovative, iconoclastic). While French and German works will be emphasized, we will also consider examples of Spanish and Japanese Romanticism and refer occasionally to parallels in English Romanticism.
Topics include: the importance of music, irony and parody, social criticism, love (heroes and femmes fatales), the supernatural, the grotesque, and alienation. We will also consider the influence on writers, artists, and composers of political upheavals such as the American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution (1789-91) as well as later pan-European movements such as the revolutions of 1830 and 1848.
Requirements:
Active participation in discussions, midterm exam, final paper.
Grading:
The final grade will be determined by:
1/3 participation
1/3 midterm
1/3 paper and other short writing assignments
Texts:
| Johann v. Goethe | The Sufferings of Young Werther |
| Soseki, Natsume | Kokoro |
| Ludwig Tieck | Puss in Boots (xerox) |
| Heinrich v. Kleist | The Marquise of O– and Other Stories |
| E.T.A. Hoffmann | The Best Tales of Hoffmann |
| Izumi, Kyoka | Japanese Gothic Tales |
| Alfred de Musset | selections from The Confession of a Child of the Century (xerox) |
| Prosper Mérimée | Carmen and Other Stories |
| Leon Plantinga | Romantic Music (optional; you may use the copy on reserve instead of purchasing this text) |
| Goethe Documentary | 1981-82 |
| Impromptu (re: George Sand & Chopin) | 1990, Dir. James Lapine |
| Carmen (flamenco interpretation of Merimée’s novel) | 1983, Dir. Carlos Saura |
SYLLABUS
| 26 Aug | Introduction: R/romanticism(s) |
| 1 Sept | FILM SHOWING: “Goethe” Documentary, Parts I, II, III (28 min. each) Monday 7 p.m. 245 Comer |
| 2 Sept | Goethe, The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774) Thackery’s “Werther” poem Discussion of documentary film |
| 9 Sept | Soseki. Kokoro |
| 16 Sept | Tieck. Puss in Boots (1797) (xerox) |
| 23 Sept | Kleist. “The Marquise of O” (1808); “Holy Cecilia” (1810/11) DLB entry on Kleist (xerox) |
| 30 Sept | ETA Hoffmann. “The Sandmann” (1815/16) “Rath Krespel” (1816) |
| 7 Oct | Izumi. Japanese Gothic Tales |
| 14 Oct | MIDTERM EXAM |
| 21 Oct | Music and Romanticism: A European Overview: Beethoven Plantinga. Chapters 1,2,3 (pp. 1-106) In class: listening to Beethoven |
| 28 Oct | Music and Romanticism: Schubert and “Lieder”; Chopin and Liszt Plantinga. Chapters 4, 5, 7 (pp. 79-126 and 166-219) In class: listening to Lieder using poems by Goethe, Heine, Müller) |
| 4 Nov | Musset, The Confession of a Child of the Century (1836)(selections; xerox); poems (“Nuit” poems 1835-37, “Souvenir” 1841)(xerox) |
| 10 Nov | FILM SHOWING: “Impromptu” 1990, 108 min. Monday 7 p.m., 245 Comer |
| 11 Nov | Discussion of film “Impromptu” Art and Romanticism: A European Overview. Slide lecture/discussion, Dr. Mindy Taggard, Art History |
| 18 Nov | Art and Romanticism: Goya and Delacroix. Slide lecture/discussion, Dr. Mindy Taggard, Art History PAPERS DUE (to my mailbox, 264 Comer, 12 noon; remember to include a one-page summary with your paper) |
| 25 Nov | Mérimée, Carmen (1845) Poems: Keats, “La belle dame sans merci,” Brentano, “Lorelay” |
| 1 Dec | FILM SHOWING: “Carmen,” 1983, 7 p.m. 245 Comer Monday |
| 2 Dec | Discussion of film “Carmen” Conclusion: Looking ahead to realism; transitional figures Discussion of papers |