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Updated 01/7/09

Humanities 450/550, Spring 2009

SEMINAR: MODERNISM AND THE ARTS

Mondays, 6:00-9:45 p.m.               PA 104

Professor:        Donald Larsson              Office:  AH 301-L

Phone:             389-2368                      E-Mail: donald.larsson@mnsu.edu

Office Hours:    MW    4:00-5:00 p.m. and by appointment

 Note: Items in red are still being revised!

Note: On most weekdays, I will be on campus for most of the day.  However, because of my duties as MSU Mankato Faculty Association (IFO) President, I may sometimes have to cancel an office hour and I will often be in meetings on or off campus.  I will be off-campus on most Thursdays and Fridays.  It’s always best to check ahead of time if you want to meet with me.  I will reply to phone messages and emails as soon as possible.

TEXTS:

Brecht, Bertolt, The Three-Penny Opera

Hughes, Robert.  The Shock of the New.  Revised ed.

Kafka, Franz.  The Transformation ("Metamorphosis") and Other Stories.

Parisi, Joseph.  100 Essential Modern Poems

Kolocotroni, Vassiliki, et al., Modernism: An Anthology of Sources and Documents

Woolf, Virginia.  Mrs. Dalloway.

The Voice of the Shuttle: General Index for Humanities-Related Studies

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/art.html

Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise (Music Critic for The New Yorker and author of The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

http://www.therestisnoise.com/

Course Objectives:

This course will attempt to offer a multi-disciplinary view of Modernism, the set of aesthetic movements that changed the course of art and thought in Europe and America and elsewhere during the first half of the 20th century.  We will examine developments in dance, music, theater, film, art, and literature from this period, the different sub-movements of the modernist movements, and how modernism developed into “post-modernism.”  We will try to draw some conclusions about issues stemming from these efforts:

·         How much did Modernism reject the past and how much did it build on it?

·         How did Modernism interact with the technological and social changes of modernity?

·         How did Modernism interact with political and social events of the time?

·         What concepts and principles drove the different movements and artists who could be called Modernists?

·         What are the legacies of Modernism in a Postmodern age?

Course Requirements—Undergraduate:

·         Daily attendance and participation (15%)

·         Short Oral Report (10%)                                                                                                            

·         Mid-Term and Final Take-Home Exams (25% each)

·         In-Class Presentation (25%)

Course Requirements—Graduate:

·         Daily attendance and participation (15%)

·         Class Resource List (10%)                                                                                                        

·         Mid-Term and Final Take-Home Exams (25% each)

·         Analytical Paper and In-Class Presentation (25%)

Grading and Assignments:

Your grade will be based on a point total of 1,000 points, on a percentage scale:

A	B	C	D	F
900-1000	800-899	700-799	600-699	0-599

Daily attendance and participation: You start the semester with a total of 150 points (@ 10 points/weeks).  All or some points may be deducted for absence or lack of preparation.  I may administer pop quizzes from time to time to check on preparation.

Short Oral Report (Undergraduate): Undergraduates will be asked to pick an author, artist, musician, etc. and give a brief report on that person’s life and work and his or her relationship to modernist movements.  You should submit a written outline and a list of any sources (print or online) that you used for your information.

Class Resource List (Graduate): Graduates will be asked to provide the class with a written list of resources in print, other media or online that would be useful for further study relating to one or more of the artists or movements that we will be studying.  You should list at least ten sources, describe each one briefly, and indicate where it can be found in the MSU library, online, or elsewhere.

Mid-Term and Final Take-Home Exams: You will have two exams.  I will give you the questions for each, and you will have a week in which to write essay answers to your choice of questions.  Graduate students will have somewhat different questions to answer than undergraduates.

In-Class Presentation (Undergraduate): Undergraduates will present an in-class analysis of a work of art, a film, a piece of literature, a musical work, etc., using appropriate copies, videos, recordings, etc.  More details will follow.

Analytical Paper and In-Class Presentation (Graduate): Graduate students will also analyze a work of art, a film, a piece of literature, a musical work, etc., using appropriate copies, videos, recordings, etc.  However, this analysis will be in written form (15-20 pages), will draw on at least 5 sources, and be presented in summary form to the class as an oral presentation as well.  More details will follow.

Schedule (Subject to Change)

WEEK	DATES	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Jan. 12	Introduction: Definitions: The Modern, Modernity, Modernism Pre-Modernist Beginnings
2	Jan. 19	The Emergence of Modernism, 1900-1918 No class on Monday, MLK Day
3	Jan. 26
4	Feb. 2
5	Feb. 9
6	Feb. 16
7	Feb. 23
8	March 2
	March 9	SPRING BREAK, NO CLASS
9	March 17
10	March 24
11	March 21
12	April 6
13	April 13
14	April 20
15	April 27
Final Period: Monday, May 4, 6:00 p.m.

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