Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Description

How do literature, philosophy, film and other arts respond to the profound changes in world view and lifestyle that mark the twentieth century? This course considers a broad range of works from different countries, different media, and different genres, in exploring the transition to a decentered "Einsteinian" universe.

Course Requirements

Class Format

The class format for 21L.709 is group discussion with informal lectures by the instructor. Students are required to turn in a term paper (15 pp.) at the end of the term and a preliminary draft of this paper (5-7 pp.) midway in the term. The paper should present a detailed comparison of two works studied in the course. In addition, each student is asked to present a talk in class (12 min.) on an assigned work on its assigned date. The talk should help stimulate discussion by means of arguments and questions. Papers and talks are conceived as exercises in literary interpretation through close analysis. They should be focused on specific passages from the texts under consideration and should balance detail with generalization.

Readings

Readings for this course include works by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the painter Paul Cézanne, the composer Arnold Schoenberg, the fiction writers James Joyce and Franz Kafka, the film directors Fritz Lang and Federico Fellini, and others. For a list of readings, please refer to the Readings page.

Grading

There will be no final exam.

MIT Statement on Plagiarism

Plagiarism—use of another's intellectual work without acknowledgment—is a serious offense. It is the policy of the Literature Faculty that students who plagiarize will receive an F in the subject, and that the instructor will forward the case to the Committee on Discipline. Full acknowledgment for all information obtained from sources outside the classroom must be clearly stated in all written work submitted. All ideas, arguments, and direct phrasings taken from someone else's work must be identified and properly footnoted. Quotations from other sources must be clearly marked as distinct from the student's own work. For further guidance on the proper forms of attribution, consult the style guides available at the Writing and Communication Center and the MIT Web site on Plagiarism.

Calendar