History of Western Civilization II
Social Movements in America Modern and Contemporary British and American Literature II |
Course Description:
The concept of Western culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic and philosophical principles which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by Western European immigration or settlement, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Western Europe. In general, the various criticisms of Western Culture tend to come within the categories of decadence, extremism, and barbarism. Various uses of the concept of Western culture have included, rightly or wrongly, critiques of American culture, materialism, industrialism, capitalism, individualism, commercialism, hedonism, imperialism, communism, Nazism, fascism, racism, modernism, nihilism, nationalism, fundamentalism and post-modernism. Other tendencies that define modern Western societies are the existence of political pluralism, prominent subcultures or countercultures (such as New Age movements), increasing cultural syncretism resulting from globalization and human migration Course Description: Beats, hippies, Fred and Ginger, Charlie Parker, Film Noir, Weathermen, Kurt Cobain Grunge, Reggae, Miles Davis, Dirty Dancing, headline a package of American movements. We will be looking at what elements recycle throughout the 20th Century in American culture. At the end of the course maybe you can predict what footwear will be in fashion next year. Course Description: As the word Modern dates from the 17th Century, we will limit ourselves to post WWII American and British Literature. As there has been no American or British literature since WWII, we will have to be content with reviewing the non-literatures produced by those two once world dominating powers, now driveling nonagenarians and maniacal war mongers. The non-literatures of the period are of course a reaction to the end of literature as being seen as a good thing, and not simply hyper-nationalistic, subjectivist tripe. So, we will be reading, on the British side, JG Ballard, Samuel Becket, Ted Hughes, Sebald, etcetera, on the American side, Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, Woody Allen, and oh yeah, that canonized duo, Raymond Carver and Bukowski. We will try and spice things up with the visual imagery of Monty Python, really the beginning of any culture in Britain, and maybe, whoops, the Americans have no culture. Unless of course I can find some of the comics of Crumb. Or maybe some of the televised holiday specials of Charles Schultz. Or okay, The Simpsons. |