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SPRING 2006 COURSES
ENGL G6091y (SEMINAR IN ANGLO-SAXON) THE WITNESS AND
THE TEXT. SUBJECTIVITY IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND (PATRICIA
DAILEY) W 2-5. Seminar. This course will explore
the figure of the witness in Anglo-Saxon England and
the early Middle Ages in literary, historical, and religious
contexts. We will be looking at the implications of
eyewitnessing in the construction of history and experiences
of time, the role of the eyewitness and vision in the
construction of authority, inscription as a form of
testimony, Christian and non-Christian modes of bearing
witness to the word, the question of the human and the
voice in its Anglo-Saxon context. We will be looking
at the relevance of testimony to poetry and its relation
to contemporary thought. Readings include The Fates
of the Apostles, Daniel, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
selections from Bede, Biblical texts, travel narratives
(The Voyage of Othere) and pseudo travels such as The
Wonders of the East as well as Old English Riddles.
Theoretical texts include Agamben, Derrida, Lyotard,
Felman, Blanchot and medieval theories of optics.
CLEN G6490y COMPARATIVE ROMANTIC TEXTS: MEMORY AND
FORGETTING (ROSS HAMILTON) T 6:10-8. Seminar. This
course explores romantic notions of self-definition
within a larger historical narrative of mind and memory.
We will focus on the impact of changing visual technologies
(perspective, the development of optical systems, explorations
of the psychology of vision and neuroscience, and the
evolving computer culture) on conceptual frameworks
operating within literature and the visual arts to define
the social context of the individual. Extended case
studies used to structure this examination include discussion
of Renaissance memory rooms and Raphael's program for
the Stanze della Segnatura, Locke's theory of association
and Tristram Shandy, Rousseau's aleatory walks, the
development of "spots of time" in Wordsworth's
poetry, an historical evolution of public and private
funerary memorials, debates about trauma theory and
recovered memory, twentieth-century neurological investigations,
cinematic manipulation of space and time in Vertov,
Eisenstein, Renais,and Brackhage. [Film screenings outside
of class time.]
CLEN G6920Y (PERSPECTIVES ON THE MODERN) CONTESTED
MEMORY AND THE HOLOCAUST (MARIANNE HIRSCH) T 4:10-6.
Seminar. Much of the theoretical literature on cultural,
collective and social memory turns to the Holocaust
as a touchstone or limit case. In conversation with
key texts in memory studies (Halbwachs, Hartman, LaCapra,
Nora, Agamben, Caruth, Felman, Laub, Bennett, van Alphen,
Sturken, Huyssen, Assmann) we will explore several sites
of debate about Holocaust memory and representation.
Topics may include: trials (Eichmann and Barbie); truth
and authenticity (Wilkomirski's Fragments); memorialization
(the Berlin "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe");
photography and evidence (the Wehrmacht exhibit; Lanzmann
versus Godard); laughter and play (Mirroring Evil, Life
is Beautiful); who "owns" the Holocaust? (Plath);
gender and memory; the politics and limits of empathy;
"postmemory" and the second generation; the
uses of memory in contemporary Israel; postcolonial
memories of the Holocaust. Seminar participants will
be invited to bring examples of contested memory from
other cultural contexts and events to the discussion
in the latter part of the course.
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