Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is arguably one of the most prominent playwrights in 20th-century theater. Elias Canetti (1905-1994), on the other hand, is one of the lesser known authors of the 20th Century, and this in spite of his Nobel Price. Yet, there are a number of similarities in their biographies: politically, both leaned toward the left, with Brecht becoming committed to Marxism; both went into exile because they feared prosecution (Brecht because of his political views, Canetti because of his Jewish origin); both were interested in technology and new medias; both had several extrametrical affairs; and both made conscious decisions not to return to West-Germany after the war. Furthermore, both not only wrote plays but used a variety of genres to express their views on totalitarianism, fascism and oppression in general. At the same time, these two German-writing authors were very different, not only in their political views, their style, but also in terms of content as well as in the treatment of genres. Brecht completely redefined drama and theater performances in a most radical way with his epic theater.

The course will read several texts by both authors and discuss the possible similarities and differences of both. Texts will include Brecht's Der kaukasische Kreidekreis, Mutter Courage, poetry, and essays on the epic theater, and Canetti's Komödie der Eitelkeit, Der Ohrenzeuge, and Stimmen von Marrakesch.

 

CHS H190 Colhoun Scholars Colloquium: Art and Humanities (Literature): "The Stage and the City"
Instructor: Johannes Schmidt
Phone: 656-4299
Email: SCHMIDJ

This colloquium will investigate three phases of theater in development, beginning with ancient Greek drama, followed by the Renaissance stage and finally modern theater. The focus will be on theater’s political and social function in the urban context of ancient Athens and Rom, the medieval city and the modern metropolis respectively. Besides five dramatic plays, participants will also discuss theater theory and technology, drama’s relationship to literature, as well as other performance-based theatric forms (opera, film, etc.). Students will be asked to attend one performance at the Brooks Center and two films during the semester.

CHS H191 Colhoun Scholars Colloquium: Art and Humanities: "Death and Dying in the West"
Instructor: Jeff Love
Phone: 656-3411
Email: GJLOVE

The course is guided by a fundamental question: what is the good life? This question is framed within the context of death because that is how so many of our greatest thinkers and writers saw it. Hence, if one wants to ask oneself a key question and learn how many of the greatest minds in our tradition understood that question, this course would be extremely interesting. The readings themselves should be on everyone's list of important texts: Plato's Death of Socrates (Phaedo), which discusses the immortality of the soul; Lucretius's On the Nature of Things, which gives an extraordinary vision of the cosmos, an infinite one; Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, a ferociously comic work written in prison; Montaigne's "An Apology for Raymond Sebond," arguably the greatest essay ever written; Shakespeare's Hamlet in the 1623 redaction; the first part of the greatest of all novels, Don Quixote; the most powerful argument against the argument for design that of David Hume's Dialogue's on Natural Religion; Goethe's Faust, the final flower of a great tradition; and Tolstoy's "Death of Ivan Ilyich," which another great writer called the finest short story ever written.

The course provides a basic education in some of the greatest works of our tradition via a key and central question we all have to ask ourselves: what is the good life, what life might I lead?

All students interested in this colloquium should contact Dr. Love about availability.

 

RCID 813-02 Special Topics: "Later Heidegger"
Instructor: Jeff Love
Phone: 656-3411
Email: GJLOVE

This course will examine some of the principal themes in Heidegger's thought as it developed after the publication of Being and Time in 1927. These themes range from Heidegger's essays on truth, to those on art and technology, and finally to his politics as viewed through the prism of his notorious rectoral address (1933) and his famous lecture course, Introduction to Metaphysics (1935).