Description: A critical and comparative analysis from the perspectives of cultural anthropology and philosophy of revenge driven violence and its expressions in drama, novel, and film in ancient Greece, medieval Iceland, Renaissance England and the modern Balkan societies of Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and Macedonia.

Goals: To see revenge driven violence, whether in the form of blood feud or individual acts of revenge, as (1) a cross-cultural phenomenon not limited to the Balkans and (2) as a complex phenomenon requiring analysis and response from cultural, historical, literary, ethical and legal perspectives.

edited by Manfred B. Steger, Nancy S. Lind, Palgrave Press

by William Ian Miller, University of Chicago Press

On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche, Cambridge

Four Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Shakespeare,

Oresteia, Aeschylus (trans. Fagels) Penguin/Putnam

Medea, Hecuba, Andromache , Euripides (trans. Slavitt), Univ. of Pennsylvania

Press

The Battle of Kosovo trans. John Matthias et. Al., Ohio University Press

Kosovo: War and Revenge by Tim Judah, Yale University Press

Elegy for Kosovo by Ismail Kadare, Arcade

The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric, Lovett F. Edwards (Translator) University

Of Chicago

Broken April by Ismail Kadare, New Amsterdam Books

S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic

Sarajevo Blues, by Semezdin Mehmedinovic

Before the Rain, a film directed by Milcho Manchevski (film)

Violence by Martha Minow, Beacon

The Fall of Yugoslavia by Misha Glenny, Penguin

Other Tribal Societies by Christopher Boehm, University of Pennsylvania Press

Cultures Under Siege: Collective Violence and Trauma ed. A. Robben &

M. Suarez-Orozco, Cambridge U. Press

1. Active class participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pass/fail
2. Short film review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10%
3. Leading discussion on 2 assigned texts. . .25%
4. Mid-term examination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25%
5. Final class project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40%

Week 1: Classical representations of revenge-driven violence

Oresteia, Medea, Hecuba

Week 2: Classical and modern theories of violence

(Selections from Steger reader)

Evening showing of "Before the Rain"

Week 3: Nietzsche's Genealogy: A polemic against revenge

(Selections from Steger reader and The Genealogy of Morality)

Evening showing of "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame"

Week 4: Blood feud in medieval Iceland

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking

(Recommended: Boehm)

Evening showing of "The Virgin Spring"

Week 5: Revenge violence in Renaissance society

Evening showing of "Hamlet"

Week 6: Balkan Cultures and Revenge Violence I:

The Battle of Kosovo; Kosovo: War and Revenge and Elegy for Kosovo

(Recommended: Glenny, Boehm)

Evening showing of "Henry V"

Week 7: Balkan Cultures and revenge Violence II:

The Bridge on the Drina and Broken April

(Recommended: Glenny, Boehm)

Evening showing of "Ulysses’ Gaze"

Week 8: Balkan Cultures and Revenge III:

S: A Novel about the Balkans and Sarajevo Blues

(Recommended: Glenny, Boehm)

Evening showing of "Before the Rain"

Week 9: Balkan Cultures and Violence III; Law's Violence

Discussion of Before the Rain

Between Vengeance and Forgiveness

(Recommended: Suarez-Orozco)

Week 10: Student Project Presentations