Fall 1998       Dr. Istvan Varkonyi
  Honors 90/German 70     Department of French, German, Italian, Slavic
  Mondays and Wednesdays 1:10-2:30    Office: Anderson Hall 519
  BB 100       Telephone: 204-8276
  Office Hours: MWF 11:30-12:30
  E-mail: samsa@astro.temple.edu
 

Literature and Culture of Central Europe

 
 Required Texts:
 
 Most of these texts are available at the university bookstore.
 
 Ivo Andric                     Bridge on the Drina
 Slavenka Drakulic        Café Europa
 Miklós Haraszti            The Velvet Prison
 Franz Kafka                  The Basic Kafka
 Daniló Kis                      A Tomb for Boris Davidovic
 György Konrád            The Caseworker
 Milan Kundera             Book of Laughter and Forgetting
 Joseph Roth                  Hotel Savoy
 Arthur Schnitzler         Road to the Open
 
 Course packet available 6th floor Conwell Hall, Duplicating Center
 
WELCOME!!  This course is designed to provide an introduction to the issues, ideas, and genres in the literature of Central Europe from the years around 1900 to the present.  Through the study of literature, cinema, and the artistic avant-garde, we will explore a broad and diverse cultural history that extends from the Habsburg Empire to two World Wars, communism, and beyond.  Our readings and classroom discussions will focus on situating individual works in a cultural and historical context in order to gain insights into the significance of cultural traditions.

We will also be addressing the role of the artist/intellectual vis à vis political power, and the literary stylization of the Central European experience.
 
Evaluation and Grading:
 
To assess your work during the semester, there will be two papers (five to seven pages in length) on assigned topics, a mid-term and final exam.
 
The final grade for the semester will be based on the following breakdown:
 
Papers:                                  30% (15% each)
Classroom participation:     15%
Mid-term:                             25%
Final:                                      30%
 
Attendance is required. During the semester 3 unexcused absences are permitted, thereafter it will affect your grade.  If you are not able to attend class, please notify me.

Course Outline:
 
  August 31                   Introduction
                                      Geographical, political, historical parameters
 
  Sept. 2                 Readings in course packet:
                               Johnson, ”Where is Central Europe?”
                               Halecki, “The Limits and Divisions of European History”, Chaps.6 & 7
                               Garton Ash, “Does Central Europe Exist?”
 
 
  Sept. 7                         Labor Day (no class)
 
  Sept. 9                         Cultural Parameters:
                                   Willett, “Is there a Central European Culture?”
                                   Kundera, “A Kidnapped West or Culture Bows Out”
 
  Sept. 14                        Cultural Concepts of CE
                                   “The Budapest Roundtable”
                                    Judt, “The Rediscovery of Central Europe”
 
 
  Sept. 16                         Pre-War CE/”The Self: Fragmented and ‘Remakeable’”
 
                                        Kafka: “The Metamorphosis”
 
  Sept. 21                        Kafka: “The Hunger Artist”
 
 
 
  Sept. 23                         Jewish Identity in CE
                                        Schnitzler: Road into the Open, intro. & pp.3-120.
 
  Sept. 28                       Schnitzler: pp. 121-215
 
  Sept. 30                       Schnitzler: pp. 216-297
 
 
 
  Oct. 2                             World War I   (Film: Colonel Redl)
                                         Roth: “The Bust of the Emporer”
                                         Kraus: “The Last Days of Mankind”(course packet)
 
  Oct. 7                             Kraus: “The Last Days of Mankind”
 
  Oct. 12                            Post-War CE
                                          Roth: “Hotel Savoy”
 
  Oct. 14                            Mid-term Exam
 
  Oct. 19                            WWII, Anti-Semitism, Terror, Holocaust
                                           Kis: “A Tomb for Boris Davidovich”
                                           (Film: Shop on Main Street)
 
  Oct. 21                             Kis: “A Tomb for Boris Davidovich”            (First Paper due!)
                                            (Film: Europa, Europa)
 
  Oct. 26                            Kis: cont.
 
  Oct. 28                            Communism and the Artist in Hungary
                                           Haraszti: “The Velvet Prison”
 
  Nov. 2                              The New Socialist Man
                                           Haraszti, cont.
                                           Konrád: “The Caseworker”
 
  Nov. 4                              Konrád, cont. (Film: Man of Marble)
 
  Nov. 9                              Remembering Communism in Prague
                                           Kundera: “Book of Laughter and Forgetting”
 
  Nov. 11                             Kundera, cont.
                                             (Film: All my Good Countrymen)
 
  Nov. 16                              Ethnicity in Yugoslavia
                                              Andric: “Bridge on the Drina”
 
  Nov. 18                               Andric, cont.
 
  Nov. 23                               Andric, cont.  (Film: Time of the Gypsies)
 
  Nov. 25                               "Time of the Gypsies"
 
 
  Nov. 30                                Life after Communism?
                                               “The Glorious Revolution of 1989”(course packet)
                                               Drakulic: “Café Europa”
 
  Dec. 2                                   Drakulic, cont.               (Second Paper due!)
 
  Dec. 7                                   REVIEW
 
  ***FINAL EXAM : Monday, Dec. 14, 1998 ; 11:00-1:00***