I. ASCRC General Education Form
Group
VI Historical and Cultural Studies
Dept/Program
History
Course #
Course Title
Prerequisite
History 340
European Cultural and Intellectual History from 1900 to World War II
None
Credits
3
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
Instructor
Richard Drake
9/08/08
Phone / Email
243-2981
Program Chair
Richard Drake
Dean
Jerry Fetz
III. Description and purpose of the course: General Education courses must be introductory
and foundational. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/gened/GEPreamble_final.htm
Cultural and intellectual history was described by Jacob Burckhardt, one of its greatest
practitioners, as a method of unique effectiveness in measuring the creativity and real worth of
an epoch. To him the great question of history was why some ages more than others possessed
the capacity to produce original thought and art of enduring importance. The course takes its
conceptual bearings from Burckhardt’s insight. We have one fundamental objective in our
course: to examine the impact of World War I and the Great Depression on the crisis of
Western values that originated in the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century. To
accomplish this objective, we will study the major esthetic, ideological, and intellectual
movements of European cultural life from 1900 to World War II.
IV. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
In the course, students will have the opportunity
to understand the causes and cultural
consequences of two watershed events in
human history: World War I and the Great
Depression. I ask the students to evaluate texts
and cultural artifacts from this turbulent
historical context. They analyze the impact of
these desolating historical events on human
behavior, ideas, and institutions.
V. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
In the course examinations and term paper,
students are expected to demonstrate powers of
historical analysis at the upper-division level of
university work. This means that they must
develop the capacity to synthesize ideas and
information with the aim of understanding
causes and consequences of historical
development and events.
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. ⇓ The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus
preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
Spring 2005 R. Drake Syllabus for European Cultural and Intellectual History from 1900 to World War II (History
340)
Objectives of the Course
Cultural and intellectual history was described by Jacob Burckhardt, one of its greatest
practitioners, as a method of unique effectiveness in measuring the creativity and real worth of
an epoch. To him the great question of history was why some ages more than others possessed
the capacity to produce original thought and art of enduring importance. The course takes its
conceptual bearings from Burckhardt’s insight.
We have one fundamental objective in our course: to examine the impact of World War
I and the Depression on the crisis of Western values that originated in the Industrial Revolution
of the eighteenth century. To accomplish this objective, we will study the major esthetic,
ideological, and intellectual movements of European cultural and intellectual life from 1900 to
World War II. In the course examinations and term paper, students are expected to demonstrate
powers of historical analysis at the upper-division level of university work.
Required Reading
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton)
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (Harcourt)
André Malraux, Man’s Fate (Knopf)
Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel (Penguin)
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (Harper)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea (New Directions)
Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine (Penguin)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (S&S)
Mandatory Public Lecture
Students will be required to attend two events in the President’s Lecture Series. On
Friday, 11 February, Cynthia Prossinger, an art historian connected with the Fine Arts Museum
in Vienna, will speak on “The Secessionist Movement in Vienna: A Visual Interpretation as
Seen through Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze.” She will give her lecture in the Music Recital
Hall at 8:00 P.M. On Thursday, 24 February, Kevin Fitzgerald will lecture on “The New
Genetics: A Visit from Prometheus or Pandora?” He teaches in the Department of Oncology
and holds the David P. Lauler Chair in Catholic Healthcare Ethics at Georgetown University.
He will speak in the University Theatre at 8:00 P.M. For students with work or family
responsibilities in the evening, films of these two lectures will be made available on the
Reserve Shelf in the Mansfield Library.
Quizzes, Examinations, and the Term Paper
I will give at least three unannounced quizzes during the semester. Students will write a
midterm examination and a final examination. Both examinations will have mainly an essay
format, with some short-answer questions. A ten-page term paper, the content of which will be
determined by each student in consultation with me, will be due on Monday, 18 April, at 5:00
P.M. Graduate students who are taking the course for graduate credit must write a twenty-page
paper in place of the ten-page undergraduate paper. The term paper assignment gives students
the opportunity to learn more about the subject matter of the course and to improve their
writing and researching skills. As we progress in the course, students should identify the
individuals, books, works of art and music, and theories that most interest them. Once these
lists have been narrowed down to three or four topics, students should see me about making
their final choices. At that time we can discuss bibliographical matters and other research
strategies.
Grading Policy
The scores on the three quizzes will count for 10 percent of the grade. The midterm
examination will count for 20 percent, the term paper for 30 percent, and the final examination
for 40 percent. I grade students in accordance with their mastery of the course readings and
lectures. Late term papers are discounted at the rate of one-third of a grade per day.
Lectures and Reading Assignments
Week 1 M
24 January
Introduction
W
26 January
Europe in 1900
F
28 January
The Avant-Garde: Paris (Slide Lecture on Henri
Rousseau with musical accompaniment by Erik
Satie)
M
31 January
The Avant-Garde: Vienna (In conjunction with this
lecture, students will attend the presentation on the
Secessionist Movement by Cynthia Prossinger, in
the President’s Lecture Series on Friday, 11
February, in the Music Recital Hall at 8:00 P.M.).
W
2 February
World War I
F
4 February
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
M
7 February
World War I and the Lost Generation in England
W
9 February
British Memoir Literature of the War
F
11 February
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
M
14 February
World War I and the Lost Generation in France
W
16 February
The Dada Movement (Slide Lecture)
F
18 February
André Malraux, Man’s Fate
M
21 February
Holiday
W
23 February
World War I and the Lost Generation in Italy
F
25 February
Fascism and Culture (In conjunction with this
lecture, students will view the film of Luigi
Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author
on Thursday, 24 February, in Liberal Arts 308
at 3:40 P.M.. A second showing of this film has
been scheduled for Friday, 25 February, in Liberal
Arts 308 at 3:00 P.M.).
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
M
28 February
World War I and the Lost Generation in Germany
W
2 March
Käthe Kollwitz (Slide Lecture)
F
4 March
Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel
M
7 March
Review
W
9 March
Midterm Examination
F
11 March
The Depression
M
14 March
The Marxist Alternative to Capitalism
W
16 March
The Russian Revolution and the Intellectuals
F
18 March
Stalin and the Intellectuals
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
21-25 March—Spring Vacation
Week 10
M
28 March
England in the 1930s
W
30 March
The Crisis of the Liberal Faith in Science (In
conjunction with this lecture, we will discuss the
presentation by Professor Kevin Fitzgerald in the
President’s Lecture Series—“The New Genetics: A
Visit from Prometheus or Pandora?”—in the
University Theatre on Thursday, 24 February, at 8:00
P.M.).
F
1 April
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
4 April
France in the 1930s (In conjunction with this
lecture, Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” will be
shown on Tuesday, 5 April, at 7:00 P.M. in LA 308.
A second showing of this film has been scheduled
for Wednesday, 6 April, at 3:00 P.M. in LA 308).
Week 11
M
W
6 April
French Catholic Thought: Jacques Maritain
F
8 April
Simone Weil’s Search for God
M
11 April
Existentialism: Religious and Secular
W
13 April
Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
F
15 April
Albert Camus and the Myth of Sisyphus
M
18 April
Italy in the 1930s: The Years of “Consensus”
W
20 April
Fascist Culture in the 1930s
F
22 April
Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
M
25 April
Germany in the 1930s (In conjunction with this
lecture, Leni Riefenstahl’s “The Triumph of the
Will” will be shown on Tuesday, 26 April, at 3:40 .
P.M. in LA 308. A second showing of this film has
been scheduled for Wednesday, 27 April, at 3:00
P.M. in LA 308).
W
27 April
Nazism and the Intellectuals: Martin Heidegger
F
29 April
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics
M
5 May
The German Catastrophe
W
7 May
Conclusions
F
9 May
Review
Week 15
Final Examination: 10:10 A.M.-12:10 P.M., Friday, 13 May.
Last Day to Drop Classes without Penalty: Monday, 11 February.
*Please note: As an instructor of a general education course, you will be expected to provide
sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.