English 263C/Arts 263C
Topics in Literature and the Arts:
Modernism and the City
Professor Steve Brauer
Fall 2005
TTh 1:45
Phone: 385-8168; Email: sbrauer@sjfc.edu
Office: Basil 111
Office Hours: TR 11:00-12:20
Introduction
This course will introduce you to varying artistic representations of the modern
experience. We will examine how modern artists, in seeking to fully represent their
experience of the world, concerned themselves with how best to translate to readers,
viewers, and listeners what it felt to be alive and what it meant to be a conscious and
sentient being at a particular place and time.
This course is deeply concerned with engaging your imagination in a variety of
mediums and encouraging you to recognize the deep interstices between disciplines of
the arts. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will explore how our understanding
of texts can change within shifting contexts. Operating from this interdisciplinary
perspective, we will investigate varying approaches that artists took to create their sense
of the world around them, and we will seek to unpack the ways in which the emerging
city of the twentieth century helped to create what we have come to understand as
modernism. We will especially focus on the 1920s and on the city of New York, and I
hope to create a texture of related literary readings that will help us center our exploration
even further. More about that as we proceed through the course.
Required Texts
John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Nella Larsen, Passing
Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays
William Scott and Peter Rutkoff, New York Modern
There will also be a handout of poems from the Harlem Renaissance.
Course Requirements
Graded Assignments – There will be one slide exam, one midterm paper, a term
paper, and a final exam.
Reading Assignments – Read the texts and come to class with ideas about what
you’ve read. Preparation will count toward your grade and it’s pretty easy to tell who is
prepared and who isn’t. Let me know any time that you are struggling with the material.
Participation in Class Discussions – Although there will be times that I lay out
historical and cultural contexts for the texts, this course is not a lecture but a discussionbased class. Your participation is key. The success of discussions will rely upon your
preparation, your ability to listen to others, and your willingness and desire to participate.
Absences – Four unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. If you cannot
make it please get a note from a doctor or nurse.
Other Issues
Grading – Your final grade will be 10% Text Preparation and Class Participation,
20% Slide Exam, 20% Midterm Paper, 20% Final Exam, and 30% Term Paper.
Plagiarism – Plagiarism is a very serious offense, and one I will handle with the
utmost gravity. Plagiarism is the unauthorized, undocumented use of another person’s
words or ideas – and it is a violation of college guidelines. Plagiarism will certainly
result in a zero for that written assignment, may result in failing the course, and, in some
cases, may result in suspension or expulsion from the college. Be absolutely sure to cite
any sources that you use in a writing assignment and to include a Works Cited List for
those sources.
Disabilities – Students with documented learning, physical, or emotional
disabilities/conditions should identify themselves to me after the first class so that we can
accommodate your needs.
Schedule of Assignments
September 6 – Introductions. View Manhatta.
September 8 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, “Prologue”
September 13 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 1
September 15 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 2
September 20 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 3
September 22 – Slide Exam.
September 27 – Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (3-143)
September 29 – Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (144-201)
October 4 – Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (202-350)
October 6 – Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (351-404)
October 11 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 4
October 13 – View Chaplin, Modern Times, in class
October 18 – View Chaplin, Modern Times, in class
October 20 – Midterm Paper due.
October 25 – Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (3-96)
October 27 – Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (97-165)
November 1 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 5
November 3 – View video on history of Jazz in class
November 8 – View video on history of Jazz in class
November 10 – Poetry from Harlem Renaissance (Handout)
November 15 – Poetry from Harlem Renaissance (Handout)
November 17 – Larsen, Passing (9-47)
November 22 – Larsen, Passing (48-114)
November 24 – THANKSGIVING BREAK
November 29 – Scott and Rutkoff, New York Modern, Chapter 7
December 1 – Odets, “Waiting for Lefty”
December 6 – Odets, “Awake and Sing!”
December 8 – Term Paper due.
Week of December 12–16: Final Exam.