Central Europe: Historical and Cultural Perspectives
TOPIC AREAS:
Week 1:
19 February:
Introduction
Introduction to a survey view of historical and cultural matters of Central European culture and
history and of the strategies the course will employ to achieve new perspectives on the region.
The readings from Johnson will also be introduced to set the plate for the next session.
* Optional DVD screening of the first part of a German Expressionist film that is a creative
reworking/transposition of a German epic poem of c. 1200 C.E.: The Ring: Siegfried (Die
Nibelungen: Siegfried, 1924, 143 minutes, German intertitles with English subtitles, dir.
Fritz Lang). Time and place to be announced.
Week 2:
26 February:
The Historical Epoch of the Roman Empire and After
Part I, Johnson: “Preface” pp. ix-xii; “Introduction” pp. 3-12; Chapter 1 “Central Europe and the
Roman Christian West: 400-1000” pp. 13-26; Chapter 2 “Feudal Foundations: 1000-1350” pp.
27-44; and Chapter 4 “The Bulwarks of Christendom, Religion and Warfare, 1400-1550” pp. 6484
Part II, Johnson: Chapter 5 “The Counter-Reformation: The Roman Catholic Church and the
Habsburg Dynasty Triumphant, 1550-1700” pp. 85-102; Chapter 6 “Absolutism as
Enlightenment: 1700-1900” pp. 103-123; and Chapter 7 “Nations Without States, States Without
Nations, 1790-1848” pp. 124-48
* Optional DVD screening of the second part of a German Expressionist film: The Ring:
Kriemhild’s Revenge (Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild’s Revenge, 1924, 148 minutes, German
intertitles with English subtitles, dir. Fritz Lang. Time and place to be announced.
Week 3:
5 March:
The Historical Era of the Late Hapsburg Empire, 1848-1940
Part I, Johnson: Chapter 8 “The Demise of Imperial Austria and the Rise of Imperial Germany,
1848-1890” pp. 149-70; Chapter 9 “World War I and National Self-Determination” pp. 171-96
Part I, Johnston: “Introduction” pp. 1-10; Chapter 1 “From Baroque to Biedermeier” pp. 11-29
Part II, Johnston: Chapter 3 “An Empire of Bureaucrats” pp. 45-75; Chapter 11 “Fascination with
Death” pp. 165-80; Chapter 28 “The Gay Apocalypse: Retrospect and Prospect” pp. 391-404
Week 4:
12 March:
Psychoanalysis, Sexuality and the Self: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Part I, Bersani: “Introduction” pp. vii-xxii from text by Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
Part II, Johnston: Chapter 15 “Freud and Medicine” pp. 221-37; Chapter 16 “Freud and Vienna”
pp. 238-51; Chapter 17 “Freud and His Followers” pp. 252-64
Week 5:
19 March:
Psychoanalysis, Sexuality and the Self: Sigmund Freud
Part I, Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents (originally published 1930) pp. 1-82
Marxian Philosophy, Identity and Existence: Georg Lukács (1885-1971)
Part II, Lukács: “Class Consciousness” pp. 46-82
26 March: Spring Break
Week 6:
2 April: A Posthumous Central European Figure-Thinker: Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)
Part I, Benjamin: “Unpacking My Library” and “Theses on the Philosophy of History” in
Illuminations, pp. 61-69 & 245-55
Part II, Benjamin: “A Berlin Chronicle” in Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical
Writings, pp. 3-60
MID-TERM ESSAYS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS
* Optional DVD Screening of a New German Cinema film (Das Neue Kino) inspired by
Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History”: dir. Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire,
128 min., B&W/Color, 1987, German/English with English sub-titles. Time and place to be
announced.
Week 7:
9 April: The Frankfurt School, Autobiography, and Configurations of Negativity: Theodor
Adorno (1903-69)
Part I, Adorno: Minima Moralia, pp. 13-48
Part II, Adorno: Minima Moralia, pp. 49-81
16 April: Easter
Week 8:
23 April: The Frankfurt School, Autobiography, and Configurations of Twentieth-Century
Negativity: Theodor Adorno (1903-69)
Part I, Adorno: Minima Moralia, pp. 83-119
Part II, Adorno: Minima Moralia, pp. 120-157
Week 9:
30 April: Questions of Value; or, Ethical Philosophy for Ethical History: Ludwig
Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
Part I, Johnston, “The Perfectionism of Ludwig Wittgenstein: Utopian and Therapeutic Nihilist at
Once” pp. 207-13 from Chapter 13, “Philosophers of Language”
Part I, Wittgenstein, Read in & around to your liking but not necessarily wall-to-wall Culture and
Value, pp. 1-87
Part II, VHS screening of a biopic: Wittgenstein (1999, 75 minutes, dir. Derek
Jarman screenplay by Terry Eagleton among others).
Week 10:
7 May: Phenomenology, Historical Identity and the Production of Meaning and Value: Jan
Patočka (1907-77) I
Parts I and II: Patočka, Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History (first published in 1975)
pp. vii-xvi & 1-77
Week 11:
14 May: Phenomenology, Historical Identity and the Production of Meaning and Value: Jan
Patočka (1907-77) II
Part I: Patočka, Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History (first published in 1975) pp. 78137
Part II: Conclusions: Open discussion on the accomplishments and shortcomings of the Central
European experience for the last 1600 + years.
FINAL ESSAYS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS (The final essay takes the place of a
final exam)
RECOMMENDED READING FOR LIFE AFTER THE SEMINAR:
1. Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, trans. Ed, and intro. Robert Hullot-Kentnor (Minneapolis:
Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1997) xxi + 381pp.
2. Theodor W. Adorno, Prisms, trans. Samuel and Shierry Weber (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1967)
272pp.
3. Walter Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama, intro. George Steiner, trans. John Osborne
(London: Verso, 2003) 256pp.
4. Massimo Cacciari, Posthumous People: Vienna at the Turning Point (Stanford: Stanford
UP, 1996) 219pp.
5. Paul Celan, Selected Poems, trans. with an intro. Michael Hamburger (London: Penguin,
1995) 358pp. Contains both the linguistic original German and the English translation.
6. Norman Davies, Europe: A History (London: Pimlico, 1997) x + 1365pp.
7. Peter Demetz, Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City (London: Penguin, 1997)
xviii + 411pp.
8. Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical
Fragments, ed. Guzelin Schmid Noerr, trans. Edmund Jephcott (Stanford: Stanford UP,
2002). Xix + 282pp.
9. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement, trans. with an intro. J.H. Bernard (New York:
Hafner, 1951) xxxix + 339pp.
10. Josef Sudek: Poet of Prague, A Photographer’s Life biographical profile Anna Farova
(New York: Aperture, 1990) 159pp.
11. The Nibelungenlied, trans. A.T. Hatto (London: Penguin, 1969) 404pp.
12. Milada Souřková, Baroque in Bohemia, postscript Roman Jakobson (Ann Arbor:
Michigan, 1980) ix + 216pp.