European Studies 34
The Birth of the Avant-Garde:
Modern Poetry and Culture in France and Russia, 1870-1930
Spring 2010
Tuesday, Thursday, 10-11.20
Prof. Cathy Ciepiela (Russian Department)
Prof. Laure Katsaros (French Department)
Office Hours
Prof. Katsaros: Monday and Wednesday, 11-12, Barrett 103, phone 542-8480
lakatsaros@amherst.edu
Prof. Ciepiela: Monday 1-3, Webster 209, phone 542-2394 caciepiela@amherst.edu
Course Description
Between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, poetry was
revolutionized both in France and in Russia: nowhere else did the avant-gardes
proliferate more extravagantly. This class focuses on the key period in the emergence of
literary modernity that began with Symbolism and culminated with Surrealism and
Constructivism. With the advent of modernism, the poem became a “global
phenomenon” that circulated among different languages and different cultures, part of a
process of cross-fertilization. An increasingly hybrid genre, avant-garde poetry also went
beyond its own boundaries by drawing into itself prose literature, philosophy, music, and
the visual and performing arts. The relation between the artistic and the literary avantgarde will be an essential concern. All readings are in English translation, although
French and Russian majors are encouraged to consult the originals (see below).
The class will include guest lectures. We will visit the Russian Art Collection at the Mead
and the book collection of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture.
Course Materials
The books for the course may be purchased from Amherst Books (8 Main Street, phone
256 1547):
The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry, from Nerval to Valéry, ed. Angel Flores
The Penguin Anthology of French Poetry, 1820-1950, ed. William Rees
Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, tr. Keith Waldrop
Alexander Blok, Selected Poems, tr. Jon Stallworthy and Peter France
Daniil Kharms, Today I Wrote Nothing, tr. Matvei Yankelevich
Velimir Khlebnikov, The King of Time, ed. Charlotte Douglas
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Stéphane Mallarmé: Mallarmé in prose, ed. M.A. Caws
------------------------ Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. M.A. Caws
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, tr. W. Kaufmann
There is also a course reader to be purchased from Academic Department Coordinator
Saloma Furlong in the European Studies office (Barrett Hall, first floor, 9 am to 1 pm).
Additional material such as articles and films will be available on the course CMS site
through “E-Reserves.” All readings in the syllabus marked (R) are in the course reader.
All readings marked (E) are in the course E-Reserves.
For French and Russian majors: Editions of the materials in the original language are
available at the Reserve Desk at Frost Library. You are invited to write the papers for the
course in either French or Russian; French students please speak with Prof. Katsaros and
Russian students please speak with Prof. Ciepiela.
Assignments and Grades
You will be assigned two 5-to-8 pages papers (double-spaced), which will account for
40% of your grade. Due at the end of the semester is a long final paper (15-20 doublespaced pages) (40%); you must consult with one of us about your proposed topic by midApril. Attendance and class participation are essential for the class and will account for
20% of your grade; more than one unexcused absence will lower your grade.
SYLLABUS
Tuesday January 26: Presentation of the course.
Thursday January 28: Baudelaire: Dreams, Echoes, Correspondences
Charles Baudelaire, selected poems
Baudelaire, “The Life and Work of Eugène Delacroix” (R)
Tuesday Feb. 2: Baudelaire and the Painting of Modern Life
Baudelaire, selected poems in verse and prose
Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life” (R)
Thursday Feb. 4: Baudelaire and Wagner
Baudelaire, “Richard Wagner and Tannhäuser in Paris” (R)
Guest Lecturer Scott Smith ’09, Graduate Associate in Music
Tuesday Feb. 9: Nietzsche in France and Russia
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
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Thursday Feb. 11: Alexander Blok
Alexander Blok, Selected Poems
Kornei Chukovsky, excerpts from A. A. Blok: The Man (E)
Tuesday Feb. 16: The Visions of Arthur Rimbaud
Rimbaud, selected poems (Anchor)
Thursday Feb. 18: Stéphane Mallarmé, Prophet and Theoretician of Symbolism
Mallarmé, selected poems (Anchor)
Mallarmé essays: “Variations on a Subject,” “As For the Book”, “The Book
Spiritual Instrument,” in Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. M.A. Caws, pp. 75-90;
“Music and Letters,” from Mallarmé in Prose, ed. M.A. Caws, pp. 31-45
Tuesday Feb. 23: Mallarmé; Andrey Bely
Mallarmé, “Mystery in Literature,” from Mallarmé in Prose, ed. M.A. Caws,
pp.46-51, and Writings on Fashion and Performance, Mallarmé in Prose, pp. 79131
Andrey Bely, “Symbolism as a World View,” “The Magic of Words” (R)
Thursday Feb. 25: Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun”: Poetry, Music, Dance
Frank Kermode, “Poet and Dancer before Diaghilev” (E)
FIRST PAPER (5-8pp) DUE: March 2
Tuesday March 2nd: The Avant-Garde and Cabaret Culture
Mary Shaw, “All or Nothing? The Literature of Montmartre” (E)
Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, “Theater as Church: The Vision of the Mystical
Anarchists” (E)
Alexander Blok, “A Puppet Show” (R)
Thursday March 4th: The Artistic Avant-Gardes in France in the Late 19th Century
Odilon Redon
Paul Gauguin
Henri Matisse
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Tuesday March 9: Russian Art: Neoprimitivism
Natalia Goncharova
Mikhail Larionov
Elizabeth Valkenier, “Opening up to Europe: The Peredvizhniki and the
Miriskusniki Respond to the West” (E)
Jane Sharp, “A Westernizing Avant-Garde” (E)
Thursday March 11: The Belle Époque: A New Artistic Revolution
Blaise Cendrars, “La prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jeanne de France”
(Penguin Anthology).
Guillaume Apollinaire, “The Cubist Painters” (R)
Spring Recess March 13-21
Tuesday March 23: Guest Lecturer
Thursday March 25: Cubo-Futurism
Benedikt Livshits, Chapters 1 and 2 of The One and a Half-Eyed Archer (R)
Ilya Zdanevich and Mikhail Larionov, “Why We Paint Ourselves: A Futurist
Manifesto, 1913” (R)
Cubo-Futurist Manifestos (R)
Tuesday March 30: Vladimir Mayakovsky
Mayakovsky, “Vladimir Mayakovsky, a Tragedy,” “Cloud in Pants,” selected
poems (R)
Michel Aucouturier, “Theatricality as a Category of Early Twentieth-Century
Russian Culture” (E)
Thursday April 1: Velemir Khlebnikov
Khlebnikov, The King of Time
Tuesday April 6: Futurist Books: Visit to the Amherst Center for Russian Culture
Nina Gurianova, “A Game in Hell, Hard Work in Heaven: Deconstructing the
Canon in Russian Futurist Books” (E)
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Thursday April 8: Marina Tsvetaeva / Kazimir Malevich (“Suprematism”)
Marina Tsvetaeva, “Wires,”“Poem of the Staircase,” “The Poet and the Critic”(R)
Jean-Claude Marcadé, “K. S. Malevich: From Black Quadrilateral (1913) to
White on White (1917) (R)
Kazimir Malevich, “Suprematism” (1924-26) (R)
Olga Rozanova, “Suprematism and its Critics,” “Only in Independence and
Unlimited Freedom is there Art!” (1918) (R)
SECOND PAPER (5-8pp) DUE: April 13
Tuesday April 13: Dada and French Surrealism
Dada: selected poems by Tzara, Breton, Soupault (Penguin Anthology)
Matthew Witkovsky, “Dada Breton” (E)
Albert Cook, “The Meta-Irony of Marcel Duchamp” (E)
Thursday April 15: Surrealism in Paris: Surrealist painting and performance
Surrealist poetry: André Breton, Robert Desnos (Penguin Anthology)
André Breton, “Manifesto of Surrealism” (E)
Mary Ann Caws, “The Surrealist Look” (E)
Tuesday April 20: Surrealist Film
Film: Buñuel, “Un chien andalou” + short films (E)
R. Moine and P. Taminiaux, “From Surrealist Film to Surrealism in Film” (E)
Thursday April 22: The Russian Avant-garde and Film
Film: Dziga Vertov, “Man With a Movie Camera” (E)
Szymon Bojko, “Agit-Prop Art: The Streets Were Their Theater” (R)
Dziga Vertov, “We: Variant of a Manifesto” (R)
Viktor Shklovsky, “Poetry and Prose in Cinema” (R)
Tuesday April 27: Constructivism. Visit to the Mead Art Museum
Christina Lodder, “Constructivism and Productivism in the 1920s” (E)
Gail Harrison Roman, “Tatlin’s Tower: Revolutionary Symbol and Aesthetic” (E)
Thursday April 29: Russian Absurdism
Daniil Kharms, Today I Wrote Nothing
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Tuesday May 4: Love and Politics: France and Russia in the 20s
Thursday May 6: Contemporary avant-gardes in France and Russia
Ilya Kabakov and Boris Groys, “The Communal Apartment” (R)
Kabakov, from “On the Total Installation” (R)
A. Solomon-Godeau, “Christian Boltanski’s Missing House” (E)
FINAL PAPERS (15-20pp) DUE: May 14.
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