----OREGON COLLEGE OF ART & CRAFT
SYLLABUS
Course Number: HU/SS102
Course Title: Modernism in the Twentieth Century
Instructor:
Phil Harris
Number of Credits: 3 .
Semester:
Spring
Year 2014
Tuesday/Thursday, 12:35-2:00
Office phone: 971-255-4142 (or on-campus extension 142)
Campus email: pharris@ocac.edu
Office hours by appointment
Required materials: Handouts supplied at
http://harrisocac.pbworks.com/w/page/16856828/Modernism_Spring_Handouts
Course Description and prerequisites: In this second term of the class, students explore the
development of modernist literature and art in Europe and the United States, beginning in the
first decades of the 20th century. Chronologically, the course tracks the changing ideas and
preoccupations of consciously modern societies: rebellious new forms of art at the beginning
of the century; World War I and its ramifications; the restlessness and reforms of the twenties
and thirties; the trauma of the Second World War; the tension between cultural consensus and
dissent in the post-war period; and the emergence of countercultures in politics, art and literature
in the sixties. The course emphasizes the interplay between innovation and tradition in the
spheres of literature, music, film, and the visual arts. No prerequisite.
Rationale: This class fulfills part of the BFA ‘s General Studies/Humanities or Social Science
requirement.
Educational Goals/Learning Outcomes:
Core Theme 1: Studio Practice
1.
Increased Integration of making skills with conceptual understanding
2.
Enhanced problem-solving skills, including the ability to perform research
Core Theme 2: Critical Inquiry and Discourse
3. An ability to address culture and history from a variety of perspectives, e.g. political,
economic, literary, etc.
4. The capacity to explain and defend one’s views effectively and rationally.
5. An informed acquaintance with the mathematical and experimental methods of the
sciences, the main forms of analysis and the historical and quantitative techniques
needed for understanding the workings and developments of modern society
6. An ability to respect, understand and evaluate work in a variety of disciplines
7. An understanding of and experience in art forms other than the visual arts and
design.
Core Theme 3: Supportive Mentor Based Learning Community
8. Help students acquire the necessary practical skills to thrive as artists in the
contemporary legal, cultural and economic arenas as they relate to art and craft.
Core Theme 4: Emphasis on Global Consciousness
9. Create opportunities to contemplate and discuss a variety of moral and ethical
problems, both historical and contemporary.
10. Develop an awareness of cultural and historical perspectives
Assessment of proficiency: Weekly response papers, taking part in class discussions, one
longer analytical paper.
Goals and Methods: This class is evenly divided between lecture and discussion. There are
also slide shows, films, and the occasional musical selection.
Course Requirements: Students must attend class, take part in discussions, and complete all
assignments in a timely way to pass this course.
Please come to class with a 1-2 page written response to each reading to turn in before
discussion begins. Be prepared to discuss each week’s readings in class.
This is a lecture/discussion class.
• You should come to class well prepared to discuss the day’s reading assignment, and to
participate actively in discussion.
• You are required to turn in a 1-2 page essay in response to one reading each week. You can
read and respond to extra credit readings at any time in the semester, up until the last week of
class.
• An 8-10 page research paper will be due on Thursday, April 19th. I will want to schedule an
appointment with any of you who are still having trouble finding a term paper topic by midFebruary.
• If you feel that you will have difficulty keeping up with the reading or writing requirements,
please arrange to meet with me as soon as possible. I’m absolutely open to meeting with you to
talk over issues or concerns, or to help clarify class material. I love to work out problems, and
last-minute surprises make me cranky.
+++ Term papers are due Thursday, April 24th +++
Grading Criteria:
Your grade will be determined by the following formula:
Attendance 20%
Participation in class discussions 20%
Weekly response papers, 30%
Final research paper 30%
Turning in assignments late automatically drops them by at least a letter grade—medical and
other emergencies, provided they are communicated to me as soon as possible, are an
exception to this policy. Talk to me.
Course Outline: Week by week course outline, attached separately.
Attendance: The class is impoverished by your absence, and inconvenienced by your
lateness—your arrival, prepared to participate, enriches the whole experience for your
classmates.
Attendance is mandatory for all lectures, discussion and class field trips. If more than six
classes are missed even for legitimate reasons, the student may be asked to withdraw.


Absence
o 3 unexcused absences will drop one’s final letter grade a whole letter.
 An Excused Absence is one that is reported to the instructor by phone
message or email prior to or during the class period.
 Absences are considered excused for reasons of illness or family
emergency or when permission to miss class is given by the instructor in
advance.
 NOTE: multiple Excused Absences will also lower one’s grade
Tardiness and early departure from class
o 3 late arrivals and/or early departures equals 1 unexcused absence
 Tardiness is defined as being more than 5 minutes late. Early departure is
ANY unexcused departure before class is dismissed.
 Arriving more than 30 minutes late or leaving more than 30 minutes early is
considered an absence (or in some cases a partial absence) and not
tardiness.
Grading System
A
The student completes assigned work with initiative, originality, and a thorough mastery of
the
subject matter.
B
The student completes assigned work with originality of moderate degree, and does some
independent work.
C
The student completed assigned work adequately and acquires the basic content of the
course.
D
The student has acquired the bare essentials of the course but performance is less than
satisfactory.
F
The student has not acquired the minimum essentials of the course. Any student who
earns a grade of “F” in a course that is required for the completion of their program must
repeat the class during the subsequent academic year.
P/F
All Thesis Seminar, Senior Seminar and internship courses are offered on a pass/fail
grading system. A passing grade is equivalent to a grade of C or better. A failing grade
is equivalent to a grade of C- or lower. Pass/Fail grades are not calculated in the grade
point average. Letter grades are not allowed for courses offered pass/fail only.
W
The student has withdrawn from the course after the second week of classes but before
the beginning of the seventh week. Does not affect GPA.
W/F The student has dropped the course after the fourth week with a failing grade. Does not
affect GPA.
I
Incomplete. Work must be completed by the deadline set by the instructor, with a
maximum allowed deadline of 30 days after the end of the semester. Student and instructors fill
out an “incomplete contract” to be turned in with instructor’s grades at the end of the term.
Incompletes are used in extenuating circumstances only and are not generally recommended.
A student’s grade point average is calculated by translating the letter grades into points
according to the following formula:
A
=
4.00
A=
3.70
B+
=
3.30
B
=
3.00
B=
2.70
C+
=
2.30
C
=
2.00
C=
1.70
D
=
1.00
F
=
0.00
Disability Accommodations
Oregon College of Art and Craft is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all
persons with disabilities. The syllabus is available in alternate formats upon request.
Students with disabilities: If you are seeking classroom accommodations under the Americans
with Disabilities Act, you are required to register with Student Services. Student Services is
located in Enrollment Services (Red House). Phone is 971.255.4139. To receive academic
accommodations for this class, please obtain the proper forms and meet with the Associate
Director of Student Services within the first week of the beginning of the semester.
Safety Policy
When using OCAC studio facilities to make work, all studio safety policies must be followed:
hearing and eye protection, respirator use as necessary, as well as any other special
precautions or procedures mandated by the various studios. Students are responsible for
obtaining their own eye and hearing protection, as well as a respirator with appropriate filter.
HU/SS102 Modernism in the 20th Century Spring 2013 Course Outline
January 21 Requirements of the class. Recap: What, when and where is
modernism?
Slide & sound show: Cézanne & Stravinsky
January 23 Reading: Emma Goldman, “The Hypocrisy of Puritanism” and
“Patriotism, a Menace to Liberty”
(extra credit: “Woman Suffrage”)
January 28 Reading: Conrad, “The Secret Sharer”
January 30 Reading: Wood, Edison’s Eve (excerpt)
Screening: Muybridge/Marey, Edison, Lumiere Bros.
February 4 Reading: Sigmund Freud, The Ratman
Screening: Georges Meliés and a silent assortment
February 6 Reading: James Joyce, Dubliners excerpts: “The Sisters”,
“Eveline”, “The Boarding House”, “Counterparts”
February 11 Reading: Kafka, “In the Penal Colony”
(extra credit: “A Hunger Artist”)
***Term paper topic due Thursday, February 13th***
February 13 Reading: World War I material
(extra credit: Russian Revolution material)
February 18 Screening: All Quiet On the Western Front (132 min.)
February 20 Readings: Manifestos & Movements (Marinetti, Malevich, Dada,
Russolo: “The Art of Noises”)
Slide show: Collage, fragmentation, Constructivism, Dada
February 25 Reading: T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”,
“Gerontion”, “Preludes”
(extra credit: “The Wasteland”)
Dada/Weimar craziness, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (excerpts, 1919)
February 27 Reading: Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
(excerpt), and “Picasso”
Screening: Paris Was a Woman (75 min.)
March 4
Reading: Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in An Age of Mechanical
Production”
Slide show: The Bauhaus
Screening: excerpts from Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
***Term paper bibliography due Thursday, March 6th***
March 6
Screening: Metropolis (124 min.)
March 11
Woolf: A Room of One’s Own (excerpts)
March 13
Reading: Rhys, Good Morning, Midnight (excerpt)
(extra credit: Orwell’s “Shooting An Elephant”)
Slide show: Surrealism
March 18
Reading: Hemingway, “The Battler”
Sound show: Voices of the Depression
Slide show: Evans, Bourke-White, Hopper, Sheeler
(extra credit: Welty, “Petrified Man”)
***Term paper outline/reverse outline due Thursday, March 20th***
March 20
Screening: Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (87 min.)
•••••SPRING BREAK•••••
April 1
Reading: Greenberg, “Avant-Garde & Kitsch”
April 3
Screening: Sullivan's Travels (90 min.)
April 8
Reading: Heller, Catch-22 (excerpts)
***Term paper draft due to tutor (if necessary) Thursday, April 10th***
April 10
Reading: Hersey, Hiroshima (excerpts)
April 15
Reading: “Material Differences”, from Deliberate Speed
Slide & sound show: WWII and postwar pop culture
(extra credit: “The Postwar Era”)
April 17
Screening: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (80 min.)
April 22
Reading: Allen Ginsberg, Howl (excerpts)
Slide show: Abstract Expressionism
(extra credit: Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People”; John
Cheever, “O Youth and Beauty!”)
*****Term paper due Thursday, April 24*****
April 24
Reading: Borges, “The Circular Ruins”
(extra credit: “The Babylon Lottery”)
Screening: Chris Marker’s Le Jetée (29 min.)
April 29
Reading: Ionesco, The Bald Soprano
(extra credit: Pinter, The Room)
Slide show: Top of the Pops
May 1
May 6
May 8
Reading: Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (excerpt), and
The Sixties Papers (excerpts)
Reading: Barthelme, “The Joker’s Greatest Triumph”, “Me and Miss
Mandible”, “The Party”
Reading: Didion, “Slouching Toward Bethlehem”
Screening: Withnail & I (108 min.)