230277 Make It New! Modernist Literary and Art Theory in the United States, 1900-1945 (S) (WiSe 2015/2016)

While the call to “Make It New” and the desire for a novel beginning it voices have characterized the entire history of U.S. American thought, the social, political, technological, and cultural changes marking the first half of the twentieth century gave this belief in progress of all kinds a new quality. Prominent among them was a profound transformation process in literature as well as in the visual (architecture, painting, film) and performing arts (theater, music, dance). Many American as well as foreign intellectuals, artists, and writers voiced their reflections on these changes, their shortcomings, and their impact upon the arts and society, both on a national and a transnational scale. The seminar will look at a selection of these conceptualizations of art and literature, analyzing their understanding of formal and thematic innovations, of the material conditions of creative work (especially the impacts of race and gender), and the functions and purposes of art and literature in the context of the modernist era.

Literaturangaben

A Stud IP page with all required readings will be made available to participants by the beginning of the term.