[ Wesleyan Home Page ] [ WesMaps Home Page ] [ WesMaps Archive ] [ Course Search ] [ Course Search by CID ]
Academic Year 2000/2001

Walter Benjamin and His Critics
GERM 266 FA
Crosslistings:
COL 268

Perhaps this century's most celebrated German literary critic, cultural historian, and homme de lettres, Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) has been examined from a remarkably wide array of angles, appropriated by a host of disparate and often contradictory programs, and repeatedly considered anew in light of evolving critical methodologies. Perceived as a utopian Marxist, a Jewish messianist, and a historical materialist, Benjamin has elicited responses from commentators in such disciplines as art history, sociology, and political science and from proponents of such diverse theoretical enterprises as feminism, new historicism, Marxism, and poststructuralism. The central aims of this course are to introduce Benjamin's main works in English translation; to examine the ways in which he has been received among his contemporaries and critics; to engage in the debate on how to appraise Walter Benjamin's critical legacy.

MAJOR READINGS

Walter Benjamin: SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. I (1913-1926) ILLUMINATIONS REFLECTIONS CORRESPONDENCE M.P. Steinberg, ed., WALTER BENJAMIN AND THE DEMANDS OF HISTORY Gary Smith, ed., ON WALTER BENJAMIN Bernd White, ed., WALTER BENJAMIN: AN INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY COURSE READER.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two short papers, one oral presentation, one final paper.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Regular attendance and participation. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA GERM    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email

Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459