AMST363

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AMST363

Radical Critiques of Subjectivity AMST363 SP

Crosslistings: ENGL286

Next Offered in 9899 SP

We will explore some provocative social critiques of the cultural formation of performances of "subjectivities" (pertaining to emotional life, family life, individualism, sexuality, gender, the body) in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of our emphasis will be on American radical critiques that were either explicitly socialist or engaged or contested socialist theory (e.g., Fourierism, anarchism, socialist-feminism). Major topics include: 19th-century writings linked to "utopian" communities (Fourierism, socialism, anarchism, and fiction such as Hawthorne's BLITHEDALE ROMANCE); late 19th- and early 20th-century critiques (including fiction such as Stephen Crane's "An Experiment in Luxury") of capitalist possessive individualism; the first American efforts to synthesize Marxism and psychoanalysis (1910s-1960s); "agitprop" socialist theatre (including some writings by Bertolt Brecht) and socialist-realist literature of the 1930s; modern endeavors to link socialist and feminist critiques (New Left 1960s-1990s); postmodern projects to refashion and recombine elements of socialist critique, poststructuralist critique, and historicist theorizing (for example, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu). A foundational question the seminar will address is: Why and how has American "political" resistance been channeled so effectively into (often countercultural) subjective and individual preoccupations, and what are the ramifications of this?

MAJOR READINGS

Fourierist and anarchist selections from
Taylor Stoehr, ed., FREE LOVE IN AMERICA (1879)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE (1852)
Daniel DeLeon, excerpts from "DeLeon-Carmody Debate:
Individualism vs. Socialism" (1912)
Stephen Crane, "An Experiment in Misery" and "An Experiment
in Luxury" (1894)
V.F. Calverton and Samuel Schmalhausen, from their
anthologies including SEX IN CIVILIZATION (1929) and WOMAN'S
COMING OF AGE (1931)
Christopher Cauldwell, from STUDIES AND FURTHER STUDIES IN A
DYING CULTURE (1930s)
Samuel Schmalhausen, RECOVERY THROUGH REVOLUTION (1933)

Marc Blitzstein, THE CRADLE WILL ROCK: A PLAY IN MUSIC
(1938)
Workers Theatre, ART IS A WEAPON (1931)
Gregory Novikov, Workers' Laboratory Theatre, NEWSBOY (1934)
Tillie Olson, "I Stand Here Ironing" (1953-54)
Herbert Marcuse, EROS AND CIVILIZATION (1955)
Barbara Ehrenreich, assorted writings
Eli Zaretsky, CAPITALISM, THE FAMILY, AND PERSONAL LIFE
(1976)
Joel Kovel, from THE AGE OF DESIRE: REFLECTIONS OF A RADICAL
PSYCHOANALYST (1981) and THE RADICAL SPIRIT: ESSAYS ON
PSYCHOANALYSIS AND SOCIETY (1986)
Terry Eagleton, IDEOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION (1991)
Judith Butler, theoretical essays on performativity
Joan Scott, "Experience" (1992)
Glenn Jordan and Chris Weedon, selections from CULTURAL
POLITICS: CLASS, GENDER, RACE AND THE POSTMODERN WORLD
(1995)
Michel Foucault, ETHICS: SUBJECTIVITY AND TRUTH (1997) and
other writings
Pierre Bourdieu, selected writings focusing on his concepts
of "habitus" and "socioanalysis"
Joel Pfister and Nancy Schnog, eds., INVENTING THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF EMOTIONAL LIFE
IN AMERICA (1997)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Three seven-page papers, lead class discussion once or twice.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course meets the English Department's Historicity requirement. 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: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA ENGL

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

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