Literature in Translation – Fall 2018

LitTrans 208 The Writings of Václav Havel: Critique of Modern Society

David Danaher, TR 1-2:15 PM

Prerequisites: None

Course Objectives

This course is a literature-in-translation course in two senses of the term “translation”. In one sense of the term, we will be reading — and critically evaluating from a literary perspective — Havel’s works in English translation. In a second sense, we will analyze the ideas in these texts by “translating” them into contemporary American terms. The course focuses on close analysis of the texts themselves (rhetorical style and technique, structure, imagery, comparison across genres) as well as on critical application of Havel’s ideas to our own personal life experiences. In this respect, we will remain faithful to Havel’s own pragmatic understanding of literature.

For Havel, life under a totalitarian, communist regime was not the simple antithesis of life in Western democracy. Communist society represented “an inflated caricature of modern life in general” and the collective experiences of Czechs, Slovaks, and others who lived under a totalitarian regime “stand as a kind of warning to the West, revealing to it its own latent tendencies.” Throughout the course, you will play the role of investigators of Havel’s hypothesis concerning the relevance of his critique of totalitarianism for a critique of modern society in general. You will familiarize yourself thoroughly with the hypothesis and the cultural context in which it arose (Havel’s life and work) and put the hypothesis to the test in attempting to think critically about our own society in the ways that Havel suggests we do.

This course has several objectives:

  1. To acquaint you with the details of Havel’s thought as it developed through his various incarnations as anti-communist dissident in totalitarian Czechoslovakia (1960-1989), as a writer of plays, philosophical essays, and speeches (1990-2003), and as president of, first, post-totalitarian Czechoslovakia (from late 1989 to 1993) and then, later, of the newly independent Czech Republic (1993 to 2003).
  2. To grapple with Havel’s ideas through close analysis of the texts as literature. What are Havel’s principal literary techniques? In what ways is his rhetorical style appropriate to his message? How does he communicate many of the same ideas through a number of different genres? What, for Havel, is the purpose of writing and the writer’s responsibility in society? To what extent can we consider Havel’s later presidential speeches literature?
  3. To consider the relevance of Havel’s thought, and particularly his keen critique of the totalitarian system, to life in contemporary America. In other words, to what extent can we consider Havel’s statements about the relationship between totalitarianism and modern society valid? Can we critically apply Havel’s ideas to make sense of our own life experiences and the larger socio-political and moral context in which they take place?

Recurrent themes in Havel’s writings that we will examine and attempt to relate to the American context include:  an understanding of an “anti-political” politics and a “life in truth”; an account of what it means to be a dissident; the fetishization of technology and its role in promoting a dehumanized and impersonal society; the connection between ideology and power; the role of rhetoric in shaping and manipulating beliefs; personal responsibility; and the intellectual’s position in society.

 

Resources

For the most part, we will read primary texts (Havel’s own words). Secondary literature will be used for background reading to flesh out Havel’s context as well as in the context of group projects. Other course materials will include web resources (see the course website).

Books required for the course (and that should be available in the bookstore) are: Open Letters: Selected Writings, The Vaněk Plays, and The Memo. Other readings will be provided, as necessary, in the form of pdfs or handouts.

Please contact dsdanaher@wisc.edu with any questions.

 

LT 233 Russian Life and Culture through Literature and Art (to 1917)

Jennifer Tishler

This course presents an introduction to the rich and vibrant culture of Russia—its art and architecture, folklore, literature, music, religious life, and philosophy—from its origins through the beginning of the twentieth century. As we move through nearly one thousand years of Russian civilization, we will pay special attention to such recurring themes as the myth of Russia’s cultural hospitality, the theme of authoritarianism and reactions against authoritarianism, the concept of a Russian “people,” the status of women in Russian society, the views of “outsiders” to Russia, and the acceptance or rejection of cultural values and innovations as “Western” or “Eastern,” “Russian” or “foreign.”

The class will be taught in English. No knowledge of Russian or previous coursework in Russian studies is required!

(Students have the option of enrolling in the course for a 4th credit. Students who take the class for 4 credits will write an additional 10-15 pp. paper and will meet for discussion sections on Tuesdays every two weeks.)

Level: Intermediate

Fulfills: REECAS Group III (Literature & Arts)

Breadth: Humanities

Prerequisites: None

 

LitTrans 337 Nineteenth-Century Scandinavian Fiction, 3 credits

Susan Brantly, online

The 19th-Century generated some of Scandinavia’s best-known writers. The course begins with Romanticism and looks at Norwegian folktales, Esaias Tegnér’s popular Viking tale (Frithiof’s Saga), and Hans Christian Andersen’s world-famous stories, to name but a few highlights. From there, we move to the Modern Breakthrough, perhaps the most important period in Scandinavian literary history, during which writers were urged to take up current issues for public debate. Internationally famous Nordic writers did just that in classics such as Ibsen’s A Doll’s Houseand Strindberg’s The Father. We will trace how these influential social debates about class and gender took literary form. As the century comes to a close, some writers, such as Nobel laureates Knut Hamsun and Selma Lagerlöf, react against the rationality of the Modern Breakthrough by turning to literary Decadence and Neo-Romanticism. This course on 19th-Century Scandinavian Literature is being taught entirely online. Lecture content is streamed illustrated audio. Students will complete assigned readings, take quizzes and exams, and post to a discussion board. Students taking the class for a 4th credit will write a paper. Students taking the course as Scand 424 must have some knowledge of a Nordic language. Students taking the course as Lit Trans 337 have no language requirement. Students in their first or second years need only ask permission to register.

 

LitTrans 454 History of Serbian and Croatian Literature, 3 credits

Tomislav Longinovic, TR 1:00-2:15 PM

Language: Readings in Serbo-Croatian

This course will survey literary and cultural history of Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins from its beginnings until the end of the nineteenth century. We will read excerpts from the most important literary works, starting with the medieval documents and ending with the works of romanticism and realism. Besides one oral presentation (25%) the students will take midterm and final examinations (25% each). Undergraduates in the course will keep a journal in which they will respond to the readings and lectures. (25%) In addition, graduate students will write a research paper on a topic of their choice (25%).