008:109
Literature and Culture of the 20th Century:
The Experience of War
Instructor: Rob Latham
Course Times: Mondays,
4:30-5:20, & Wednesdays, 4:40-6:20, in 427 EPB
Screening Time: Mondays,
6:00-8:30 PM, in 427 EPB
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 4-5
PM, in 455 EPB; Wednesdays, 1-3 PM, in 401 Jefferson
E-mail/Phone:
rob-latham@uiowa.edu; 335-0465 (EPB office); 335-0035 (JB office)
Required Texts (all at
Prairie Lights Bookstore):
Also Required (available at
Zephyr Copies):
Course Reader
Screenings: There will be a
total of eleven film screenings over the course of the semester. The screenings
will be held on Mondays from 6-8 PM in EPB 427. All students are urged to
attend; copies of the films will be available in the main library's Media
Center for those with conflicts. Whether you attend the screenings or not, you
must view the films before the following Wednesday sessions.
Two useful sites for
information about the films are:
Description: War, perhaps
the most persistent defining feature of the previous century, cannot be
understood solely in terms of military tactics or political strategy. At its
root, war is a form of experience, a physical and psychological encounter with
an almost unimaginable violence. In this class, we attempt to come to grips
with this experience through its representation in world literature and film
from the First World War through the Gulf War of the 1990s. By examining war
stories produced over almost a century, we explore how this most brutal and
traumatic of events has been made available for aesthetic and moral
engagement-as well as for purposes of social propaganda-at different historical
moments. Students read and view a wide selection of works by writers and
filmmakers of diverse national, ethnic, and ideological backgrounds.
Requirements and
Assignments: The first requirement is consistent preparation and attendance;
you must be here for every class meeting with the day's reading and/or viewing
completed. If you miss more than six classes, you will automatically fail the
course. You must also participate in discussion on a regular basis; a
substantial portion of your grade will be based on participation, so please
don't be shy.
The major writing
assignments are: a series of weekly reading responses and three short (5-6
page) papers. The weekly reading responses should briefly (one single-spaced,
printed page is fine) record your observations, ideas, questions, and/or
criticisms inspired by the assigned texts; the papers will be collected before
class begins on Wednesdays. No late response papers will be accepted under any
circumstances, and if you miss handing in more than four of them, your final
grade for this assignment will be an F.
Twice during the semester,
you will be required to present your reading responses to the class in order to
kickstart our discussions. I will arrange a schedule for these in-class
presentations during the first class meeting; assuming an enrollment of 30 students,
there will be an average of two presenters per class session. You should not
simply read your responses aloud; rather, you should extemporaneously summarize
them in a way designed to engage your classmates. Please keep your remarks
brief (5 minutes maximum).
The short papers will ask
you to work with at least two of the assigned texts in some focused and
integrated way. You will have the option of selecting from sets of questions
distributed in class or crafting topics of your own. I will circulate a topic
sheet at least a week before each paper is due; if you decide to write on a
topic not covered on the sheet, you must clear this with your section leader. I
will not accept late papers for any reason short of serious illness or other
unavoidable catastrophe. The papers are due in class on Mondays of the week
assigned and must be collected at that time, so make your preparations for
planning and writing them accordingly.
Grading: The grades will be
determined on the following basis: 20% participation (including in-class
presentations); 20% reading responses; 20% short papers (x3 = 60%).
Note: I would like to hear
from anyone who has a disability that may require modification of seating,
testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements can be
made. Please speak with me after class or during my office hours.
Weekly Schedule
Week One. Patriotism and
Irony
Mon. 8/25:
Screening:
The Charge of the
Light Brigade
Wed. 8/27:
Week Two. WWI: The End of Innocence
Mon. 9/1:
Wed. 9/3:
Week Three. WWI: On the
Front Lines
Mon. 9/8:
Screening:
The Grand
Illusion
Wed. 9/10:
Week Four. WWI: The Home
Front
Mon. 9/15:
Wed. 9/17:
Week Five. Spanish Civil
War: The Propaganda Battle
Mon. 9/22:
First paper due
Wed. 9/24:
Week Six. Spanish Civil War:
The Romance of Heroism
Mon. 9/29:
Screening: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Wed. 10/1:
Week Seven. WWII: Growing Up
on the Battlefield
Mon. 10/6:
Screening: Hope and Glory
Wed. 10/8:
Week Eight. WWII: Conviction
and Disillusionment
Mon. 10/13:
Screening: Bataan
Wed. 10/15:
Background on the Firebombing
of Dresden
Week Nine. WWII: Hiroshima
Mon. 10/20:
Screening: Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Wed. 10/22:
Week Ten. The Cold War:
Atomic Culture
Mon. 10/27:
Screening:
Dr. Strangelove
Paul Brian's Nuke Pop site
Second paper due
Wed. 10/29:
Week Eleven. Vietnam: A Rage
of Voices
Mon. 11/3:
Wed. 11/5:
Week Twelve. Vietnam:
Visions and Hallucinations
Mon. 11/10:
Screening:
Apocalypse Now
Redux
Wed. 11/12:
Week Thirteen. Vietnam:
Bringing the War Home
Mon. 11/17:
Screening:
Dead Presidents
Wed. 11/19:
Week Fourteen. Thanksgiving
Break
Week Fifteen. Interventions:
Salvador and Somalia
Mon. 12/1:
Screening:
Black Hawk Down
Wed. 12/3:
Week Sixteen. The First Gulf
War: Simulations and Realities
Mon. 12/8:
Screening:
Three Kings
Wed. 12/10:
Exam Week.
Wed. 12/17:
Third paper due