Comp. Lit. 160
Aestheticism
Fall 1988
Mon. 2:00-4:00
|
Eric Downing
408 Boylston
Office hrs:
Mon. 4-5
Wed. 1-3
|
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is organized around the idea of aestheticism as a major facet of modernism
in both literature and literary theory. The primary focus will be on attitudes toward
both art and life; on the dilineation of stylistic tendencies; and esp. on the problems
and predilections that arise out of the collusion and confusion of the spheres of life
and art in the aestheticist world view.
READING LIST:
Kierkegaard, Either/Or, vol. 1
Baudelaire, The Painter of Modern Life
Huysmans, Against Nature
Nietzsche, The Gay Science
Wilde, The Artist as Critic, ed. R. Ellmann
-----, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Gasset, The Dehumanization of Art
Mann, Confessions of Felix Krull
----, Death in Venice
Rilke, Selected Poems
Nabokov, Lolita
Dinesen, Seven Gothic Tales
Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text
-------, Roland Barthes
Sontag, "Writing Itself: On Roland Barthes" (xerox)
------, "Notes on Camp" (xerox)
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
| Sept. |
19 |
Intro |
| |
26 |
Kierkegaard, "Diary of the Seducer,"
"The Rotation Method," etc. (all in Either/Or, vol. 1) |
| Oct. |
3 |
Baudelarie, "The Painter of Modern Life"
Wilde, "The Decay of Lying" |
| |
10 |
HOLIDAY |
| |
17 |
Nietzsche, The Gay Science |
| |
24 |
Huysmans, Against Nature |
| |
31 |
Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray |
| Nov. |
7 |
Mann, Confessions of Felix Krull |
| |
14 |
Gasset, "The Dehumanization of Art"
Rilke, Selected Poems |
| |
21 |
Nabokov, Lolita |
| |
28 |
Dinesen, "The Deluge at Norderney,"
"the Dreamers," "The Poet" (all in Seven Gothic Tales) |
| Dec. |
5 |
Sontag, "Notes on Camp," "On Writing Itself" |
| |
12 |
Barthes, Roland Barthes |
| For Reading Period: |
| |
Mann, Death in Venice
Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text
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