This course analyzes the metropolis as a site that intertwines the material and the metaphorical, the real and the imaginary, the historical and the fantastic. In studying literary and filmic representations of cities, it challenges the assumption that these spaces are completely distinct. Selected materials focused on Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg—three European cities that have played prominent roles not only in the history of the continent, but also in literature and film—lead from the 19th century to the present and are studied both for their themes and motifs as well as for their aesthetic strategies. Questions of perception and perspective, of montage and sequence, of the textual/visual and the semiotic are connected to those of visions of conflict and community, of individuals and relationships, and the experience of change. Specific emphasis is placed on the students' training as readers of fiction and film.
Prerequisites:
None
Attendance policy:
Regular class attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences will negatively affect the grade for participation. Excessive absenteeism will negatively affect the final grade. Field trips are part of class.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will:
• be familiar with the historical, social and cultural textures of Berlin, Paris, and St. Petersburg, and with their received iconographies.
• be able to distinguish between urban realities and representations and how these categories interact.
• be equipped with methods and techniques of reading urban (literary and filmic) texts.
• have gained considerable practice in interpretation.
Method of presentation:
Guided discussions, lectures, student presentations, excursions. Moodle will be used to enhance students' learning experiences.
Required work and form of assessment:
(percentage of final grade in parentheses)
- a midterm exam (15%)
- a final exam paper (7-10 pages, 25%)
- oral participation in class discussion (15%)
- a class presentation (20%)
- three journal entries in moodle (15%)
- a short written assignment (10%)
Presentation: A list of presentation topics will be distributed in the first meeting. Discuss your theses with me well in advance.
Paper (10 pp. double space): On any topic covered in class. Alternative topics are possible upon consultation with me. Use Moodle Journal to develop your argument (idea – exposé – draft).
Journal: Develop your paper from idea to exposé to draft Post your journal entry on Moodle and discuss my feedback.
Paper format: double-space, margin; meaningful title, complete sentences; references, works cited, page numbers. See guidelines on Moodle.
content:
Week 1:Introduction
Introduction: Reading/Writing/Visualizing the City
1. Hana Wirth-Nesher, "Reading Cities," from City Codes: Reading the Modern Urban Novel, pp. 1-21.
2. Alfred Döblin, from Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929)
1. David Bordwell/Kristin Thompson, "The Significance of Film Form," in Film Art: An Introduction, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 2010, 56-77.
2. Barbara Mennel, "Introduction," from Cities and Cinema, pp. 1-17
3. http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/[2]
Oral comment due: Chose one entry from the Yale "Film Analysis Web Site 2.0" and present its relevance in class.
Week 3
1. Berlin: A Symphony of a Great City (dir. Walter Ruttmann, 1927)
Written assignment due: Identify the referential, explicit, implicit, symptomatic meaning (Bordwell/Thompson) of Berlin: A Symphony of a Great City
Recommended:
Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life," in Kasinitz ed., Metropolis, Center and Symbol of Our Times, pp. 30-45.
St. Petersburg: Myths of Creation
1. Alexander Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman" (1833)
2. Nikolai Gogol, "Nevsky Prospect" (1835), from Collected Tales
Recommended:
Nikolai Gogol, "The Nose," "The Overcoat" (in Collected Tales)
FRIDAY: EXCURSION FILM MUSEUM BERLIN
(10 A.M. – 12 A.M.)
Week 5
1. Brat (Brother; dir. Aleksej Balabanov, 1997)
2. Jennifer J. Day, from "Strange Spaces: Balabanov and the Petersburg Text," Slavic and East European Journal 49.4 (2005): 612–614; 617–620.
MIDTERMS
1. Michel de Certeau, "Walking in the City," in Bridge/Watson, eds. The Blackwell City Reader
EXCURSION TO ST. PETERSBURG
Week 6: Paris: Narrative Perspectives
1. Victor Hugo, "A Bird's-Eye View of Paris," from Notre Dame (1831)
2. Emile Zola, "Les Halles," from Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris, 1873)
1. Charles Baudelaire: "À une passante/ To a Passerby," "Le cygne/The Swan" "Les sept vieillards/The Seven Old Men," "Les foules/Crowds"
Recommended:
Walter Benjamin, "Baudelaire, Or the Streets of Paris" in The Writer of Modern Life, ed. M.W. Jennings, Cambridge: Belknap HUP, 2006. 40-42.
Week 7: Individual Consultation
First Journal Entry Due (Paper idea): 10 A.M.
1. La Haine (Hate; dir. Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)
EXCURSION TO PARIS AND BREAK
Week 8: Berlin: The Wall and its Metaphors
1. Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire; dir. Wim Wenders, 1987)
Second Journal Entry Due (Exposé): 10 A.M.
1. Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper (Der Mauerspringer, 1982)
FRIDAY Excursion: Walking Tour "Filmstadt Berlin"
Week 9: Women in the Post-"Wende" City
1. Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run; Tom Tykwer, 1998)
Berlin: Urban Diversities
1. Emine Sevgi Özdamar, from: The Bridge of the Golden Horn (1998), pp 1-49
2. Antje Harnisch, et al. "Minority Literature and its Role in a Multicultural Society," in: Fringe Voices. An Anthology of Minority Writing in the FRG (Oxford: Berg, 1998) 16-22.
Third Journal Entry Due (Draft): 10 A.M.
Week 10: Russian Berlin
1. Vladimir Kaminer, from: Russian Disco (2000)
2. Giacomo Bottá, "Interculturalism and New Russians in Berlin," CLCWeb 8.2 (2006)
Week 11: FINALS
TERM PAPER DUE
Required readings:
Reader, films (in library), book: Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper (in library), Moodle site.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Dr. Dorothea Löbbermann holds a Ph.D. from Humboldt University in Berlin. She has studied English, American, and Russian literatures in Germany and the U.S. (Chapel Hill, N.C.). She has been teaching American Studies for many years, specializing in urban literatures and cultures. She is the author of a book on fictional representations of Harlem (Memories of Harlem: Re/Konstruktionen eines Mythos der Zwanziger Jahre, 2002) and co-editor of CinematoGraphies: Visual Discourses and Literary Strategies in 1990’s New York (with G. H. Lenz and K.H. Magister, 2006). She has published widely on city cultures – from the perspectives of space, race, gender, class, and aesthetic strategies. Her current research project focuses on Figurations of Homelessness in contemporary American urban fiction. In 2004, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. In 2011, she was a visiting scholar with New York University.
The Metropolis in Literature and Film
This course analyzes the metropolis as a site that intertwines the material and the metaphorical, the real and the imaginary, the historical and the fantastic. In studying literary and filmic representations of cities, it challenges the assumption that these spaces are completely distinct. Selected materials focused on Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg—three European cities that have played prominent roles not only in the history of the continent, but also in literature and film—lead from the 19th century to the present and are studied both for their themes and motifs as well as for their aesthetic strategies. Questions of perception and perspective, of montage and sequence, of the textual/visual and the semiotic are connected to those of visions of conflict and community, of individuals and relationships, and the experience of change. Specific emphasis is placed on the students' training as readers of fiction and film.
None
Regular class attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences will negatively affect the grade for participation. Excessive absenteeism will negatively affect the final grade. Field trips are part of class.
By the end of the course, students will:
• be familiar with the historical, social and cultural textures of Berlin, Paris, and St. Petersburg, and with their received iconographies.
• be able to distinguish between urban realities and representations and how these categories interact.
• be equipped with methods and techniques of reading urban (literary and filmic) texts.
• have gained considerable practice in interpretation.
Guided discussions, lectures, student presentations, excursions. Moodle will be used to enhance students' learning experiences.
(percentage of final grade in parentheses)
- a midterm exam (15%)
- a final exam paper (7-10 pages, 25%)
- oral participation in class discussion (15%)
- a class presentation (20%)
- three journal entries in moodle (15%)
- a short written assignment (10%)
Presentation: A list of presentation topics will be distributed in the first meeting. Discuss your theses with me well in advance.
Paper (10 pp. double space): On any topic covered in class. Alternative topics are possible upon consultation with me. Use Moodle Journal to develop your argument (idea – exposé – draft).
Journal: Develop your paper from idea to exposé to draft Post your journal entry on Moodle and discuss my feedback.
Paper format: double-space, margin; meaningful title, complete sentences; references, works cited, page numbers. See guidelines on Moodle.
Week 1:Introduction
Introduction: Reading/Writing/Visualizing the City
1. Monika Maron, "Place of Birth: Berlin" (2003)
2. Judith Hermann, "Sonja" (1998)
Week 2
1. Hana Wirth-Nesher, "Reading Cities," from City Codes: Reading the Modern Urban Novel, pp. 1-21.
2. Alfred Döblin, from Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929)
1. David Bordwell/Kristin Thompson, "The Significance of Film Form," in Film Art: An Introduction, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 2010, 56-77.
2. Barbara Mennel, "Introduction," from Cities and Cinema, pp. 1-17
3. http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/ [2]
Oral comment due: Chose one entry from the Yale "Film Analysis Web Site 2.0" and present its relevance in class.
Week 3
1. Berlin: A Symphony of a Great City (dir. Walter Ruttmann, 1927)
Written assignment due: Identify the referential, explicit, implicit, symptomatic meaning (Bordwell/Thompson) of Berlin: A Symphony of a Great City
Recommended:
Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life," in Kasinitz ed., Metropolis, Center and Symbol of Our Times, pp. 30-45.
St. Petersburg: Myths of Creation
1. Alexander Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman" (1833)
2. Nikolai Gogol, "Nevsky Prospect" (1835), from Collected Tales
Recommended:
Nikolai Gogol, "The Nose," "The Overcoat" (in Collected Tales)
FRIDAY: EXCURSION FILM MUSEUM BERLIN
(10 A.M. – 12 A.M.)
Week 5
1. Brat (Brother; dir. Aleksej Balabanov, 1997)
2. Jennifer J. Day, from "Strange Spaces: Balabanov and the Petersburg Text," Slavic and East European Journal 49.4 (2005): 612–614; 617–620.
MIDTERMS
1. Michel de Certeau, "Walking in the City," in Bridge/Watson, eds. The Blackwell City Reader
EXCURSION TO ST. PETERSBURG
Week 6: Paris: Narrative Perspectives
1. Victor Hugo, "A Bird's-Eye View of Paris," from Notre Dame (1831)
2. Emile Zola, "Les Halles," from Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris, 1873)
1. Charles Baudelaire: "À une passante/ To a Passerby," "Le cygne/The Swan" "Les sept vieillards/The Seven Old Men," "Les foules/Crowds"
Recommended:
Walter Benjamin, "Baudelaire, Or the Streets of Paris" in The Writer of Modern Life, ed. M.W. Jennings, Cambridge: Belknap HUP, 2006. 40-42.
Week 7: Individual Consultation
First Journal Entry Due (Paper idea): 10 A.M.
1. La Haine (Hate; dir. Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)
EXCURSION TO PARIS AND BREAK
Week 8: Berlin: The Wall and its Metaphors
1. Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire; dir. Wim Wenders, 1987)
Second Journal Entry Due (Exposé): 10 A.M.
1. Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper (Der Mauerspringer, 1982)
FRIDAY Excursion: Walking Tour "Filmstadt Berlin"
Week 9: Women in the Post-"Wende" City
1. Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run; Tom Tykwer, 1998)
Berlin: Urban Diversities
1. Emine Sevgi Özdamar, from: The Bridge of the Golden Horn (1998), pp 1-49
2. Antje Harnisch, et al. "Minority Literature and its Role in a Multicultural Society," in: Fringe Voices. An Anthology of Minority Writing in the FRG (Oxford: Berg, 1998) 16-22.
Third Journal Entry Due (Draft): 10 A.M.
Week 10: Russian Berlin
1. Vladimir Kaminer, from: Russian Disco (2000)
2. Giacomo Bottá, "Interculturalism and New Russians in Berlin," CLCWeb 8.2 (2006)
Week 11: FINALS
TERM PAPER DUE
Reader, films (in library), book: Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper (in library), Moodle site.
Dr. Dorothea Löbbermann holds a Ph.D. from Humboldt University in Berlin. She has studied English, American, and Russian literatures in Germany and the U.S. (Chapel Hill, N.C.). She has been teaching American Studies for many years, specializing in urban literatures and cultures. She is the author of a book on fictional representations of Harlem (Memories of Harlem: Re/Konstruktionen eines Mythos der Zwanziger Jahre, 2002) and co-editor of CinematoGraphies: Visual Discourses and Literary Strategies in 1990’s New York (with G. H. Lenz and K.H. Magister, 2006). She has published widely on city cultures – from the perspectives of space, race, gender, class, and aesthetic strategies. Her current research project focuses on Figurations of Homelessness in contemporary American urban fiction. In 2004, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. In 2011, she was a visiting scholar with New York University.