EURO 312: The Search for Identity in European Modernism (half-unit)

This Final Year half-unit option is designed primarily for students on European Studies and European Languages degree schemes, but is also open to students from other departments. It focuses on four major texts from the era of classical European modernism: Andr Gide, Les Caves du Vatican (The Vatican Cellars) (1914), Luigi Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca dautore (Six Characters in Search of an Author) (1921), Ramn del Valle-Incln, Luces de Bohemia (Bohemian Lights) (1924), and Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf (The Steppenwolf) (1927).

One aim of the course is to acquaint students with the broad socio-cultural context of European modernism, including the social and cultural tension between tradition and modernisation in the pre-1914 era and the destabilising impact of Nietzschean and psychoanalytical thought. These themes will be introduced at the outset of the course, following which each text will be read as an attempt to articulate and grapple with the problems of identity and selfhood generated by the modernist crisis of values.

Students in the Department of European Languages and Cultures will be expected to read (and, where necessary, quote from) texts in the original language(s) of their particular degree scheme. All four texts will however also be available in English translation, and lectures and seminars will be conducted in English. Knowledge of a foreign language is thus not a prerequisite for enrolment on this course.

This Final Year European Studies half-unit option is taught in English with texts available in translation, and welcomes students following English and Creative Writing degree schemes as well as DELC students. It focuses on four major texts from the era of classical European modernism: J.-K Huysmans À Rebours (Against Nature),  Luigi Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author), Gabriel Miro, Nuestra Padre San Daniel (Our Father San Daniel), and Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung (Metamorphosis).

This course is designed for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of some of the key themes and issues of European modernism ?

-         modernism and religion

-         the fragmented individual: the impact of Nietzschean and psychoanalytical thought

-         the destabilising of gender

These themes will be introduced at the outset of the course, following which each text will be read as an attempt to articulate and grapple with the problems of identity and selfhood generated by the modernist crisis of values. The four works (3 novels, 1 play) will each be situated in their respective (French/Spanish/Italian/German) socio-historical context, affording opportunities for a comparison of the four national cultures at a particular historical moment, as well as of the two genres as vehicles for the individual and social "search for identity".

By the end of the course, students should

• be able to analyse modernist works from the viewpoint of their social and psychological content
• be able to demonstrate a deepened understanding of the broad socio-cultural context of European modernism, including its divergent national traditions
• be aware of some of the main stylistic features of literary modernism

1) GENERAL BACKGROUND READING

Bradbury, Malcolm and James McFarlane (eds). Modernism: 1890-1930. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976

Collier, Peter and Judy Davies (eds). Modernism and the European Unconscious. Oxford/Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990.

Cortázar, Julio:  "Notas sobre la novela contemporánea" (1948), in Obra crítica/II, Jaime Alazraki, Ed., Madrid: Santillana, 1994 (1963 1^st edition) (143-150).

---  "Situación de la novela" (1950) in Obra crítica/II, (217-241).

Faulkner, Peter. Modernism. Methuen, 1977 (Critical Idiom, 35)

Harrison, Charles. Modernism. London: Tate Gallery, 1998 (Movements in Modern Art)

Levenson, Michael H. Modernism and the Fate of Individuality. Cambridge University Press, 1991

Nehamas, Alexander. Nietzsche: Life as Literature. Harvard University Press, 1985

Nicholls, Peter. Modernisms: a Literary Guide. Macmillan, 1995.

Quinones, Ricardo J. Mapping Literary Modernism: Time and Development. Princeton UP, 1985

Simmel, Georg. The Metropolis and Mental Life (1902). In: Charles Harrison and Paul Wood (eds), Art in Theory 1900-1990 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1992), pp. 130-5

Stevenson, Randall. Modernist Fiction: An Introduction. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992

Tate, Trudi. Modernism, History and the First World War. MUP, 1998

2)  HUYSMANS

a) Primary texts

À Rebours.  Against Nature (Penguin Classics)

b) Secondary Literature

Baldick, Robert, The Life of J.-K. Huysmans (Oxford 1955)

Garber, Frederick, The Autonomy of the Self from Richardson to Huysmans (Princeton 1982), Chapter 10 (pp. 256-95)

Nicholls, Peter, Modernisms (see ?Background Reading')

Wilson, Edmund, Axel's Castle: a study in the imaginative literature of 1870-1930 (Collins 1961; originally published 1931)

3) KAFKA

a)      Primary Texts

Die Verwandlung; Metamorphosis and other stories

b)      Secondary Texts

Anders, Gunther. Franz Kafka (1960)

Berkoff, Steven. ?The Trial'; and ?Metamorphosis' (1981)

Bloom, Harold. Franz Kafka's ?The Metamorphosis' (1988)

Boa, Elizabeth. Kafka (1996)

Gilman, Sander. Franz Kafka (1995)

Greenberg, Martin. The Terror of Art (1971)

Janouch, Gustav. Conversations with Kafka (1971)

Robertson, Ritchie. Kafka (1985)

Wagenbach, Klaus Franz Kafka in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (1964)

Walser, Martin. Beschreibung einer Form (1972)

4)  PIRANDELLO

a) Primary text

Pirandello, Luigi. Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore. 1921  Six Characters in Search of an Author and other plays. Trans. Mark Musa. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1996.

b) Secondary literature

Bassanese, Fiona A. Understanding Luigi Pirandello. University of South Carolina Press, 1997

Bassnett-McGuire, Susan E. Luigi Pirandello. London: Macmillan, 1983

Boschiggia, Elisabeth. Guida alla lettura di Pirandello. Milan: Mondadori, 1986

Caesar, Ann. Characters and Authors in Luigi Pirandello. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Cambon, Glauco (ed.). Pirandello: A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall, 1967 (Twentieth-Century Views)

Caputi, Anthony. Pirandello and the Crisis of Modern Consciousness. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1988

Dashwood, J.R. (ed.). Luigi Pirandello: The Theatre of Paradox. Edwin Mellen, 1997

Giudice, Gaspare. Pirandello: a Biography, trans. Alastair Hamilton. Oxford University Press, 1975

Lauretta, Enzo. Luigi Pirandello. Milan: Mursia, 1980

Matthaei, Renate. Luigi Pirandello. New York: Ungar, 1973

Monti, Silvana. Pirandello. Palermo: Palumbo, 1974 (Storia della critica, 31)

Ragusa, Olga. Luigi Pirandello: An Approach to his Theatre. Edinburgh University Press, 1980

Thompson, D. An Introduction to Pirandello's "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore" (2nd ed.). Market Harborough: Troubadour, 1997

Vaglio, Anna. Comme leggere "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore" di Luigi Pirandello. Milan: Mursia, 1989

5) MIRO

a) Primary Texts

Nuestro Padre San Daniel, King, Edmund, Ed., Alicante: Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert (Obra Completa, Vol. XV), 1994.

Our father San Daniel: scenes of clerical life, Charlotte Remfry-Kidd (trans.), London: E. Benn limited, 1930.

b) Secondary literature

Longhurst, C. A.: Miró: Nuestro Padre San Daniel and El obispo leproso., London: Grant and Cutler (Critical Guides to Spanish Texts, 58), 1994.

King, Edmund: "Introducción", in Nuestro Padre San Daniel, Miró, Gabriel: Alicante: Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, 1994 (11-41).

---  "Oleza: Novela como iconostasio", in La novelística de Gabriel Miró, Alicante: Instituto de Cultura "Juan Gil-Albert", 1993 (103-125).

Macdonald, Ian R.: "Why Is Miró's Bishop a Leper?", in Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea, 7:1, Boulder, CO: 1982 (59-77).

---  "'Caminos y lugares': Gabriel Miró's El obispo leproso", in The Modern Language Review, 77:3, July, Leeds: 1982 (606-617).

--- Gabriel Miró: His Private Library and his Literary Background, London: Tamesis, 1975.

---  "Introducción" in El obispo leproso, Alicante: Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, 1993 (11-69).

---  "The Genesis of Gabriel Miró's Ideas about Being and Language: The Barcelona Period (1914-1920)", Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, Winter, 8:2, Ottawa, 1984 (183-205).

Larsen, Kevin: "Gabriel Miró and Literary Naturalism", Dissertation Abstracts International, Ann Arbor, MI (DAI), 1983, Dec., 44:6.

Márquez Villanueva, Francisco: "La esfinge mironiana" in Márquez Villanueva, F., (Ed.): Harvard University Conference in Honour of Gabriel Miró, Harvard Unversity, 1982.

Trapiello, Andrés: Los nietos del Cid. La nueva Edad de Oro de la literatura española (1898-1914), Barcelona: Planeta (La España Plural), 1997 (2^nd ; October 1997, 1^st).

Van Praag, Jacqueline: Gabriel Miró ou le visage de Levant, terre d'Espagne, Paris: A. G. Nizet, Ed., 1959.

Vidal, Raymond: Gabriel Miró: Le Style, les moyens d'expression,  Bordeaux: Feret, 1964.

Campa, Pedro: "Aspectos de la decadencia francesa en la obra de Gabriel Miró", in Burgos, Fernando (Ed.): Prosa hispánica de vanguardia, Madrid: Orígenes, 1986 (233-243).

Landeira, Ricardo: An annotated bibliography of Gabriel Miró (1900-1978), Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1978.