Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: WALTER BENJAMIN

Department: Art History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar will examine the key theoretical writings on media and modernity by Walter Benjamin, one of the first twentieth-century critics to place new forms of visual experience and technology at the center of his understanding of modern life. The course will pay particular attention to Benjamin's writings on urbanism, film and photography, and the ways in which these relate to avant-garde practices such as Dada, Surrealism, and New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). For each lecture, Graduate Students will be assigned additional readings. They will write an annotated bibliography of all these readings to be turned in at the end of the semester. We will meet for an additional hour every two or three weeks to discuss interpretive and methodological problems and ideas associated with the readings. Graduate Students will be expected to complete all the requirements of the class in addition to writing a substantial research paper due at the end of the semester. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HART 493. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HART 593 if student has credit for HART 493.