Syllabus
Class plan
Week Date Topic, Text 1 22 Feb 19 orientation / introductory class 2 1 Mar 19 Founding myths: Sacvan Bercovitch - The Myth of America (essay) 3 8 Mar 19 Apocalypticism: Martin Procházka - Apocalypticism in American Cultural History (essay) 4 15 Mar 19 Megalopolis: Don DeLillo - Cosmopolis (novel) 5 22 Mar 19 Political correctness: Don DeLillo - In the Ruins of the Future (essay) 6 29 Mar 19 Political correctness: Susan Sontag - The Talk of the Town (essay) 7 5 Apr 19 Writing about the Other: Don DeLillo - Falling Man (novel) 8 12 Apr 19 Fear and Loathing: Giovanna Borradori - A Philosophy in the Time of Terror (interview with Jacques Derrida) 9 19 Apr 19 no class (Easter Friday) 10 26 Apr 19 American Dream: David Kamp - Rethinking the American Dream (article)
Antiamericanism: Josef Joffe - Uberpower: The Rise of Antiamericanism (book chapter; pp. 55-59) essay topics due 11 3 May 19 Being the Other: Sukhdev Sandhu - Aliens and Others (article)
Martin Amis - The Last Days of Muhammad Atta (short story) 12 10 May 19 Being the Other: John Updike - Terrorist (novel) 13 17 May 19 What to do now: Paul Auster - Man in the Dark (novel) closing session, discussion over students` essays
Annotation
The course discusses changes in the American society after 9/11/2001, especially when different ideological concepts are taken into account. We will explore the extent to which different ideological and philosophical concepts have influenced post-9/11 American society, its culture and literature.
The authors to be discussed include Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Susan Sontag, John Updike, Josef Joffe and New York based French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Weekly readings are limited to ca. 20 pages (with an exception of four novels).
Discussions in class are more than welcomed. The language of instruction is English.