Syllabus
Class plan
Week Date Topic, Text 1 23 Feb 24 orientation / introductory class 2 1 Mar 24 Founding myths: Sacvan Bercovitch - The Myth of America (essay) 3 8 Mar 24 Apocalypticism: Martin Procházka - Apocalypticism in American Cultural History (essay) 4 15 Mar 24 Megalopolis: Don DeLillo - Cosmopolis (novel) 5 22 Mar 24 Political correctness: Don DeLillo - In the Ruins of the Future (essay) 6 29 Mar 24 no class (Easter Friday) 7 5 Apr 24 Writing about the Other: Don DeLillo - Falling Man (novel) 8 12 Apr 24 Political correctness: Susan Sontag - The Talk of the Town (essay) 9 19 Apr 24 essay topics due; individual consultations on essay topics 10 26 Apr 24 Fear and Loathing: Giovanna Borradori - A Philosophy in the Time of Terror (interview with Jacques Derrida) 11 3 May 24 American Dream: David Kamp - Rethinking the American Dream (article) 12 10 May 24 Antiamericanism: Josef Joffe - Uberpower: The Rise of Antiamericanism (book chapter; pp. 55-59) 13 17 May 24 Being the Other: Sukhdev Sandhu - Aliens and Others (article)
Martin Amis - The Last Days of Muhammad Atta (short story) 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.