Syllabus
* Syllabus and Bibliography: Reconciling Elements of Czech Poetry, Jazz, and Art
* Each Friday morning from 9:15 to 10:45 in the Small Lecture Hall at PTF
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:30 and by appointment in Room 315
Dr. Joyce (Mauler).Michael, jmauler@volny.cz
* Preface: “Poetry is prose bewitched, a music made of visual thoughts, the sound of an idea” (M. Loy, 132).
The course will explore the spiritual, cultural, and historical heritage of the Czech milieu by putting poetic texts written by Jaroslav Seifert and Jakub Trojan in dialogue with Czech jazz compositions, Czech artworks, and the voices of literary and musical theorists from around the world. Emphasis will be placed on themes related to World War II and the communist era, but aspects of Czech cultural creations that transcend the history of this region will also be explored. These considerations will be grounded in the hypothesis that cultural creations provide a unique context where sacred and profane aspects of existence interact in ways that have the potential to lead to deep encounters with mystery and meaning. The extent to which biblical and theological underpinnings remain a vital part of the Czech cultural milieu will be explored, even as we expand our ability to experience the world around us poetically, i.e., in a reconciled and reconciling way.
Ideally, each class session will consist of four components: an exploratory lecture by the instructor regarding the theme selected for the day; a presentation by a course participant devoted to a piece of art or a poetic text; a consideration of an audio recording of a Seifert poem and/or a jazz performance;
* a participatory discussion of selected poems by Seifert and Trojan
A visit to the National Gallery’s Veletržní Palác, either individually or as a group, will also take place in October in preparation for the art presentations. If course participants wish, we may also plan some optional outings related to music, film, or theatre during November and December.
* Participants’ responsibilities:
FIRST AND FOREMOST: CAREFUL PREPARATION FOR, ATTENDANCE AT, AND PARTICIPATION IN EVERY CLASS SESSION IS VITAL If you are going to be away on a particular Friday, please let me know as soon as possible, so that we can consider alternatives.
Specific Assignments (The first two assignments will provide the basis for class discussions; dates will be chosen once the number of course participants becomes clear. Specific clues about the various assignments will be provided in separate handouts or emails.) These include:
A brief presentation on a work of art of Czech origin that is related to 1) World War 11, 2) the communist era, or 3) a more ‘collective’ existential theme;
A 1-2 page paper based on a careful reading and comparison of one poem by Jaroslav Seifert and one poem by Jakub Trojan;
A weekly journal kept throughout the semester in which you reflect briefly on your encounters with the poetry and rhythm of life and art in Prague. (If you wish to do a more standard final paper instead, there are some options that we can discuss together.)
* The journal (or paper) will be the basis for the final exam conversation that you and I will have individually at a nearby kavarna during the last week of classes in January.
I must have a copy of the journal (or paper) by January 9. In addition, please email me a copy of the first two assignments BY WEDNEDAY of the week that they will be presented.
The following descriptions of individual classes begin with citations from an anthology of essays devoted to poetic theory that will provide a starting point for our considerations.
* 3 October: Opening and Experimenting
“We moderns read so much more than we listen…with the result that our imaginative, mental ear becomes absolutely atrophied…. Poetry is as much an art to be heard as is music” (A. Lowell,
“Poetry as a Spoken Art,” 70).
Course procedures and requirements will be highlighted; our approach to reading cultural texts dialogically will be described; and an initial encounter with Czech ‘texts’ will acquaint us with a Viklický tune; a painting by J. Hísek; and poems by Seifert and Trojan.
* 10 October: Translating and Being Translated by the Autonomy of Language
“The best way to find out about poetry is to read the poems. That way the reader becomes something of a poet himself: not because he ‘contributes’ to the poetry, but because he finds himself the subject of its energy” (L. Zakofsky, “A Statement for Poetry,” 300).
A recurring distrust of translations will be addressed in terms of language’s radical freedom, before we examine a pertinent work of art by Ivana Noble and three variant translations of a Trojan poem entitled “Anything can be said in a different way.” We will also listen to and assess the rhythms of a rhyming poem by Seifert entitled “Verses about a Rose.”
* 17 October: Who are the poets? Meeting Seifert and Trojan
* “To be a poet in a destitute time means to attend, singing, to the trace of the fugitive gods…. This is why the poet in the time of the world’s night utters the holy” (M. Heidegger, “What are Poets For?” 253).
The relationship between creators of culture and their creations will be examined in terms of the specific life experiences of the two poets whose works we will be examining. In this context, we will consider a work of art depicting an aspect of World War II, listen to a composition from Terezín, and discuss pertinent Seifert and Trojan poems. 24 October: Memory: Recovering and Reviving the Past
“Humanity will increasingly be...contemplating its entire past, searching for a key to its own enigma, and penetrating…the soul of bygone generations and whole civilizations” (C. Milosz, “On hope,” 498).
The “theology of retrieval” will provide a backdrop for considering the living presence of the past that is evoked by many poetic writings. World War II will continue to be the subtheme of the works of art, music, and poetry under consideration.
* 31 October: Sensuality and Humor: Darkness is not all there is!
“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom; the figure is the same as for love…. It begins in delight… and ends in a clarification of life” (R. Frost, “The Figure a Poem Makes,” 235).
We will consider the exuberant and iconoclastic celebration of life and love that is such an important aspect of many cultural expressions. Special music, art, and poetry will be selected to complement and reveal this theme.
* 7 November: Paradox: A Context of Enlightenment
* “The poet is this being at once…very complex and very simple who at the lived limits of dream and reality, day and night, between presence and absence seeks and receives in the sudden release of inner cataclysms, the password to hidden understanding and power” (A. Césaire, “Poetry and Knowledge,” 287).
As we begin to explore the subtheme of communism, pertinent music, art, and the Seifert poems entitled “Never Again” and “Lost Paradise” will provide a backdrop for exploring the ambiguous dynamics of paradox and betrayal.
* 14 November: Between Death and Life: The Heart of it All
“The [duende’s] black sounds are the mystery, the roots fastened in the mire…that gives us the very substance of art…. The duende climbs up inside of you, from the sole of your feet… [and]
* does not come at all unless he sees that death is possible” (F.G. Lorca, “Play and Theory of the Duende”202, 205).
The materials selected for this session will disclose the interplay that goes on between life and death in poetic, artistic, and musical texts which echo the dark sounds of the duende. Communist and existentialist subthemes are likely to converge at this very point.
* 21 November: Up and Down: ‘Heaviness Going to Light’ (allusion to M. Kundera)
* “So your heart…gives the down beat, the birth of rhythm, beyond expositions, beyond inside and outside, conscious representation and the abandoned archive…, outside of your presence, humble, close to earth, low down” (J. Derrida, “Che cos’è la poesia?” 536).
The balancing and bridging power of poetic images of the heavens’ heights and the earth’s depths will be the starting point for today’s considerations, which will explore similar dynamics in music and art.
* ,
* 28 November: Embodiment: Dwelling in Place
“He had often sat and looked at any little square of grass and it had been just a square of grass as grass is, but now he was in love and so the little square of grass was all filled with birds and bees and butterflies…; being in love made him make poetry, and poetry made him feel the things and their names…” (G. Stein, “Poetry and Grammar”, 210).
Seifert’s fascination with Prague will be the main focus today, but music, art, and other poetic expressions may add even more depth to our sense of what embodiment entails.
* 5 December: Nature: Being in and out of this World
“Physics, geology, and biology have replaced [the universe of things…, which appeared to be everlasting and unchanging] with a picture of nature as a process in which nothing is now what it was or what it will be. Today, Christian and atheist alike are eschatologically minded” (W. H. Auden, “The Poet and the City,” 379).
A jazz composition and an example of existentialist art will provide the backdrop for considering the interface between tangible and imaginary aspects of the natural world.
* 12 December: Creativity: An ‘Ever-unfolding Spark’
* “Poetry and creation are the same; only that man can be called poet who invents, who creates…. A poet…discovers joys even if they are hard to bear” (G. Apollinaire, “The New Spirit and the Poets,” 80).
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Annotation
The course will explore the spiritual, cultural, and historical heritage of the Czech milieu by putting poetic texts written by Jaroslav Seifert and Jakub Trojan in dialogue with Czech jazz compositions, Czech artworks, and the voices of literary and musical theorists from around the world. Emphasis will be placed on themes related to
World War II and the communist era, but aspects of Czech cultural creations that transcend the history of this region will also be explored. These considerations will be grounded in the hypothesis that cultural creations provide a unique context where sacred and profane aspects of existence interact in ways that have the potential to lead to deep encounters with mystery and meaning. The extent to which biblical and theological underpinnings remain a vital part of the Czech cultural milieu will be explored, even as we expand our ability to experience the world around us poetically, i.e., in a reconciled and reconciling way.