Office Hours: Tu 1.00 Pm 3.00 Pm, Th 11.00 Am 12.00 Pm and by Appointment

ARLT 100g, 35206

VKC 200

T/Th 9.30 – 10.50 am

Prof. Antónia Szabari

email:

Office: THH 155B

Office Hours: Tu 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm, Th 11.00 am – 12.00 pm and by appointment

East-Central European Literature and Film after 1989: What I Learnt from the Fall of the Wall?

This course focuses on literary and cinematic works from some Eastern- and Central European nations (especially the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania).The goal of the course is to provide students with rich materials (both textual and cinematic), historical context, and critical conceptsfor understanding this region whose perception is often clouded by still prevailing cold-war-era stereotypes. “What I have learnt” refers to bothpost-1989 accounts of the Communist periodand responses to thepolitical and social transition out of the Soviet zone and intoa globalized world.Students will also learn to recognize and analyze narrative and representational devicessuch as satire, absurd, grotesque, and forms of realismat work in the novels and filmsstudied in the course.

The theme of the course this semester is policing, surveillance, and reflections on order and chaos. We look at artistic representations of themes such as police work (from the secret police to the civil police), censorship, ticket control in public transport, the life of train operators, and a society that watches. The course offers a selection of works, most fromthe post-1989 period, that depict and reflect on policing, which will allow us to ask how artistic depiction of policing helps us understand the subtle problems of surveillance.

Readings and films will include: Jiri Menzel, dir. (Closely Watched Trains);Florian Henkel von Donnersmarck, dir. (Lives of Others); Béla Tarr, dir. (Damnation),György Dragomán (The White King);Corneliu Porumboiu, dir.(Police, Adjective);Ryszard Bugajski, dir. (The Interrogation);Antal Nimród, dir.(Kontroll); Patrik Ourednik (Case Closed); László Krasznahorkai (The Melancholy of Resistance);Károly Makk, dir. (Another Way); and writings by Nicolae Steinhardt, Cristina Vatulescu, Slavoj Žižek, and others.

Note on the materials: All novels have been ordered at the University Bookstore. Additional readings are available in book or electronic format at Leavey Reserves or on Blackboard. All films are available at Leavey Reserves. There will be no in-class screening. I expect that you will have completed the reading of the text and viewing of the film assigned for the class by the day of discussion.

In addition to completing the viewing of films and reading of assigned materials, students will contribute to the questions posted on thediscussion board by each Thursday after class. (I will respond to your posts by the following Tuesday. Please post your response by noon on Monday, at the latest.)

Course Requirements and Dates:

Assignments:

First (3-page) paper (Sept. 5): 10%

Second (4-page) paper (Nov. 7): 15%

Third (6-page) paper (Dec. 6): 15%

In-Class Presentation (Nov. 26 or Dec. 3): 15%

Mid-term Exam (Oct. 15): 15%

Final Exam (Dec. 12): 15%

Active participation including in-class discussions, participation in on-line discussions, and quizzes: 15%

About the papers and other writing assignments:

* Each paper should have the specified length, typed in 12-pt. Times New Roman font, and have one-inch margins.

* Include your name and the title of your paper at the top of the first page.

* All papers must have titles.

* You should number pages.

* Spell check and proofread adequately.

* Be sure that you cite all secondary material and present bibliographical information according to either the guidelines of either the Modern Language Association or Chicago Manual of Style.

* You must list all material cited, even if you are only using the required text.

* There will be a questions posted on Blackboard for the three papers. The paper questionsfor the second and third papers will be available on blackboard at least weeks before the paper is due.

* Be sure to turn in both an electronic copy on blackboard and hard copy of the paper to me personally: only electronic submissions will not be counted nor will papers left in mailboxes. In exceptional cases, papers turned in at THH155 (French & Italian) to the administrator (Patrick Irish) and date-stamped will be accepted.

* Unannounced quizzes and in-class exercises will take place regularly. The purpose of the quizzes and exercises is testing for preparedness and comprehension. The quizzes will contribute to the “participation” portion of your grade.

Some basics:

* No laptop use is allowed in lecture or discussion. Similarly: no cell phones, video games, ipods, etc.

* Keep up with the reading schedule and plan ahead. Think about budgeting your time.

* Come to class prepared to discuss the day’s text. Bring notes on articles and additional readings.

* Bring to class the text we’re discussing.

* Keep up with handouts and other class notes.

* Be sure to use the Blackboard site for this class—the syllabus, announcements, and other important documents and links will be posted there.

* Avail yourself of myoffice hours and schedule at least one consultation this semester.

* Turn in a hard copy of the papers, in class, to me personally, on the dates due. Also post a copy of the paper, by the due date and hour, on Blackboard. (If in doubt if the paper has posted correctly, you can always also email the paper to me.)

* Be punctual; class will always begin on time.

* Consult the reading schedule often and make note of any changes as announced.

* Do not miss class; unexcused absences will lower your final grade.

* Do not leave class before the end.

* Do not request extensions for papers or alternate dates for exams.

* And never turn in written work that is not strictly your own.

*Missing work will have a significant impact on your ability to pass this course.

Students with disabilities and academic accommodations:

Students requesting accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. DSP is open Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and their phone number is 213.740.0776.

Plagiarism Note:

All your work must be original, with proper citation for use of outside sources; there are high penalties for plagiarism, including reporting the infraction to the Dean.

Email etiquette:

It is common for students to contact their professors by email. When doing so, please follow the following rules: Be polite and clear. Use a polite address such as “Dear Professor so and so” or “Professor so and so.” Avoid the following forms: “Hi Professor” “Hi” “Hello Professor” “Hey,” etc. The professors in all your classes will appreciate you doing so.

I will do my best to respond to your emails within 24 hours. In some rare cases, however, I may be busy or away from email for two or three days.

Schedule of Classes:

(NB: there may be changes to this schedule during the semester. Keep up with what happens in class.)

August 27: Introduction

August 29: Myths and Truths of the Secret Police: The STASI

View: The Lives of Others

Read: Slavoj Žižek, “The Dreams of Others”

Sept 3: Dziga Vertov’s Kinoglaz (“Cine-eye”)—in class viewing

Sept 5: Dziga Vertov, continued

Read: Cristina Vatulescu, “Early Soviet Cinema’s Shots at Policing,” Police Aesthetics, book available electronically via HOMER

First paper due

Sept 10: A World Well Watched: The Pre-history of Communism in Czechoslovakia and the Czech New Wave

Watch: Closely Watched Trains

Sept 12: The Ethical Lessons for Interrogators and Interrogated

View: The Interrogation

Sept 17: Small Worlds

Read: Rév, “Introduction”from Retroactive Justice, pp. 1-18. (available on electronic reserves)

Sept 19: Journalism, Censorship, and Lesbianism: Another Way

Sept 24: Interrogation and the surreal

Read: excerpts from Nicolae Steinhardt, Jurnalul fericirii (“The Journal of Happiness”) (available viaARES)

Vatulescu, “‘This is surrealism’: Estrangement in the Interrogation Room”

Sept 26: The World of an Ordinary Policeman / The Aesthetics of the Romanian New Wave

View: “The Legend of the Overzealous Policeman” fromTales From The Golden Age

Oct 1:Totalitarianism and the Absurd:White King, 1-48 (book available at the University Bookstore)

Oct 3: White King, 49-130.

Oct 8White King, 131-261.

Oct 10workshop (mid-term exercises)

Oct 15:Midterm Examination

Oct 17: Eastern European noir

View: Tarr, Damnation

Read:

Oct 22:A World Between Chaos and Order

Read: Melancholy of Resistance, pp. 1-62.

Oct 24:Melancholy, pp. 63-140.

Oct 29:Melancholy, pp. 141-213.

Oct 31: Melancholy, pp. 214-314.Your short draft of the second paper due

Nov 5: workshop (drafts will be returned)

Nov 7: exposing the surveillance camera (with the amateur camera): Videogramme—in class viewing

Second paper due in class and on Blackboard

Nov 12: The Poetics of Detection 1

Read: Case Closed, pp. 7-62

Nov 14: The Poetics of Detection 2

Read: Case Closed, pp. 63-143.

Nov 19: The Romanian New Wave and the “post-crime genre”

View: Porumboiu, Police, Adjective

Nov 21: Underground surveillance

View: Kontroll

Nov 26: students’ presentations

Bring a one-page outline of your final presentation

Nov 28:no class, relax!

Dec 3: students’ presentations

Bring a one-page outline of your final presentation

Dec 5:workshop

Final Paper due on Friday, Dec. 6 by 5.00 pm

(Please bring on copy to the Office, THH 155, and post a copy on Blackboard.)

Final Exam: Thursday, Dec. 12, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm

Farocki, Harun (dir.). Videogramme einer Revolution (2006).

Kieślowski, Krysztof (dir.). The Decalogue (1989).

Kusturica, Emir (dir.). When Father was Away on Business (1985).

Macrakis,Kristie.Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2008.

Rév, István. Retroactive Justice: Prehistory of Post Communism. Stanford UP, 2005.

Segel, (ed.),Harold B. The Walls Behind the Curtain: East European Literature, 1945-1990. University of Pittsburg Press, 2012.

Tarr, Béla (dir.). Werckmeister Harmonies (2000).

Vatulescu, Cristina. Police Aesthetic: Literature, Film, and the Secret Police in Soviet Times. Stanford UP, 2010. (This book is also available electronically via HOMER.)

Vertov, Dziga. Kino-Eye: The writings of Dziga Vertov. Ed. Annette Michelson. Tr. Kevin O’Brien. University of California Press, 1984.

-- (dir.). Kino Eye. Three Songs of Lenin (1924/1934).