AML 4242 (6118)
Modernism
and
Popular Culture

Dr. Susan Hegeman

Tuesdays periods 8-9 (3:00-4:55);
Thursdays period 9 (4:05-4:55)
Turlington 2333


Course Description
Literary modernism, the stylistically experimental literary movement of the 1910s-1930s, is often considered difficult and even deliberately inaccessible. And yet American modernist writers could hardly avoid the significant efflorescence of popular cultural forms in this period, notably the movies and jazz, but also advertising and popular fiction.  In this course, we will discuss some of the central figures of American literary modernism in the context of popular culture, considering how popular forms and artists influenced their styles subject matter, their enthusiasms, and their aversions.  We will also consider the ways in which creators in popular media could be seen as modernist experimenters in their own rights.  

Required Texts
Books: The following books have been ordered for this class at Goering's Textbook Store (1717 NW 1st Avenue; Tel. 352-377-3703). If you purchase your books elsewhere, please try to get the editions ordered for the class.
The New Anthology of American Poetry, Vol. 2, Modernisms, ed. Axelrod et al. (Rutgers UP 0813531640) (NAAP)
Ernest  Hemingway, In Our Time (Scribner 0684822768)
Jean Toomer, Cane (Norton Critical Edition 0393956008)
John Dos Passos, The Big Money (Mariner Books 0618056831)
Ring Lardner, You Know Me Al (Dover Thrift Editions 0486285138)

Essays: The following readings have been placed on electronic reserve (Ares). If you need help getting access to the readings, please consult me or a librarian at Library West.
Charles Baudelaire, selections from "The Painter of Modern Life"
Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility"

Films: We will be screening three films in class.  They are required texts for the course, and you will have an opportunity to write about them.  They are also available for re-screening in Library West. Go to the Ares course web page for information about viewing these films.
The Crowd (1928), d. King Vidor
Modern Times (1936), d. Charlie Chaplin
The Jazz Singer (1927), d. Alan Crossland

Course Requirements

1. You are required to attend class and participate in discussions. Eight or more absences will result in an E grade for the course. You are also expected to have read the material to be discussed on a given day, and you are expected to bring the assigned material to class.  Ares documents should be downloaded and brought to class.  I reserve the option of holding unannounced quizzes if I feel students are inadequately prepared for class discussion.

2. You will write two papers of 7 to 10 pages each on topics generated from the assigned course materials.  An in-class paper workshop will be held well before the due date to allow an opportunity to refine paper topics and get feedback on the writing from your professor and peers.  

Final due dates for the papers are Thursday March 6 at the beginning of class and Friday, April 25 at 4 pm.

Course grades will be determined as follows:
Academic Honesty Policy

You are required to review the university's Academic Honor Code and the Academic Honesty Guidelines, especially the discussion of plagiarism, found in the Undergraduate Catalogue. Plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty will result in an automatic failure of the assignment and the filing of a report in your academic file.

Types of plagiarism include (but are not limited to):
Please take a moment to consider the second category of plagiarism.  Many students fail to fully understand that even such possibly innocent mistakes as paraphrasing the work of others or failure to give proper citation is a serious form of plagiarism.  Because such mistakes are potentially serious, you should  talk to me if you have any questions about plagiarism, academic honesty, or proper research and citation methods.


Course Schedule

1/8 Introduction: Modernism, Form, and Period

Cities and Crowds/ The Experience of Modern Life
1/10 Baudelaire, "The Painter of Modern Life" (Ares)
1/15 Baudelaire + (imagist) poems: William Carlos Williams, "The Young Housewife" (NAAP 220), "Apology" (NAAP 221), "To Elsie" (NAAP 230), "The Red Wheelbarrow" (NAAP 232), "The Crowd At the Ballgame" (handout); Ezra Pound, "In a Station at the Metro" (NAAP 267), from "A Retrospect," and "A Few Don'ts" (NAAP 294); Amy Lowell, "The Captured Goddess" (NAAP 75), "The Taxi" (NAAP 77)
1/17 Other poetic approaches to the city: Carl Sandburg, "Chicago" (NAAP 138); Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Recuerdo" (NAAP 469); Andrew Sterling, "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (NAAP 550); Jack Norworth, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (NAAP 553)
1/22 Screening of The Crowd (104 minutes)
1/24 discuss The Crowd

Technology
1/29 discuss The Crowd and Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility" (Ares)
1/31 Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility" (Ares)
2/5 screening and discussion of Modern Times
2/7 Discuss Modern Times
2/12 Hart Crane, "Chaplinesque" (NAAP 629), "To Brooklyn Bridge" (637); Wallace Stevens, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (NAAP 154); "Anecdote of the Jar" (NAAP 156); "Of Modern Poetry" (NAAP 167); Gertrude Stein, from "Composition as Explanation" (NAAP 107)
2/14 Crane, Stevens, Stein continued
2/19 Dos Passos, The Big Money
2/21 first paper workshop
2/26 Dos Passos, The Big Money
2/28 Dos Passos, The Big Money

The American Vernacular
3/4 Lardner, You Know Me Al
3/6 Lardner, You Know Me Al; first paper due
SPRING BREAK
3/18 Lardner and begin Hemingway, In Our Time
3/20 Hemingway, In Our Time
3/25 Hemingway, In Our Time
3/27 Hemingway, In Our Time

Jazz and Roots
4/1 Screen The Jazz Singer
4/3 Discuss The Jazz Singer
4/8 W.C. Handy, "St. Louis Blues" (NAAP 578); Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (NAAP 695), "The Weary Blues" (NAAP 699),  "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (NAAP 712); Claude McKay, "The Harlem Dancer" (NAAP 452)
4/10 second paper workshop
4/15 Toomer, Cane
4/17 Toomer, Cane
4/22 Toomer, Cane
4/25 Second paper due

LINKS:

The Modernist Journals Project
Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939 (V&A)
American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920 (Library of Congress)
The Red Hot Jazz Archive: A History of Jazz Before 1930
Sample some popular songs from the 1890s-1930s at Archeophone Records

updated 1/10/08