Prerequisits:

None required.

Content (Syllabus outline):

The aim of the lectures is to provide a consistent explanation of the discursive formation of modernism. The historical concept of modernism is explained from the perspective of comparative literary studies, linguistics, and philosophy. The complexity of modernist strategies, which is included in the period logic, can validly reveal its specific stipulations only by delineating the concepts of modernism and the Moderne, and modernism and the avant-garde. Dilemmas regarding the establishment of the concept of modernism in individual European literatures result from modernist heterogeneity and planetarity. The lectures discuss the crisis of consciousness and the logic of the modernist shift, the historical avant-garde in southeast Europe, and the connections between modernism and avant-gardism on the one hand and other artistic practices on the other. Slovenian material is included in the comparative contexts.

Readings:

• Berg, Christian idr., ur. The Turn of the Century: Modernism and Modernity in Literature and the Arts. Berlin in New York: de Gruyter, 1995.
• Bradbury, Malcolm in James McFarlane, ur. Modernism, 1890-1930. Harmondsworth in New York: Penguin, 1991.
• Bru, Sascha idr., ur. Europa! Europa? The Avant-Garde, Modernism and the Fate of a Continent. Berlin in New York: de Gruyter, 2009.
• Bürger, Peter. Theory of the Avant-Garde. Prev. Michael Shaw. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1984.
• Calinescu, Matei. Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism. Durham: Duke UP, 1987.
• Caughie, Pamela, ur. Disciplining Modernism. New York: Palgrave, 2010.
• Dović, Marijan. Slovenska zgodovinska avantgarda med kozmopolitizmom in perifernostjo. Svetovne književnosti in obrobja. Ur. Marko Juvan. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2012. 297–320.
• Eysteinsson, Ástráður in Vivian Liska, ur. Modernism 1–2. Amsterdam in Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2007.
• Eysteinsson, Ástráður. The Concept of Modernism. Cornell UP, 1992.
• Fokkema, Douwe W. Literary History, Modernism and Postmodernism. Amsterdam in Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1984.
• Friedman, Susan Stanford. Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity across Time. New York: Columbia UP, 2015.
• Giles, Steve, ur. Theorizing Modernism. Essays in Critical Theory. London in New York: Routledge, 1993.
• Juvan, Marko. Kosovel in hibridnost modernizma. Primerjalna književnost 28.posebna številka (2005): 57–71.
• Juvan, Marko. Modernistična estetika emocij in lirski diskurz. Slavistična revija 58.1 (2010): 157–169.
• Nicholls, Peter. Modernisms. A Literary Guide. Berkeley in Los Angeles: U of California P, 1995.
• Ross, Stephen, ur. Modernism and Theory: A Critical Debate. Abingdon (Oxon) in New York: Routledge 2009.
• Škulj, Jola. Modernizem in poteze v lirski, narativni in dramski formi. Primerjalna književnost 21.2 (1998): 45–74.
• Škulj, Jola. Modernost in modernizem. Primerjalna književnost 18.2 (1995): 17-30.
• Whitworth, Michael H., ur. Modernism. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.
• Wollaeger, Mark, Matt Eatough, ur. The Oxford Handbook of Global Modernisms. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012.

Objectives and competences:

Students are introduced to the historical bases for distinguishing between the concepts of the “Moderne,” “modernity,” “modernism,” and “avant-garde.” They learn about the poetics and philosophical grounds of modernist works in poetry, prose, and drama, and become acquainted with the linguistic-cultural and historical versions of modernism in Europe and elsewhere. They are familiarized with the role of avant-garde practices in Slovenia and southeast Europe, and learn the techniques of reading and analyzing modernist and avant-garde texts.

Intended learning outcomes:

Students use the knowledge acquired in the course to write a piece of academic writing that can serve as a draft of a dissertation chapter or a research article.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts
• Case studies

Assessment:

• 70 % Long written assignments,
• 20 % Presentations,
• 10 % Active participation in lectures and seminars.