English 140b Modern and Contemporary Aesthetics and Critical Theory: Art and Politics
Modern and Contemporary Aesthetics and Critical Theory:
Art and Politics
English 140b Professor Reinhard
Spring 2011 office hours: Tues, 3-5
Tues, Thurs 12-2 Humanities 178c
Public Affairs 2238 reinhard@humnet.ucla.edu
1. March 29 Introduction
March 31 Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (pp. 217-251)
2. April 5 Marx, The German Ideology; “Preface” to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (Marx, Selected Writings pp. 102-156, 209-213)
April 7 Marx, Capital, Volume One, from Chapter One on the commodity and the fetish (Marx, Selected Writings pp. 214-243)3. April 12 NO CLASS
April 14 Marx, cont. David Harvey, A Companion to Marx’s Capital, Ch. 1, “Commodities and Exchange”4. April 19 NO CLASS
April 21 Georg Lukács, “Shakespeare and the Modern Drama,” “Aesthetic Culture,” “The Parting of the Ways,” “Integrated Civilizations,” and “The Ideology of Modernism” (The Lukács Reader, pp. 70-81, 146-159, 167- 173, 179-209)5. April 26 Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic: “The Modern Theater is the Epic Theater” (33-43), “Theater for Pleasure or Theater for Instruction” (69-76), “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting” (91-100), “On Gestic Music” (104-107), “A Short Organum for the Theater” (179-209), “Appendices to the ‘Short Organum’” (276-281), “’Dialectics in the Theater’: An Editorial Note” (281-283); “Against Georg Lukács” (pdf)
April 28 Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, “What is Epic Theater?”6. May 3 Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire”
May 5 MIDTERM7. May 10 Theodor Adorno, “On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening” (pdf)
May 12 Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”8. May 17 Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
May 19 Debord, cont.9. May 24 Alain Badiou, Rhapsody for the Theater (pdf)
May 26 Alain Badiou, Handbook of Inaesthetics (selections; pdf)10. May 31 Two Contemporary Artists: Matthew Barney and Allan Sekula
June 2 PAPER DUE at noon in classJUNE 4 & 5 CONFERENCE ON ART AND POLITICS AT HAMMER MUSEUM
Featuring the artists Matthew Barney and Allan Sekula; the critical theorists Joan Copjec, Joshua Clover, and Lauren Berlant; and the philosopher Alain Badiou.
Also featuring a performance by Ultra-Red, Matmos, and Kode9 and a reading of scenes from two plays by Alain Badiou, Incident at Antioch and Ahmed the Philosopher.
FINAL EXAM: Thursday, June 9 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM
REQUIREMENTS: reading, attendance, midterm, 5-7 page paper, final exam
English 140a
test
English 180 Wagner's Ring
English 180 Opera and Literature: Wagner’s Ring
Spring 2010
Tuesdays, 3-6 Humanities A60
Office hrs: Tues, 1-3 Humanities 178c
1. (April 6) Introduction: Opera and Wagner
READING
Deathridge & Dahlhaus, Wagner, pp. 1-66; 92-110; 111-164
Denise Gallo, Opera: The Basics (recommended)
2. (April 13) Der Ring des Nibelungen 1) Das Rheingold
READING
Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung, pp. 3-72
Wagner on Music & Drama, pp. 37-46, 69-74
VIEWING
Das Rheingold (Boulez/Chéreau)
Quiz on Das Rheingold
3. (April 20) Der Ring des Nibelungen 2) Die Walküre
READING
Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung, pp. 75-152
The Prose Edda, pp. 80-108
VIEWING
Die Walküre, Acts I & II (Boulez/Chéreau)
4. (April 27) Der Ring des Nibelungen 2) Die Walküre
READING
Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner; Nietzsche Contra Wagner
VIEWING
Die Walküre, Act III (Boulez/Chéreau)
Quiz on Die Walküre
5. (May 4) Der Ring des Nibelungen 3) Siegfried
READING
Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung, pp. 155-244
Wagner, Judaism in Music
VIEWING
Siegfried, Acts I & II (Boulez/Chéreau)
6. (May 11) Der Ring des Nibelungen 3) Siegfried
READING
Wagner on Music & Drama, pp. 263-294
VIEWING
Siegfried, Act III (Boulez/Chéreau)
Quiz on Siegfried
7. (May 18) Der Ring des Nibelungen 4) Götterdämmerung
READING
Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung, pp. 247-329
VIEWING
Götterdämmerung, Acts I & II (Boulez/Chéreau)
8. (May 25) Der Ring des Nibelungen 4) Götterdämmerung
READING
Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity (selections)
Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (selections)
VIEWING
Götterdämmerung, Act III (Boulez/Chéreau)
Quiz on Götterdämmerung
9. (June 1) Conference: “Wagner in LA: The Opera of the 21st Century?”
(Hammer Museum)
1:00 Juliet Koss, Chair, Department of Art History, Scripps College
“Spectral Gesamtkunstwerk”
2:30 Clemens Risi, Professor of Theater, Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Berlin
“Re-Inventing Bayreuth for the 21st Century:
The 2007 Meistersinger as a Self-Reflection of Performance History”
4:00 David Levin, Professor of German and Theater and Performance, University of Chicago “The Ring in Pieces: Götterdämmerung (Stuttgart Opera, Peter Konwitschny, 2002-2003)”
5:30 Slavoj Zizek, Senior Researcher, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
“Wagner as a Christian Jew: The Alternate Endings of The Twilight of the Gods”
7:00 PUBLIC RECEPTION (at the Hammer café)
10. (June 2) Conference: “Wagner in LA: The Opera of the 21st Century?”
(Hammer Museum)
1:00 John Deathridge, Chair, Department of Music, King’s College, London
“Reality and Image: Wagner in Film”
2:30 Mary Ann Smart, Professor of Musicology, UC Berkeley
Title TBA
4:00 Fredric Jameson, Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University
“Freedom and Envy: Wagner as Dramatist”
5:30 Alain Badiou, Professor of Philosophy, École Normale Supérieure, Paris
Title TBA
English 140a Winter 2010
The History of Critical and Aesthetic Theory
Professor Kenneth Reinhard
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12-2 Public Affairs 2242
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3-5 Humanities 178c
Reinhard@humnet.ucla.edu
1a (Jan 5) Introduction
b (Jan 7) Rhetoric, Sophistry
Gorgias, Encomium of Helen
2a (Jan 12) Philosophy and the Anti-Rhetorical
Plato, The Republic, (Books I-III; VI-VII; X)
b (Jan 14) Plato, The Republic, cont.
3a (Jan 19) Poetry, Structure, Genre
Aristotle, Poetics
b (Jan 21) Aristotle, Poetics, cont.
4a (Jan 26) The Beautiful and the Sublime
Horace, “On the Art of Poetry”
b (Jan 28) Longinus, “On the Sublime”
5a (Feb 2) Biblical Interpretation, Hermeneutics, Semiotics
St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
part 1
part 2
part 3
b (Feb 4) MIDTERM
MIDTERM REVIEW SHEET
6a (Feb 9) Aesthetic Theory I: Kant
Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Preface,” “Introduction,” “Analytic
of the Beautiful” [Pluhar, pp. 3-95])
b (Feb 11) Kant, cont.
7a (Feb 16) Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Analytic of the Sublime,” selections)
b (Feb 18) Kant, cont.
8a (Feb 23) Aesthetic Theory II: Hegel
Hegel, Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics
b (Feb 25) Hegel, cont.
9a (March 2) Hegel, cont.
b (March 4) PAPER DUECritique
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, first essay
10a (March 9) Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, second essay
b (March 11) Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, third essay
Final Exam: Wednesday, March 17, 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
English 180: Opera and Literature: Wagner’s Ring
Opera and Literature: Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
English 180.7
Winter 2009
Tuesday, 3-6
Humanities A60
English 180 Sec. 4 Political Theology
English 140a: The History of Critical and Aesthetic Theory
English 140b Freud and Psychoanalysis
Syllabus and links to readings
CL 290 Freud and Psychoanalysis
Syllabus and links to readings
CBI Adult Ed
CL 290 Foundations and Anti-Foundations of Modern Critical Theory
Spring 2007
Kenneth Reinhard
Reinhard@humnet.ucla.edu
Tuesdays, 3-6 Humanities 348
Office hrs: Thurs. 3-5 Humanites 178c
1 (April 3) No Class
2 (April 10) Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (Introduction, Transcendental Aesthetic) ;
Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Preface,” “Introduction,” “Analytic
of the Beautiful” [Bernard, pp. 3-81])
3 (April 17) Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Analytic of the Sublime,” “Dialectic of Aesthetical Judgment” [Bernard, pp. 82-202])
4 (April 24) Hegel¸ Phenomenology of Spirit (“Preface: On Scientific
Cognition,” “Introduction,” “Self-Consciousness” [Miller 1-57;
104-138])
5 (May 1) Hegel, Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics
6 (May 8) Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense” Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
7 (May 15) Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
8 (May 22) Heidegger, Being and Time, “Introduction” [Krell, 38-87]
9 (May 29) Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art” [Krell 143-212]
10 (June 5) Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction”
English 140b Foundations and Anti-Foundations of Modern Critical Theory
Spring 2007
Professor Kenneth Reinhard Reinhard@humnet.ucla.edu
Tues-Thur, 12-2 Royce 164
Office hrs: Thurs. 3-5 Humanities 178c
Requirements: attendance at all classes, all reading, midterm, 5 pp. paper, final exam.
1a (April 3) No Class 1b (April 5) Introduction
2a (April 10) Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Preface,” “Introduction,” “Analytic
of the Beautiful” [Bernard, pp. 3-81])
2b (April 12) Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Beautiful,” cont.
3a (April 17) Kant, Critique of Judgment (“Analytic of the Sublime” [Bernard,
pp. 82-181])
3b (April 19) Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Sublime,” cont.
4a (April 24) Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (“Preface: On Scientific Cognition”
[Miller pp. 1-45])
4b (April 26) Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, “Preface,” cont.
5a (May 1) Hegel, Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics
5b (May 3) Hegel, Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics, cont.
6a (May 8) MIDTERM
6b (May 10) Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”
7a (May 15) Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (“First Essay,” “Second Essay”
[Kaufmann pp. 13-96])
7b (May 17) Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (“Third Essay” [Kaufmann
pp. 97-163])
8a (May 22) Heidegger, Being and Time, “Introduction” [Krell, 38-87]
8b (May 24) Heidegger, Being and Time, “Introduction,” cont.
9a (May 29) Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art” [Krell 143-212]
9b (May 31) Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” cont.
10a (June 5) Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,”
10b (June 7) Benjamin, cont.
English 140a: The History of Aesthetic and Literary Criticism
The History of Aesthetic and Critical Theory (From the Pre Socratics to Descartes)
This course is meant to serve a dual purpose: on the one hand, it will trace a selective path through the history of literary criticism and theory by reading texts from the Pre Socratics and Plato up to the Enlightenment, following the vicissitudes of the concept of the literary through the overlapping fields and competing claims of politics, aesthetics, philosophy, rhetoric, and ethics. On the other hand, and simultaneously, it is meant to provide some of the conceptual background necessary for productive reading of contemporary (that is, recent) critical theory, on the assumption that we cannot evaluate our current situation without understanding its history. Hence, not all of the texts we read will be, strictly speaking, on literature or even art, but all will be understood as having crucial consequences for the history of critical and aesthetic theory.
Our reading and discussion will trace two intersecting genealogies: the classical or philosophical-rhetorical account of imitation and persuasion, and the biblical and religious understanding of interpretation and meaning. Readings will include texts by Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Jewish and Christian biblical exegesis (i.e., Torah, Midrash, Talmud, Gospels, St. Paul, Augustine, Aquinas) Dante, Descartes, and Rousseau
English 201a: The History of Aesthetic and Critical Theory
This course is meant to serve a dual purpose: on the one hand, it will trace a selective path through the history of literary criticism and theory by reading texts from the Pre Socratics and Plato up to the Enlightenment, following the vicissitudes of the concept of the literary through the overlapping fields and competing claims of politics, aesthetics, philosophy, rhetoric, and ethics. On the other hand, and simultaneously, it is meant to provide some of the conceptual background necessary for productive reading of contemporary (that is, recent) critical theory, on the assumption that we cannot evaluate our current situation without understanding its history. Hence, not all of the texts we read will be, strictly speaking, on literature or even art, but all will be understood as having crucial consequences for the history of critical and aesthetic theory. Our reading and discussion will trace two intersecting genealogies: the classical or philosophical-rhetorical account of imitation and persuasion, and the biblical and religious understanding of interpretation and meaning. Readings will include texts by Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Jewish and Christian biblical exegesis (i.e., Torah, Midrash, Talmud, Gospels, St. Paul, Augustine, Aquinas) Dante, Descartes, and Rousseau