Slavic Languages and Literature
261-0-20: Polish Culture in the 20th Century

Instructor: Clare Cavanagh
Office address: 4-107 1860 Campus Dr
Phone: 467-2360
E-mail: ccavanagh5@northwestern.edu
Office Hours:

Room: 2-435 KRG
Expected Enrollment: 35

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Course Description: An introduction to the literature, culture and history of the country Norman Davies has called "the heart of Europe." In the span of a hundred years Poland has undergone an extraordinary range of transformations and traumas: division among three empires (Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian); the brief period of interwar independence; Nazi and then Soviet subjugation; Solidarity and the revolt against Soviet rule; martial law; and finally independence once again. We will explore the relationship between the history and the culture by way of novels, films, essays, memoirs, historical writing, and poetry. Authors and artists to be discussed include: Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Szymborska, Andrzej Wajda, Adam Michnik, Hanna Krall, and others. All work to be read in translation.

TEACHING METHOD: Lecture and discussion.

EVALUATION METHOD: papers, final exam, participation.

NOTE: Approved for History distribution requirement

[Course Descriptions for Spring 2002] [Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences] [SLAVIC Slavic Languages and Literature]