Understanding Eastern Europe through Literature and Cinema: IAH 241C Course - Prof. Jason , Lecture notes of Art

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IAH 241C: Understanding Eastern Europe through Literature and

Cinema

Instructor : Jason Merrill A-643 Wells Hall [email protected] 355- Off hours: M 10:00-11:00 / W 11:15- 12:15 or by appointment Course : IAH 241C, Section 001 MW 8:00-9: 315 Bessey Hall Spring 2012 Course Description. This course aims, through an examination of literature and film, to explore Eastern Europe and its central place in European history, art, and culture. One major focus will be the ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity of the area. Another will be the experience and response of the people of Eastern Europe to the horrors of World War II and oppressive rule after the war. We will also look at the effect of exile from Eastern Europe on many of the writers and filmmakers in the course. Course Goals. The basic goals are to increase student knowledge of the major names and themes in Eastern European literature and film, increase understanding of how ethnic and religious diversity shaped history and culture here, increase awareness of the experiences and responses of the people to the horrors of World War II and subsequent communist rule, and study the theme of exile from one’s native land and the effect it has on writers, filmmakers, and others as creative artists. BOOKS. The following books have been ordered for this course. Please try to obtain the editions mentioned below, because we will be making frequent reference to page numbers in class as we do close readings of the text: Hupchick, Dennis P. and Harold E. Cox. The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe. Palgrave: 2001. ISBN 0-312-23985-8. Kosinski, Jerzy. The Painted Bird. (Second Edition). Grove Press, 1976. ISBN 0-8021- 3422-X Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. HarperCollins Perennial Classics,

1999. ISBN 0-06-093213-9. -----. The Joke. HarperCollins Perennial Classics, 1993. ISBN 006099505X (complete edition, which is over 300 pages). Tišma, Aleksandar. The Book of Blam. Harcourt (Harvest Books), 1998. ISBN 0-15- 600841-6. In addition, you should be following current events in at least one major newspaper. We will spend time in class discussing major stories that concern Eastern Europe. Films. We will view and discuss the following films. Many are available for sale; few are available for rent. All of the films will be available for viewing in the video library on the fourth floor of the MSU library.

Kadar, Jan. The Shop On Main Street (Obchod na korze, 1965) Kieslowski, Krzysztof. Camera Buff (Amator, 1979) Kaszyński, Oskar. Segment ’76 (2003) Polanski, Roman. Knife in the Water (Nóż w wodzie, 1962) Wajda, Andrzej. Kanal (1957) Forman, Milos. The Firemen’s Ball (Hoři, má panenko, 1967) Chytilová, Vera. Daisies (Sedmikrasky, 1967) Makavejev, Dušan. Man is Not a Bird (Čovek nije tica, 1965) Dragojevic, Srdjan. Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (Lepa sela lepo gore, 1997) Course requirements

1. Attendance and participation (10%). Attendance means being physically present in the room for the entire class period. You will not succeed academically if you do not come to class. Even if you have not done the assignment for a given day, come to class – skipping only compounds the problem. Calling me after you missed class and telling me you were sick does not excuse your absence. Being absent does not excuse you from doing the assigned work. Leaving during class will be considered an absence. 29/29 = 100%; 28/29 = 96.5%; 27/29 = 93%, and so on. It is up to you to keep track of work you may have missed while absent. Participation means coming to class prepared and ready to contribute, no matter what the format of the day’s class happens to be. The more you actively participate, the more you will get out of the class. 2. Reading quizzes (5%). The course ANGEL page contains multiple-choice reading quizzes that should be completed before the class in which we will be discussing the assigned pages. The goal of these quizzes is to check your comprehension of the reading. You must score 100% (5 of 5) to receive credit. You may take each quiz as many times as you need to achieve that score. The reading quizzes cover:  The Joke : each chapter has a separate quiz  The Painted Bird : Afterward-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-end  The Unbearable Lightness of Being : each chapter has a separate quiz (7)  The Book of Blam : chapters 1-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-end 3. Journals (10%). I will ask you to keep a journal of your reactions to the literature we read. You may keep the journal in notebooks or as a series of loose pages (typed is fine). You should complete an entry in the journal for every day’s reading. So there is an entry due for every day when we are reading one of our four books (not just one entry per book!). Make sure your name is on it. Clearly label each entry with the date and the pages you read for that day. The content of the journal is up to you. You may discuss something about the reading that caught your attention, something you enjoyed, or important themes you see developing. If you’re stuck, you may start by saying whether you liked the reading and why / why not. Try for ¾ of a page, or more if you have small pages or large handwriting. Each entry should do (at least) two things: convince the reader that you did the reading, and convince the reader that you thought about the

reading. They are also a good place to ask questions that you didn’t ask in class. Journals will be collected each class. Journals not in my hand by the end of class will be considered late; if I receive them before the next class you will receive ½ credit for them. From time to time class discussion will be started by calling on someone randomly to share the contents of their journal with the class.

4. Historical Quizzes (10%). There will be four short quizzes in class based on ID’s from the four sections of our course. The Historical Atlas and class lectures will be all you need to answer the ID’s. Note that there will be some overlap among the sections. Quizzes will be on 1/30, 2/20, 3/28, 4/23. 5. Film analyses (15% - 7.5% each). We will be viewing several East European films. For two of the films you should write a response (1.5 to 2 pages) with the following format. First, give a brief plot summary in your own words of the film (what happens in it?). Second, try to formulate in your own words what this film is about / what is its meaning. Third, speculate on its larger significance: X is an important film because… Sometimes it will have political significance, other times more significance for cinema. In your conclusion, mention if there is there anything particularly Eastern European about this film. It is your choice as to which films you write on, but your two films must be from different geographical areas (i.e. you can’t write on two Polish films). Plan ahead, and remember that all of the films for the course are on reserve. Responses are due in class one week after we finish discussion of the film in class. Please note that these are not “this film was cool, it made me feel good” papers, but papers that describe, support, and analyze the meanings you found in the film. These papers have a thesis and support it with evidence from the film. Please also note that the ideas in the paper are to be YOURS, not the ideas of some maniac on an internet movie review site. 6. Papers (35% - 17.5% each). In this course we will write two papers of 3-4 pages. A paper will be due after each of the last three books. You only need to complete two of the three papers. If you are unsatisfied with your grade, you may do the third paper to try for a higher grade (that involves some planning ahead and doing the first two papers). You will have a choice of topics; if there is another topic on which you would like to write your paper, have me approve it before you begin writing. These papers will ask you to carefully consider the works of literature we read in this course, analyze them, and come to conclusions that are supported by the text. In all of these papers you should clearly and concisely state your thesis and then support it with evidence from the text. We will discuss the paper topics in class. The first goal of these papers is to have you think in depth about the meaning of the works we read. The second is to help you effectively convey that meaning to your reader in clear and concise writing that has a clear thesis and has no filler. 7. Final exam (15%). The final exam for this course will be on Tuesday, May 1, 7:45- 9:45 am. Mark your calendars now. The final exam will include a map quiz (same material as the first day of class), an instructor’s choice section (which will include, among other things, quotes from the novels we read), and essays that cover the entire course. Essay topics will be given out in class before the exam.

NOTE ON ALL ASSIGNMENTS: All assignments are due in class on the day specified on the syllabus (please note all days NOW). Late assignments will lose two points (i.e. 86 to 84) for each day (24-hour period) they are late. If there is a problem that will prevent you from handing in an assignment on time, arrangements must be made before the due date. GRADE SCALE : 90-100 = 4. 85-89 = 3. 80-84 = 3.

75-79 = 2.

70-74 = 2.

65-69 = 1.

60-64 = 1.

00-59 = 0.

Plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be dealt with as such in this course. We will discuss plagiarism before writing our first paper. Before then, familiarize yourself with the MSU Ombudsman’s resources on plagiarism: http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/plagiarism.html The best way to avoid plagiarism in this course is to not put yourself in a position where it could occur, even “accidentally.” None of the writing for this course requires any outside research; they all deal with your interpretation of texts. Don’t look at internet sites – many of which are of dubious quality – and you’ll avoid this problem altogether. In other words, novel papers, film papers, and journals involve only you and the text. Evaluations Michigan State University takes seriously the opinion of students in the evaluation of the effectiveness of instruction and has implemented the Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS) to gather student feedback (http://rateyourclass.msu.edu/). This course utilizes the online SIRS system, and you will receive an e-mail during the last two weeks of class asking you to fill out the SIRS web form at your convenience. In addition, participation in the online SIRS system involves grade sequestration, which means that the final grade for this course will not be accessible on STUINFO during the week following the submission of grades for this course unless the SIRS online form has been completed. Alternatively, you have the option on the SIRS website to decline to participate in the evaluation of the course. We hope, however, that you will be willing to give us your frank and constructive feedback so that we may instruct students even better in the future. If you access the online SIRS website and complete the online SIRS form or decline to participate, you will receive the final grade in this course as usual once final grades are submitted. Students with disabilities. If you have a disability that may prevent you from completing the course requirements to the best of your abilities, see me as soon as possible so that we can ensure your successful completing of this course.

PAPER TOPICS (YOU MAY WRITE ON OTHER TOPICS APPROVED BY ME) :

Paper one (due Monday, February 27): The Painted Bird.

1. Is The Painted Bird a work of fiction or non-fiction? How do we know? Make sure you define all terms you use (such as fiction or non-fiction). Consider what Kosinski says about this question in his “Afterward” (at the front of the book). Be sure to support your ideas with specific evidence from the book.
2. To what does the title of this book refer? Why did Kosinski choose this title? What role do birds play in this book? Be sure to support your ideas with specific evidence from the book.
3. Kosinski seems to develop a theory of freedom in this book. What is it and where do we see it? Be sure to support your ideas with specific evidence from the book. What are the plusses and minuses of this “freedom?” Paper two (due Wednesday, April 4): The Unbearable Lightness of Being
4. Certain phrases repeat throughout The Unbearable Lightness of Being , suggesting that they are important for Kundera. One such phrase is Eternal return, a reference to Nietzsche’s theory. What is Nietzsche’s theory of Eternal return? Does Kundera agree or disagree with it? What role does it play in The Unbearable Lightness of Being? What meaning could it have for communist Czechoslovakia?
5. Kundera wrote The Unbearable Lightness of Being in exile. Do you detect the theme of exile on any level in the novel? Who lives where (inside / outside Czechoslovakia) and what do they think of their living place? Related is the question of Czechoslovakia: does Kundera make any political statements in this book? If so, what are they? (i.e. how important is it that the action takes place in communist Czechoslovakia?).
6. To what does the title of The Unbearable Lightness of Being refer? What echoes of lightness and heaviness are there in it and what role do they play? Is the book about going from one to the other? Does Kundera set up any other significant oppositions and what role do they play?
7. How does Kundera define kitsch? What is it? Where do his characters see it? Why is it so seemingly harmless but in reality very dangerous? Would Kundera see kitsch in today’s post-communist world? Where? Paper three (due Wednesday, April 25): The Book of Blam
8. What is the role of memory in The Book of Blam? Who remembers past events (and how) and who does or does not remember them, or tries to forget them? What and why does Blam try to forget, and why won’t the narrator let him? Why is memory so important in this book and for these people?

2. What is Blam’s attitude toward his Jewish heritage? Why is this such a troublesome question for him? How do other Jewish characters feel about their own heritage and about Blam? Why is this an important question for this book?
3. How would you describe the narrator of this book? What devices does he use / how does he structure his narrative? Why does his story have such a confusing structure? What does it tell us about him?
4. Guilt. What does this book say about guilt? Who is guilty and who isn’t? Of what? Who is judged, and who judges? COURSE SCHEDULE :

Introduction and Context

1. Monday, January 9 : Introduction to our course. Why study Eastern Europe? Eastern Europe on the map. Eastern Europe today. Assignment for 1/11:  Purchase at least The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe and The Joke (the first two books we’ll need).  Read over this entire syllabus; read the schedule very carefully. Note what assignments are due when.  Read Slavenka Drakulic’s “The First Person Singular” (on Angel) (first journal entry due Wednesday) 2. Wednesday, January 11 : The Roman Empire, Christianity, and the early history of Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe on the eve of World War II. Assignment for 1/18:  Read Historical Atlas Maps 1-9 and 47-50 (read the text on the left and study the map on the right carefully). Start working on the first set of ID’s.  Read two poems on World War II, bring copies of the poems to class so we can do a close reading (next journal entry due Wed): 1. Czeslaw Milosz, “Campo Dei Fiori” http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/exhib/ghetto2/fiori.html 2. Wladyslaw Szlengel, “It Is About Time” http://www.zchor.org/szlengel/poems4.htm#juz (scroll down a little for English) 3. Monday, January 16 : No classes, Martin Luther King Day 4. Wednesday, January 18 : Eastern Europe and World War II. The Holocaust. How to read. Discuss poems. Start The Shop On Main Street Assignment for 1/23:  Read The Joke , Parts One and Two (journal due Monday, as are reading quizzes for chapters 1 and 2).  Prepare your part of Oral Report 1.

5. Monday, January 23 : Eastern Europe and World War II: Finish and discuss The Shop On Main Street. Oral Report 1. Assignment for 1/25:  Read The Joke , Part Three (journal due Wednesday, reading quiz for part 3). 6. Wednesday, January 25 : Eastern Europe after World War II. Communism. Stalinism. The Cold War. Begin discussion of The Joke Assignment for 1/30:  Read The Joke , Parts Four and Five (journal and both reading quizzes due Monday – no more reminders).  Prepare for Quiz 1 7. Monday, January 30 : Quiz on ID sheet 1 (Background / World War II and Communism). The Joke and Eastern Europe under Communism. Begin Segment ‘. Assignment for 2/1:  Finish The Joke. 8. Wednesday, February 1 : Finish / discuss Segment ‘76. Life under Communism. Assignment for 2/7:  Read the “Afterward” to The Painted Bird (ix-xxvi) and pp. 3-56. Make sure you look at the topics for Paper One and the discussion questions so you can be thinking of them as you read.

Poland

9. Monday, February 6 : The rise of Poland. Our first author, Jerzy Kosinski. Assignment for 2/8:  Read The Painted Bird 57-142.  Read Historical Atlas Maps 19, 23, 26, 29-31, 40-43. 10. Wednesday, February 8 : Jerzy Kosinski and The Painted Bird. Polish history continued. The Warsaw Uprising. Assignment for 2/13:  Read Historical Atlas Maps 49, 50.  What do you know about Andrzej Wajda? Search the internet for information on him and his films. 11. Monday, February 13 : The Warsaw Uprising and Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal. Assignment for 2/15:  Finish The Painted Bird. Review discussion questions before reading 12. Wednesday, February 15 : Final discussion of The Painted Bird. How to write an effective paper. Structure. Editing. Thinking about Paper One

Assignment for 2/20:  Reread topics for Paper One and brainstorm  Which paper topic do you want to write on? Bring at least a short outline, including thesis statement and textual evidence you would use, to class on Monday.

13. Monday, February 20 : Poland ID Quiz. Peer brainstorming / editing of outlines. Roman Polanski. Assignment for 2/22:  What kind of internet information is available about Roman Polanski?  Write Paper One 14. Wednesday, February 22 : Polanski’s Knife in the Water. Assignment for 2/27:  Read Historical Atlas Maps 19-21, 27.

Czechoslovakia

15. Monday, February 27 : Paper One due. Czech history. Milan Kundera and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Assignment for 2/29:  Read Historical Atlas Maps 30, 31, 33, 34, 40-42, 48, 49, 50.  Read Unbearable Lightness 1-35 CAREFULLY. 16. Wednesday, February 29 : Czech history continued. Begin The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Review the first half of the semester. Review map.  Completely optional fun assignment for over spring break: Watch Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ask parents and friends if they have seen this film. What did they think? Did they know the director was Czech? Does this information add to the depth of the film?  Sports fans: watch the ESPN special “Once Brothers,” available on Youtube.

SPRING BREAK March 5-

17. Monday, March 12 : Czech history continued. Vera Chytilova and Daisies. Assignment for 3/14:  What kind of information is available about Vera Chytilova? Search the internet for sites on her and her life.  Start working on your Oral Reports for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (see handout) 18. Wednesday, March 14 : Vera Chytilova and Daisies. Assignment for 3/19:  Read Unbearable Lightness 37-171.  Remember Oral Reports

19. Monday, March 19 : Oral Reports for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Begin discussion of the novel. Assignment for 3/21:  Read Unbearable Lightness 175-220.  Who is Milos Forman? See what you can find about him on the internet. 20. Wednesday, March 21 : Milos Forman and The Firemen’s Ball. Assignment for 3/26:  Finish Unbearable Lightness.  Think about how you would make a film version of this book? What goes into film versions of books? 21. Monday, March 26 : Discussion of Unbearable Lightness. Making a film version. Assignment for 3/28:  Look at paper topics again and start thinking about paper two. Decide on which paper topic you would like to write. Think about how you would address this topic. 22. Wednesday, March 28 : Czech ID Quiz. Final discussion of Unbearable Lightness of Being. Brainstorming for paper two. Assignment for 4/2:  Begin work on paper two and bring at least a detailed outline and questions to class. The more you bring, the more feedback you will receive from classmates.

Yugoslavia

23. Monday, April 2 : In-class editing of paper two. The History of the Balkans. Assignment for 4/4:  Write paper two  Read Concise Historical Atlas Maps 16-18, 22, 24, 25, 28. 24. Wednesday, April 4 : Paper Two due. Aleksandar Tišma and The Book of Blam. Yugoslav history. Dušan Makavejev and Man is Not a Bird. Assignment for 4/9:  Read Concise Historical Atlas Maps 31, 32, 35-39, 42, 47, 50-52.  Read The Book of Blam 1-92. Be sure to look through the paper topics and discussion questions before starting. 25. Monday, April 9 : Dušan Makavejev and Man is Not a Bird. Assignment for 4/11:  Read The Book of Blam 93-132. 26. Wednesday, April 11 : Discussion of The Book of Blam. The breakup of Yugoslavia. Begin Pretty Village, Pretty Flame. Assignment for 4/16:

 Search the internet for information on current events in the former Yugoslavia. What kinds of sources are there? What do they say?  Read The Book of Blam 133-191.

27. Monday, April 16 : Finish Pretty Village, Pretty Flame. Discuss film. Assignment for 4/18:  Finish The Book of Blam  Look at the topics for Paper Three and think about which one you would like to write on. 28. Wednesday, April 18 : Discussion of The Book of Blam. Brainstorm for paper three. Assignment for 4/23:  Prepare a thesis statement and outline (at least) for in-class discussion. Again, the more you bring, the more feedback you’ll receive. 29. Monday, April 23 : Yugoslavia ID quiz. In-class editing and brainstorming for Paper Three. Final discussion of The Book of Blam. Assignment for 4/25:  Write paper three 30. Wednesday, April 25 : Paper Three due. Eastern Europe summary. Assignment:  Study for the final exam Final Exam: Tuesday, May 1, 7:45-9:45 am .