Topics in the Avant-Garde in Literature and Cinema

Red and black squares on a field of tan.

Digital recreation of Kasimir Malevich's Black Square and Red Square. (Image courtesy of Daniel Bersak. Used with permission.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

21G.031J / 4.608J

As Taught In

Spring 2003

Level

Undergraduate / Graduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

21G.031 examines the terms "avant garde" and "Kulturindustrie" in French and German culture of the early twentieth century. Considering the origins of these concepts in surrealist and dadaist literature, art, and cinema, the course then expands to engage parallel formations across Europe, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Emphasis on the specific historical conditions that enabled these interventions. Guiding questions are these: What was original about the historical avant-garde? What connections between art and revolution did avant-garde writers and artists imagine? What strategies did they deploy to meet their modernist imperatives? To what extent did their projects maintain a critical stance towards the culture industry?

Surveying key interventions in the fields of poetry, painting, sculpture, photography, film, and music, the readings also include signal moments in critical thought of the last century. Figures to be considered are: Adorno, Aragon, Bataille, Beckett, Brecht, Breton, Bürger, Duchamp, Eisenstein, Ernst, Jünger, Greenberg, Kandinsky, Malevich, Mayakovsky, and Tzara. Taught in English, but students are encouraged to consult original sources when possible.

Related Content

Charity Scribner. 21G.031J Topics in the Avant-Garde in Literature and Cinema. Spring 2003. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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