LC 272 From Utopia to Science Fiction:
Imagining the Future in Russia and Germany (IT, G)
 
 

Assignment Schedule - Spring 2007

Film Screening Schedule - If you do not attend these, the film is available on reserve in Ames Library. You are responsible for viewing the film before class discussion.

        Monday, January 29- Screening of Aelita - Buck 108 - 7 pm
        Wednesday, February 14 - Screening of 1984 - Beckman Auditorium - 7 pm
        Sunday, February 18, - International Film Series - Screening of Fritz Lang's Metropolis - Beckman Auditorium - 7 pm
        Wednesday, March 7, - Screening of Downfall - Beckman Auditorium - 7 pm
        Monday, March 12 - Screening of Tarkovsky's Solaris - Buck 108 - 7 pm
        Wednesday, April 4- Screening of Goodbye Lenin - Beckman Auditorium - 7 pm

Tuesday, January 9 - What is a utopia?

        Introduction to the course and to utopia/dystopia/anti-utopia

Thursday, January 11 - What is a utopia?

           "Utopian themes, traditions and variations" 8-17 in reader
           "Society as Utopia" 18-31 in reader
           Both from Utopia: the Search for Utopia in the Western World on reserve in Ames

Tuesday, January 16 - The Rise of Socialism and Communism as Utopia

           "Socialism as Utopia" 206-240 in reader
           Marx, Karl. "Manifesto of the Communist Party." The Marx-Engels Reader. 469-500 in reader

Thursday, January 18 -The Rise of Socialism and Communism as Utopia

         Engels, Friedrich. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific." The Marx-Engels Reader. 683-717 in reader
         Bebel, August. "Women of the Future" and "Free Development of the Individual" on e-reserve

Tuesday, January 23 - Russia's Discontents in the early 20th century

          PBS' The Czars - Section on the turn of the century to the Russian Revolution

Thursday, January 25 - Utopian Dream versus the Bolshevik Vanguard

          N. Chernyshevsky. "Vera Pavlovna's Fourth Dream"  from What Can Be Done? in reader
          Lenin, V.I. "What is to be Done?  Burning questions of our movement"  in reader

Tuesday, January 30 - Communist Utopia asserts itself

         A. Tolstoy's Aelita Dir. Yakov Protazanov  (USSR 1924)   99 min.
         Ian Christie “Down to earth: Aelita relocated”in reader

Thursday, February 1 -   The First Russian Dystopia

         Zamyatin, Y. We.  Introduction and Records 1-13.

Tuesday, February 6

         Zamyatin. We. Records 1-23.

Thursday, February 8 -  

         Zamyatin. We. Records 24-31.

Tuesday, February 13 -

         Zamyatin. We. Records 32-40


Thursday, February 15  - Totalitarianism as Utopia/Dystopia/Anti-Utopia

         Zamyatin. We and 1984

Tuesday, February 20 - German utopia/dystopia between the wars

          Metropolis Dir. Fritz Lang/ Screenplay Thea von Harbou (Germany 1927/8)
          Ludmilla Jordanova “Science, Machines, and Gender” in reader

Thursday, February 22 - Socialist/communist Agitprop Theater during the Weimar Republic in Germany

         "Agitprop Theater in the Working Class World"  in reader
          "We are the Red Megaphone!" in reader  

Tuesday, February 27 -

         Agit-prop Performances

Thursday, March 1 -

         Mid-term exam

Tuesday, March 6 -  The Utopian Body in National Socialism

         Read Frédéric Rouvillois "Utopia and Totalitarianism" 316-331 in reader
         from Utopia: the Search for Utopia in the Western World

         Excerpts from Triumph des Willens - Triumph of the Will Dir. Leni Riefenstahl

Thursday, March 8 - Apocalypse and National Socialism

         Downfall

Tuesday, March 13 - Russian postwar anti-utopia

         Tarkovsky's Solaris (1971)  167 min. allow 3 hours. This is a longie but goodie.
         Alexandra Karriker "In Search of Refuge; Functions of Nature in Tarkovsky's Films" in reader

Thursday, March 15 - East German utopian socialism/feminism

         Christa Wolf  Cassandra 1-50.

- Spring Break -

Tuesday, March 27 -

          Christa Wolf Cassandra 51-100.

Thursday, March 29

          Christa Wolf Cassandra 101-138.

Tuesday, April 3 -

          Christa Wolf Cassandra wrap-up

Thursday, April 5 Ostalgia in a Reunited Germany

          Goodbye Lenin. Dir. Wolfgang Becker, 121 min. (Bavaria Film, 2003).

Tuesday, April 10 During and After Perestroika

           Pelevin, V. Omon Ra 1-50. See also on-line version with notes.

Thursday, April 12 -

          Omon Ra 51-100.

Tuesday, April 17 -

           Omon Ra 101-154.
          "Living Utopia" student reports

Thursday, April 19

           Omon Ra. Wrap Up

           "Living Utopia" student reports

Tuesday, April 24

          "Living Utopia" student reports
           Wrap Up and Evaluations

Wednesday, April 25

           Reading Day

Final 

           Thursday, April 26 10:15-12:15 - Final Paper Due