Modern Poetry and Culture in France and Russia, 1870-1930

European Studies 34 The Birth of the Avant-Garde: Modern Poetry and Culture in France and Russia, 1870-1930 Spring 2010

Tuesday, Thursday, 10-11.20 Prof. Cathy Ciepiela (Russian Department) Prof. Laure Katsaros (French Department)

Office Hours

Prof. Katsaros: Monday and Wednesday, 11-12, Barrett 103, phone 542-8480 [email protected] Prof. Ciepiela: Monday 1-3, Webster 209, phone 542-2394 [email protected]

Course Description

Between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, poetry was revolutionized both in France and in Russia: nowhere else did the avant-gardes proliferate more extravagantly. This class focuses on the key period in the emergence of literary modernity that began with Symbolism and culminated with Surrealism and Constructivism. With the advent of modernism, the poem became a “global phenomenon” that circulated among different languages and different cultures, part of a process of cross-fertilization. An increasingly hybrid genre, avant-garde poetry also went beyond its own boundaries by drawing into itself prose literature, philosophy, music, and the visual and performing arts. The relation between the artistic and the literary avant- garde will be an essential concern. All readings are in English translation, although French and Russian majors are encouraged to consult the originals (see below).

The class will include guest lectures. We will visit the Russian Art Collection at the Mead and the book collection of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture.

Course Materials

The books for the course may be purchased from Amherst Books (8 Main Street, phone 256 1547):

The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry, from Nerval to Valéry, ed. Angel Flores The Penguin Anthology of French Poetry, 1820-1950, ed. William Rees Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, tr. Keith Waldrop Alexander Blok, Selected Poems, tr. Jon Stallworthy and Peter France Daniil Kharms, Today I Wrote Nothing, tr. Matvei Yankelevich Velimir Khlebnikov, The King of Time, ed. Charlotte Douglas

1 Stéphane Mallarmé: Mallarmé in prose, ed. M.A. Caws ------Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. M.A. Caws Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, tr. W. Kaufmann

There is also a course reader to be purchased from Academic Department Coordinator Saloma Furlong in the European Studies office (Barrett Hall, first floor, 9 am to 1 pm). Additional material such as articles and films will be available on the course CMS site through “E-Reserves.” All readings in the syllabus marked (R) are in the course reader. All readings marked (E) are in the course E-Reserves.

For French and Russian majors: Editions of the materials in the original language are available at the Reserve Desk at Frost Library. You are invited to write the papers for the course in either French or Russian; French students please speak with Prof. Katsaros and Russian students please speak with Prof. Ciepiela.

Assignments and Grades

You will be assigned two 5-to-8 pages papers (double-spaced), which will account for 40% of your grade. Due at the end of the semester is a long final paper (15-20 double- spaced pages) (40%); you must consult with one of us about your proposed topic by mid- April. Attendance and class participation are essential for the class and will account for 20% of your grade; more than one unexcused absence will lower your grade.

SYLLABUS

Tuesday January 26: Presentation of the course.

Thursday January 28: Baudelaire: Dreams, Echoes, Correspondences

Charles Baudelaire, selected poems Baudelaire, “The Life and Work of Eugène Delacroix” (R)

Tuesday Feb. 2: Baudelaire and the Painting of Modern Life

Baudelaire, selected poems in verse and prose Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life” (R)

Thursday Feb. 4: Baudelaire and Wagner

Baudelaire, “Richard Wagner and Tannhäuser in Paris” (R) Guest Lecturer Scott Smith ’09, Graduate Associate in Music

Tuesday Feb. 9: Nietzsche in France and Russia

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

2 Thursday Feb. 11: Alexander Blok

Alexander Blok, Selected Poems Kornei Chukovsky, excerpts from A. A. Blok: The Man (E)

Tuesday Feb. 16: The Visions of Arthur Rimbaud

Rimbaud, selected poems (Anchor)

Thursday Feb. 18: Stéphane Mallarmé, Prophet and Theoretician of Symbolism

Mallarmé, selected poems (Anchor) Mallarmé essays: “Variations on a Subject,” “As For the Book”, “The Book Spiritual Instrument,” in Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. M.A. Caws, pp. 75-90; “Music and Letters,” from Mallarmé in Prose, ed. M.A. Caws, pp. 31-45

Tuesday Feb. 23: Mallarmé; Andrey Bely

Mallarmé, “Mystery in Literature,” from Mallarmé in Prose, ed. M.A. Caws, pp.46-51, and Writings on Fashion and Performance, Mallarmé in Prose, pp. 79- 131 Andrey Bely, “Symbolism as a World View,” “The Magic of Words” (R)

Thursday Feb. 25: Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun”: Poetry, Music, Dance

Frank Kermode, “Poet and Dancer before Diaghilev” (E)

FIRST PAPER (5-8pp) DUE: March 2

Tuesday March 2nd: The Avant-Garde and Cabaret Culture

Mary Shaw, “All or Nothing? The Literature of Montmartre” (E) Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, “Theater as Church: The Vision of the Mystical Anarchists” (E) Alexander Blok, “A Puppet Show” (R)

Thursday March 4th: The Artistic Avant-Gardes in France in the Late 19th Century

Odilon Redon Paul Gauguin Henri Matisse

3 Tuesday March 9: Russian Art: Neoprimitivism

Natalia Goncharova Mikhail Larionov

Elizabeth Valkenier, “Opening up to Europe: The Peredvizhniki and the Miriskusniki Respond to the West” (E) Jane Sharp, “A Westernizing Avant-Garde” (E) Thursday March 11: The Belle Époque: A New Artistic Revolution

Blaise Cendrars, “La prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jeanne de France” (Penguin Anthology). Guillaume Apollinaire, “The Cubist Painters” (R)

Spring Recess March 13-21

Tuesday March 23: Guest Lecturer

Thursday March 25: Cubo-Futurism

Benedikt Livshits, Chapters 1 and 2 of The One and a Half-Eyed Archer (R) Ilya Zdanevich and Mikhail Larionov, “Why We Paint Ourselves: A Futurist Manifesto, 1913” (R) Cubo-Futurist Manifestos (R)

Tuesday March 30: Vladimir Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky, “Vladimir Mayakovsky, a Tragedy,” “Cloud in Pants,” selected poems (R) Michel Aucouturier, “Theatricality as a Category of Early Twentieth-Century Russian Culture” (E)

Thursday April 1: Velemir Khlebnikov

Khlebnikov, The King of Time

Tuesday April 6: Futurist Books: Visit to the Amherst Center for Russian Culture

Nina Gurianova, “A Game in Hell, Hard Work in Heaven: Deconstructing the Canon in Russian Futurist Books” (E)

4 Thursday April 8: Marina Tsvetaeva / Kazimir Malevich (“Suprematism”)

Marina Tsvetaeva, “Wires,”“Poem of the Staircase,” “The Poet and the Critic”(R) Jean-Claude Marcadé, “K. S. Malevich: From Black Quadrilateral (1913) to White on White (1917) (R) Kazimir Malevich, “Suprematism” (1924-26) (R) Olga Rozanova, “Suprematism and its Critics,” “Only in Independence and Unlimited Freedom is there Art!” (1918) (R)

SECOND PAPER (5-8pp) DUE: April 13

Tuesday April 13: Dada and French Surrealism

Dada: selected poems by Tzara, Breton, Soupault (Penguin Anthology) Matthew Witkovsky, “Dada Breton” (E) Albert Cook, “The Meta-Irony of Marcel Duchamp” (E)

Thursday April 15: Surrealism in Paris: Surrealist painting and performance

Surrealist poetry: André Breton, Robert Desnos (Penguin Anthology) André Breton, “Manifesto of Surrealism” (E) Mary Ann Caws, “The Surrealist Look” (E)

Tuesday April 20: Surrealist Film

Film: Buñuel, “Un chien andalou” + short films (E) R. Moine and P. Taminiaux, “From Surrealist Film to Surrealism in Film” (E)

Thursday April 22: The Russian Avant-garde and Film

Film: Dziga Vertov, “Man With a Movie Camera” (E) Szymon Bojko, “Agit-Prop Art: The Streets Were Their Theater” (R) Dziga Vertov, “We: Variant of a Manifesto” (R) Viktor Shklovsky, “Poetry and Prose in Cinema” (R)

Tuesday April 27: Constructivism. Visit to the Mead Art Museum

Christina Lodder, “Constructivism and Productivism in the 1920s” (E) Gail Harrison Roman, “Tatlin’s Tower: Revolutionary Symbol and Aesthetic” (E)

Thursday April 29: Russian Absurdism

Daniil Kharms, Today I Wrote Nothing

5 Tuesday May 4: Love and Politics: France and Russia in the 20s

Thursday May 6: Contemporary avant-gardes in France and Russia

Ilya Kabakov and Boris Groys, “The Communal Apartment” (R) Kabakov, from “On the Total Installation” (R) A. Solomon-Godeau, “Christian Boltanski’s Missing House” (E)

FINAL PAPERS (15-20pp) DUE: May 14.