WLCS WORLD LITERATURE AND CULTURE STUDIES Sex, God and War: An Introduction to Pre-Modern 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1001 World Literature [W] A study of major texts (in English translation) of world literature written before 1900. Authors, texts and literatures studied will vary but may include, e.g. The Bible, Dante, Omar Khayam, Lope de Vega, Goethe, Strindberg, Mickiewicz, Dostoevsky, etc. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. No prerequisites. Modernity, Eternity, and Cultures in Collision: An 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1002 Introduction to 20th-Century World Literature [W] A study of major modernist and contemporary texts of world literature (in English translation). Authors, texts and literatures studied will vary but may include, e.g. Milosz, Brecht, Ionesco, Camus, Marquez, Kafka and Pasternak. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. No prerequisites. The Culture of Spain and Latin America I (O) (Cross 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1013 Listed: SPAN 1013) [W] Spain and Latin America before 1500: Art, Literature, Music and Society. A multimedia approach will be used. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. No prerequisites. The Culture of Spain and Latin America II (O) (Cross 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1014 Listed: SPAN 1014) [W] Spain and Latin America after 1500 : Art, Literature, Music and Society. A multimedia approach will be used. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. No prerequisites. 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1043 Russian Culture I (O) (Cross Listed: RUSS 1043) [W] Significant aspects of Russian culture from the 10th to the end of the 19th century. Topics include Russian Icon Painting and Architecture, Russian culture between Europe and Asia; Ivan the Terrible as cultural type; women in Russian culture; serfdom and slavery; Russia's contribution to the development of terrorism and revolution; the reforms of Peter the Great; Russian Orthodoxy, etc. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. 3 ch (3C) WLCS 1053 Russian Culture II (O) (Cross Listed: RUSS 1053) [W] Significant aspects of Russian and Soviet culture in the 20th century. Topics include Russian avant-garde painting; the Bolshevik Revolution and apocalyptism; class and corruption; Socialist Realism; Stalin and Stalinism; women's roles under the Soviets; Eisenstein and Soviet cinema; the artificial famine and the Gulag; literature and censorship; Soviet sport and society; Glasnost and culture; etc. Conducted in English. Open to students of all years. No prerequisites. 3 ch (3C) WLCS 2021 Popular Culture (Cross-Listed: MAAC 2021) [W] This course introduces historical and theoretical contexts for the study of mass- mediated popular culture, from movies and TV to comic books and video games. It also explores the reciprocal relationship between creative expression and economic constraints, between the mainstream, sub-cultures, and counter-cultures, as well as familiar designations of "high-brow" and "low-brow." Using specific media case studies, students will engage with contemporary debates about the impact of representations, the role of ideology, the agency of the audience, the meaning of fandom, and the politics of taste. While learning to analyze and evaluate their relative merits, students will learn to step back and think critically about the larger implications and the cumulative effects of our constant exposure to popular culture texts. Students who have already completed MM 2021 for credit may not enrol in MAAC 2021 . Culture and Dance I: So You Think You Know Dance WLCS 2024 3 ch (3C) (C) (O) An investigation of the development of Classical Ballet and Contemporary / Modern dance styles from Renaissance court dances to present day choreography. Emphasis will be on European and North American theatrical dance traditions. Types of dance explored may include court dances, classical ballet, modern and contemporary dance, jazz dance and improvisational dance. Students will examine the cultural connections among the art of dance, music, visual arts, history, literature and other fields. When possible, the class will be coordinated with dance performances at the Fredericton Playhouse and students may be expected to attend up to 2 such performances. The course will include both academic work and experiential dance/movement components. No previous dance background necessary. Culture and Dance II: Dance In The Global Village (C) WLCS 2025 3 ch (3C) ( O) This course is an investigation of the universal language of dance in both theory and practice. Topics will be chosen from a diversity of both folk dance traditions and classical theatrical dance traditions from around the world. These may include the fundamental components of dance technique, a variety of international folk dances, social dance (e.g tango, salsa), East Indian classical dance forms, etc. When possible, the class will be coordinated with dance performances at the Fredericton Playhouse and students may be expected to attend up to 2 such performances. The course will include both academic work and experiential dance / movement components. No previous dance background necessary. 3 ch (3S) WLCS 3003 Contemporary Issues in World Literature and Culture [W] A seminar with varying content addressing literary and cultural periods, genres or themes as expressed across cultural borders. Conducted in English. Open to students who have completed at least 30 ch of university courses or by permission of instructor. 3 ch (3C) WLCS 3011 Dreams, Desire, Delusion: Romanticism [W] Romanticism is the first literary movement that crosses all European borders--from Russia to England--and filters into the New World. This course studies the major concepts and themes of Romanticism, including Napoleonism, idealism, individualism, nationalism, irony, the poet as genius, etc., in the works of German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Latin American, and other writers. Conducted in English. Open to students who have completed at least 30 ch of university courses or by permission of instructor. Topics on Latin American Culture (O) (Cross Listed: WLCS 3015 3 ch (3C) SPAN 3015) Latin America after independence, placing an emphasis on the 20th Century. Films and other audiovisual materials will be used. Given in English. This course is also listed under International Development Studies (IDS). The course will be offered in English and is open to students who have successfully completed at least 30 credit hours at university level. Students who take this course to fulfill a Major or Honours requirement in Spanish will submit required work in Spanish. The New Berlin: Memory and Reinvention (O) (Cross- 3 ch (3C) WLCS 3021 Listed: GER 3021) [W] The course explores the role of memory and cultural policy in the process of renewal which encompassed Berlin with an extraordinary surge of creativity and reconstruction after Germany's reunification. Students will study Berlin's cultural topography, examine the physical face of the city as well as living environment of its population, and investigate how places and spaces embody and narrate a story of national pasts and future. What does it mean to be German? How is history remembered or forgotten? What role do literature, film, images, media, and objects play in the practice and politics of cultural memory and cultural creation and branding? We will focus on manifestations of culture including subculture, in literature, film, architecture, memorials, museums, city design, and neighbourhoods. Topics may include: Walter Benjamin, Franz Kafka, Christa Wolf, Walther Ruttmann, Rainer Werner, Fassbinder, Wilm Wenders; the Brandenburg Gate, the memorialisation of the Holocaust, remnants of the GDR, Europe and Berlin, immigration and multiculturalism, Kreuzberg, Jewish culture, gay culture, music culture, youth culture. Students will be introduced to to theories and methodologies of memory culture research and will carry out case studies. They can expect to obtain an understanding of the transhistorical and transcultural significance of berlinBerlin. WLCS 3022 New York Modern (O) 3 ch [W] A study of modern art and modernism in New York from its development as an urban centre from the late nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century. This course makes use of cultural and artistic sources available in contemporary New York City. Students will explore visual art as well as performing arts, including modern dance, and modern music and/or experimental film and will become acquainted with ideas, aesthetic practices, and key representatives of various international art movements such as art nouveau, expressionism, Dada, futurism, cubism, primitivism, and surrealism. The course features museum visits (Neue Galerie, MoMa, Metropolitan, Whitney, and the Guggenheim), walking tours, a performance (theatre, dance, or concert), and assignments that foster art appreciation and critical reflection of the role of museums and patronage, public art and street art, and the continuation and transformation of modernism in New York today. Normally offered on site. Berlin to Broadway: Musical Theatres Across the 3 ch (3C) WLCS 3023 Oceans (Cross Listed: GER 3023) [W] An examination of the life and work of Kurt Weill focusing on his contribution to the theatre culture of Berlin in the twenties and to Broadway in the forties. We will read selected stage works by Weill and his renowned literary collaborators such as B. Brecht and W. Anderson and I. Gershwin, discuss their social relevance, theatrical power, and reception and explore the interplay between the various media: text, music and stage. Emphasis will be placed on the urban cultural context of Berlin, and the history of the genres musical theatre and Broadway musical, including current trends. The goal of the course is to provide students with the opportunity to study a theatre composer in depth, to foster a critical appreciation of Weill’s unique place in music theatre, and to enrich their understanding of material, cultural and performative aspects of musical theatre. Stage works by Weill may include The Threepenny Opera, Happy End, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene, Lost in the Stars. Other musicals to be discussed may include Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, In the Woods.