ROMS 4430 - [Melancholy Left: Marx to Benjamin]

(crosslisted) COML 4416, FREN 4435, GERST 4431, GOVT 4696, HIST 4234
(LA-AS)

Fall. Not offered 2017-2018. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with COML 6416/FREN 6435/GERST 6431/GOVT 6696/HIST 6234/ROMS 6430.

V. Traverso.

The fall of “real socialism” in 1990 put an end to the experience of twentieth century Marxism. Its ideas, debates and controversies could be viewed-historicized and revisited-in a different light. The defeated revolutions of the past century put into question a teleological vision of history, engendering the decline of Marxist historiography and the simultaneous appearance of memory, a previously ignored concept for interpreting the past. Outlining a symbolic shift from Marx to Benjamin, this change has a melancholic flavor that permeates many expressions of contemporary Left culture (from movies and autobiographies to historical and philosophical essays). On the other hand, the emergence of Postcolonialism reopened the debate on the Eurocentric roots of Marx’s thought and stimulated a new approach to some classical Marxist thinkers and historians such as Gramsci and C.L.R. James. Taking into account both classical and contemporary texts, the seminar will analyze a reconfigured relationship between history and memory in the Left culture of our post-utopian age.