Courses of Study 2018-2019 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Courses of Study 2018-2019 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Add to Favorites (opens a new window)

SHUM 6635 - Authority and Anti-Authority: Kafka and Genet

(crosslisted) ROMS 6635 
     


Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Enrollment limited to: 15 students. Not open to: undergraduates. Co-meets with COML 4622 /GERST 4635 /ROMS 4635 /SHUM 4635 .

A. Schuster.

A far-reaching distrust and crisis of authority seems to be coextensive with the European Enlightenment and modernity—but what is authority? Amidst the different attempts at definition and classification, at least one thing is certain: our relation to authority is never simple and straightforward, but is the site of intense fantasmatic activity, mixing guilt, defiance, respect, resentment, terror, justice, and love. The word itself is highly evocative, and part of its power lies in the halo of images and meanings it conjures. Our investigation of the problem of authority will be guided by two great writers of the twentieth century, rarely read together, Franz Kafka and Jean Genet.

For longer description and instructor bio please visit http://societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu/courses



Add to Favorites (opens a new window)