EWL 331 Literature and Revolution
This course explores the great works of literature, art, and political theory produced by and about the major revolutions of the modern era (French, Soviet, Chinese, and Iranian). Students will read a selection of classic and contemporary novels, plays, and films that represent and interpret the great political revolutions, and will reflect on what they can teach us about our own cultural and political moment. Issues to be explored include the relationship between culture and revolution, aesthetics and politics, art and history, as well as such related topics as bohemianism, technology, urbanism, religion, and gender relations. Works by Hugo, Zamyatin, Mayakovsky, Peter Weiss, Brecht, and Mo Yan, among others, will be discussed alongside political theory and the revolutionary writings of Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao.