Are you hip to the pomo? Whether you believe that “Hell is other people” (as Jean-Paul Sartre closes his play No Exit) or accept Andrew Boyd’s dictum that one should “pose reality as an interesting hypothesis” (Life’s Little Deconstruction Book) or just wonder what the heck Derrida, Foucault, Eco, Levi-Strauss, Heidegger and the rest of that motley crew are talking about, this intro to the zany world of the Post-Moderns, including watching the Structuralists display their “Edifice” Complex, the Deconstructionists knock it down. Become one of the initiated—yes, even YOU can learn to cope with movies that are Stranger Than Fiction and condescendingly explain that “Post-Modern Prometheus” episode of The X-Files to your know-it-all brother-in-law. Stop waiting for Godot and become the hero of your own life story!
Continental Philosophy and Contemporary Literature is an in-depth exploration of the interaction between recent Continental (European) philosophical movements such as Existentialism, Phenomenology, Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, and Deconstructionism and Postmodern literature (the period since WW II). We will examine seminal writings from Sartre, Camus, Heidegger, Derrida, Levi-Strauss, and others, and then see how they influence literary giants including Sartre himself, Kafka, Wallace Stevens, Vonnegutt, Heller, Akutagawa, Barth, Beckett, and G. R. R. Martin along with movie/television writers and directors including Akira Kurosawa, Chris Carter, Mike Nichols, Andrew Niccol, Joss Whedon, and many others. Course themes will include the question of free will, the Existential hero/anti-hero, the problem of perception (and the consequent uncertain nature of truth), authenticity vs. the "They," metafiction, intertextuality, the revaluation of all values, etc., etc.
During this semester, I will assist you in your initial explorations of these themes. Like any good guide, I will make sure that you know where individuals and societies have gone before in their travels, but I will not force you to walk in their trails; in the end, people must choose their own ways through this partly-charted wilderness. Nevertheless, there are “rules of the road” to follow, including logic and rigor, clarity, and completeness as well as fairness to opposing viewpoints. By journey's end, you will have acquired these skills and knowledges:
(1) Become familiar with recent Continental Philosophy and major figures in that philosophy
(2) Link the abstract philosophical concepts with everyday matters of life and culture, particularly making connections with art, music, and literature
(3) Learn to discuss complex aesthetic and ethical issues objectively and analytically
(4) Increase your confidence when you encounter those using the jargon of these philosophers and critics
(5) Increase your confidence when critiquing or questioning the ideas of others
(6) Begin to develop and/or articulate a coherent philosophy that includes a place for aesthetics, the philosophy of literature and the arts
(7) Expand your writing skills, emphasizing originality, conciseness, and clarity
No part of this syllabus may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission.