Courses: Intermedial Transformations: Musico-Acoustic Imaginations in Literature and Film (GERMH319A01)

Fall 2012

How could an apparently innocent medium such as music become the contested subject of cultural-political debates over the last 2000 years, upon which even the decline and/or continuation of civilization depends? How shall we understand the longevity of the myth of musicï¿½s power, even though mythological figures such as Orpheus already demonstrated its ultimate powerlessï¿½ness? Why did literary authors so often favor music over their own medium, and even regarded music as a utopia of expression capable of representing the ineffable? How can we explain the gendering of music as the other of male reason and patriarchal order that threatens the socio-cultural monopoly of men? And how shall we explain the persistence of these questions after the emergence of new audio-visual media of recording, reproduction, and transmission that dissolved the natural connection between voice and body, instrument and sound, time and space, that led to a radical transformation of our culture? The course intends to explore these questions, by drawing on the rich and diverse representation of music in all its socio-aesthetic complexity from antiquity to the present. The thematic scope will range from mythological, philosophical, and religious interpretations of music through issues of gender, race, and politics in literature, opera, and film, to theories of intermediality, and psychoanalytical implications of voice and sound. Focusing on exemplary models, we will reconstruct the changing social functions and highly ambiguous attitudes towards music in Western culture, oscillating between fear and fascination. In addition, we will also continuously confront the semiotic question of whether literature can justifiably be read in analogy to musical forms, and whether music as a language is also plausible in reverse.

Syllabus: View course syllabus

Prerequisites: One 200-level course in the Humanities

Fulfills: HU III