In this course we will try to understand and answer some critical questions about relations between literature and politics. How has modern literature in various countries changed people's thinking about political ideas and major historical changes? Is the art of literature essentially harmed when it concentrates on struggles for power, conflicting ideologies, rebellions, revolutions, wars, and other artists, inevitably alienated from society? How have certain writers coped wit capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, imperialism, and other economic, social, and political ideas? Should poets, novelists, and playwrghts be committed to art for the sake fo beauty and pleasure, or should they write as a serious means of political change? To what extent have these works of modern literature been ethical in their purpose and effect?
We will consider ideas and literature by some of the following writers: Feodor Dostoevski, Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Noma Hiroshi, Mishima Yukio, and Ernest Hemingway. A list of pertinent books and films will be given to students; and films will be shown based upon literary works relevant to the political and social issues of the course.
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