Comparative Literature 691L - S-Languages of War (1914-1945)

This course explores key literary and artistic representations of two traumatic conflicts that dramatically shaped the history of the twentieth century: World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). The course proceeds by intertwining a theoretical discussion of hermeneutical paradigms of modern warfare, a comparative methodology, and a historical approach to war narratives, films, and memoirs. The discussion of the works analyzed in class will focus on issues such as the relationship between warfare and language, the family resemblances of war writing, ethics and war, the personal experience of war, as well as the following questions: is there a ?just war??; is it possible to represent what happens in the battlefield?; how does modern warfare affect cultural paradigms and linguistic patterns?; what is the relationship between power, language, and war? Students will read, among others, works by Judith Butler, Carl von Clausewitz, Henri Barbusse, Edmund Blunden, Ernst Glaeser, Heinrich Boll, Carl Schmitt, Ernst Junger, Gerd Ledig, Vercors, and John Hersey.