Postgraduate Course: Intellectuals and Politics in Twentieth Century Europe (ELCC11013)

Course Outline
School	School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Course type	Standard	Availability	Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Credits	20
Home subject area	European Languages and Cultures - Common Courses	Other subject area	None
Course website	None	Taught in Gaelic?	No
Course description	A number of key topics will be studied corresponding to important debates or $ůmoments&Š in the history of intellectuals&Š relationship to politics in the course of the twentieth century. The first area covered falls broadly in the category of reaction to and sympathy with communism and fascism up until the end of the 1930s. André Gide&Šs stance (as articulated notably in his Back from the USSR) will serve as a starting point prior to focusing in particular on the writings of Paul Nizan whose attitude to Soviet communism and socialist realist literature offer a valuable perspective on the problems of left commitment for writers in the Stalinist era. This theme will then be investigated in more depth via examination of the intellectual trajectory of Georg Lukács whose contrasting positions, evolving as they do from his pre-Stalinist and anti-dialectical materialist Theory of the Novel and History and Class Consciousness through to his Zhdanovist-tending literary theory of the 1930s, illustrate clearly the complex relationship between aesthetic and philosophical theorising and ideological imperatives. This same question will also be investigated with respect to fascism through consideration of the thought and life of Martin Heidegger. The second area to be covered by the course will focus on the French context and, more specifically, on the disagreements between intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s concerning the value of adopting politically committed positions.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None
Additional Costs	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	None
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?	No

Course Delivery Information

Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)						WebCT enabled: No		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class	First class information not currently available
No Exam Information

Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV2)						WebCT enabled: Yes		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class	First class information not currently available
No Exam Information

Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV3)						WebCT enabled: Yes		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class	First class information not currently available
No Exam Information

Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV4)						WebCT enabled: Yes		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class	First class information not currently available
No Exam Information

Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV5)						WebCT enabled: Yes		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class	First class information not currently available
No Exam Information

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
This course aims to provide students with an overview of a number of important twentieth-century currents in European thinking with respect to politics and culture. It will broaden their knowledge of key debates surrounding communism, socialism, and fascism. By the end of the course, they will also have acquired a broader and deeper understanding of a range of theoretical debates notably in the fields of philosophy, and aesthetics.

Assessment Information
One 4,000 word essay to be submitted as specified in the programme handbook

Special Arrangements
None

Additional Information
Academic description	Not entered
Syllabus	Not entered
Transferable skills	Not entered
Reading list	Not entered
Study Abroad	Not entered
Study Pattern	Not entered
Keywords	Not entered