GER 415 Theories of Modernity
Modernity is often defined as a time of rupture with the past, coinciding with industrialization and urbanization in everyday life and a fixation on shock, originality, and newness in the arts. We will examine competing theories of modernity in this class, paying special attention to Austrian and German thinkers, artists, films, and architecture. We will discuss works by authors such as Marx, Nietzsche, Kafka, Freud, and members of the Frankfurt School, as well as films by Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau and avant-garde cabaret.