Module Identifier FRM0330  
Module Title PROBLEMS OF REPRESENTATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERNITY  
Academic Year 2004/2005  
Co-ordinator Dr Andrew J Hussey  
Semester Semester 2  
Course delivery Lecture   12 Hours  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam3 Hours  60%
Semester Assessment Continuous Assessment: Essay of 2500 words and commentary of 1500 words on a set text  40%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module students will be able to:

Those students who wish to go on with their studies should be able to demonstrate that they have a solid foundation for postgraduate research.

The learning outcomes above will be explicitly tested by the independent research, undertaken on the student''''s own personal initiative, and production of the essay. Both forms of assessment specifically consolidate developments and debates covered in the course. The 3 hour examination will be designed to test further the students'''' acquisition of the outcomes described.

Brief description

This module studies in depth the development of theories and practice of representation from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. The four writers will be considered both as theorists and practitioners. Close critical reading of their work will provide students with a detailed knowledge of the issues and debates around contemporary critical discussion of mimesis, as well as the periods under consideration.

Content

week 1: The painting of modern life: an introduction
week 2: Diderot and mimesis
week 3: The case of 'Jacques le Fataliste'
week 4: The 'Golden Age' of the Realist novel
week 5: The decadent Reality: Huysmans' 'A Rebours'
week 6: Student presentations
week 7: Poetry and plagiarism: the case of Lautreamont
week 8: 'The Society of the Spectacle': cinema and revolution
week 9: 'Commentaries on the Society of the Spectacle': reading Guy Debord
week 10: 'The World is Illusion': The last words of Guy Debord
week 11: Student presentations and Conclusions (two sessions)

Reading Lists

Books
Hussey, Andrew (2001) The Game of War, The Life and Death of Guy Debord Jonathan Cape
Brewer, Daniel (1993) The Discourse of Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France: Diderot and the Art of Philosoophizing Cambridge University Press
Lloyd, Christopher (1990) J.-K. Huysmans and the 'Fin-de-siecle' Edinburgh University Press
de Haes, Frans (1986) Images de Lautreamont: Isidore Ducasse, comte de Lautreamont; histoire d'une renommee et etat de la question PUF
Debord, Guy (1993) La societe du spectacle Gallimard
Debord, Guy (with Gianfranco Sanguenetti) La veritable scission dans l'Internationale Champ Libre, 1972 (reprinted Artheme Fayard, 1998)
Debord, Guy Panegyrique vol. 1. Gerard Lebovici, 1989 (reprinted Gallimard, 1993)
Debord, Guy (1997) Panegyrique vol. 2. Artheme Fayard
Agamben, Giorgio (1998) 'Le cinema de Guy Debord', in Image et memoire Hoebeke
Apostolides, Jean-Marie (1998) Les Tombeaux de Guy Debord Exils Editeurs
Clark, Timothy and Donald Nicholson-Smith (1997) 'Why Art Can' Kills the Situationist International', in October, 79
Matthews, J. H. (1988-89) Andre Breton, J.-K.Huysmans, 'ces abominables Zola et autres' in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 17
Zayed, Fernande (1973) Huysmans peintre de son epoque Nizet
Diderot, Denis (1968) selected pieces from 'Oeuvres esthetiques', ed Verniere Garnier
Hussey, Andrew (2000) 'La Divinite d'Isou': The making of a name and a messiah, in Forum for Modern Language Studies vol. XXXVI. Oxford University Press
Hussey, Andrew (2000) La guerre de l'art: L'art de la guerre. Les exiles situationnistes et pre-situationnistes, in Autour de la creation de l'internationale situationniste Editions Sulliver
Hussey, Andrew (1999) Abolish everything!, in The London Review of Books
Marcus, Greil (1989) Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twenthieth Century Harvard University Press
Chouillet, Jacques (1973) La Formation des idees esthetiques de Diderot Armand Colin
France, Peter (1983) Diderot [Past Masters]
Pruner, F. (1970) L'Unite secrete de 'Jacques le Fataliste' Minard
Rousseau, Nicolas (1997) Diderot: L'ecriture Romanesque a l'epreuve du sensible Champion
Smietanski, Jacques (1965) Le Realisme dans 'Jacques le Fataliste' Nizet
Huysmans, J.-K. (1978) A Rebours Garnier-Flammarion
Birkett, Jennifer (1986) The Sins of the Fathers: Decadence in France, 1870-1914 Quartet
Brombert, Victor (1975) La Prison romantique: essai su l'imaginaire Corti
Cogny, P. (1953) J.-K. Huysmans a la recherche de l'unite Corti
Doyle, Natalie (1992-93) 'Against Modernity: The decadent voyage in Huysmans' A Rebours', in Romance Studies, 21
Marmande, Francis (1994) Guy Debord, esthete de la subversion, in Le Monde
Mension, Jean-Michel (1998) La Tribu Allia
Guy Debord (film) (1973) La societe du spectacle Simar Films, Paris
Guy Debord (film) (1995) Guy Debord, son art et son temps Canal + Television, Paris
Ducasse, Isidore (1985) comte de Lautreamont, Chants de Maldoror Garnier-Flammarion
Soulier, Jean-Pierre (1977) Lautreamont: genie ou maladie mentale Nizet
Diderot, Denis (1961) selected pieces from 'Oeuvres philosophiques', ed Verniere Garnier
Diderot, Denis (1984) selected pieces from 'Salon de 1765' , ed Bukdahl and Lorenceau Hermann
Diderot, Denis (1962) 'Jacques le Fataliste' in Oeuvres romanesques Garnier
Baudelaire, Charles (1975) 'Le peintre de la vie moderne', in Oeuvres completes, vol. 2 Gallimard
Clark, T. J. (1985) The Painting of Modern Life, Paris in the Art of Manet and his followers Thames and Hudson
Prendergast, Christopher (1986) The Order of Mimesis Cambridge University Press
Prendergast, Christopher (1992) Paris and the Nineteenth Century Blackwell
Bremner, G. (1983) Order and Chance: The Pattern of Diderot' Thought Cambridge University Press
Bremner, G. (1985) Diderot: 'Jacques le Fataliste' Grant & Cutler
Dumontier, Pascal (1990) Les Situationanistes et mai 68: Theorie et pratique de la revolution 1966-1972 Gerard Lebovici
Guilbert, Cecile (1996) Pour Guy Debord Gallimard
Guilbert, Cecile (2000) Le Musee Nationale Gallimard

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7