Berlin-Paris: Sex, Cigarettes, and the Meaning of Life

Catalog description

A trip to Europe is not complete without Paris and Berlin: cities of light and darkness, of excesses and extremes. In this course, we will take a stroll around these two world capitals in the company of artists, philosophers, filmmakers, and writers as we try to capture the historical, creative, and existential dilemmas of the times. From Nietzsche to Benjamin by way of the open-minded and gender-fluid nightlife of the Weimar Republic; from Camus to Sartre and Beauvoir by way of the cigarettes and experimentation of the Nouvelle Vague, this course will give an overview of what Berlin and Paris were up to between the late 1800s and the 1950s—and, in doing so, will inquire about the meaning of life. 001765