Totalitarianism and Culture

Catalog description

(same as GERMAN 7840 ; cross-leveled with GERMAN 4840 , RUSS 4840 ). In this course, we will explore the politics and poetics of totalitarian culture by examining the paintings, music, sculptures, buildings, and films produced under the rule of these regimes. In the process, we will learn how Nazi and Soviet culture producers made carefully calibrated appeals to their respective mass audiences, drawing upon the German and Russian cultural traditions - and on scientific rhetorics of cultural history and racial destiny - in crafting their utopian visions of worlds transformed, wrongs righted, and societies perfected. Credit Hour s : 3