Western Literature and Totalitarianism

Catalog description

The rise of totalitarian power in the twentieth century shaped world history and the lives of millions of individuals. Understanding "Western" broadly, from Eurasia to the Americas, this course explores how literary works diagnose, depict and expose the strategies and effects that totalitarian regimes had, and may still have, on individuals and society. Class discussions will try to answer questions like: What is the role of literature in an environment that denies freedom of speech and of memory? Is collaboration different from submission? Can individual responsibility survive amidst a dehumanizing state machine?