Call Number | 18964 |
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Day & Time Location |
W 4:10pm-5:25pm 313 Fayerweather |
Points | 0 |
Grading Mode | Standard |
Approvals Required | None |
Instructors | Mark Lipovetsky Hringur Asgeir Sigurdarson |
Type | DISCUSSION |
Method of Instruction | In-Person |
Course Description | Tricksters constitute one of the universal themes or tropes in mythology and folklore of many cultures. Through the discussions of ancient Greek, Native-American, African, Paleo-Asiatic, Scandinavian, African-American, Muslim and Jewish myths and folklore about tricksters, the course will telescope the cultural functions of the comedic transgression as a form of social critique; it will also highlight cynicism, its productive and dangerous aspects. Then we’ll introduce different historical subtypes of tricksters, such as a fool, jester, holy fool, kynik, picaro, con artist, female and queer tricksters, thus moving through premodern and early modern periods. Each type of the trickster is illustrated by literary examples from different world cultures (European and non-European alike) as well as theoretical works of Mikhail Bakhtin, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and Peter Sloterdijk. Finally, the role of the trickster in modernity will be discussed through the case of Soviet tricksters, who had become true superstars manifesting the resistance to repressive political ideology by the means of “cynical reason”. FORMAT The class consists of lectures and group discussions. On a typical week, the first class will be a lecture for all students; for the second class of the week, you will be divided into 3 sections and have separate sessions (all three at the same time in different rooms) led by Teaching Assistants. Assignments for group discussions are listed on the syllabus along with others. We will not break the class in discussion sections before Week 3. The distribution of students between discussion sections will be announced in class after the beginning of the semester.
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Web Site | Vergil |
Department | Slavic Languages |
Enrollment | 21 students (27 max) as of 9:05AM Saturday, December 21, 2024 |
Subject | Russian |
Number | UN3232 |
Section | 003 |
Division | Interfaculty |
Note | Must be taken with RUSS 3230 |
Section key | 20243RUSS3232W003 |