Paris-Berlin Express: 20th Century Cultural Encounters

Level: Undergraduate

Division: The New School for Public Engagement

School: School of Undergraduate Studies

Department: Humanities

Course Number: NCST 2640

Course Format: Seminar

Location: NYC campus

Permission Required: No

Topics:

• Cultural Studies
• Literature
• Visual Culture

Description:
Like Louise Brooks' Lulu, the prototypical femme fatale, the seductive cities of Paris and Berlin continually exerted power over artists and writers in the 20th century. Caught in an obsessive love-hate relationship, France and Germany engaged in a dialectic marked by fiery aggression and mistrust on the one hand and mutual fascination and attraction on the other. We explore the explosive ongoing cultural exchanges between these two nations as they struggled with both their individual identities and their collective European identity. This course takes us on a journey from the dreamlike Paris of the surrealists to the nightmarish Berlin of the expressionists, from the home front to the trenches, from futuristic visions to present realities. Note: This class used to be NHUM3046.