GERMANIC STUDIES / COMPARATIVE LITERATURE / SOCIAL THOUGHT
Who is Faust?
Mandel Hall, 1135 East 57th Street
Johann Wolfgang Goethe's drama "Faust" was written over a period of sixty years (ca. 1772-1832) and is arguably the supreme achievement of one of the greatest writers of the Romantic era. But what does this drama about a scholar- magician who makes a wager with the devil have to say to us today? Is the Faust myth still compelling for us in the twenty-first century? In this lecture, Professor David Wellbery discusses why philosophers from Hegel to Santayana and writers from Thomas Mann to Paul Valéry have considered Goethe's play to be such a profound statement about the human condition. He also examines features of the play that still confound scholars today. The quest for a unified interpretation of Goethe's masterpiece continues and Professor Wellbery will offer here his thoughts on how we can best approach the Faust drama today.
Keywords: "who is Faust" vs. "who was Faust"
CLASSICS
The Stoic Path to Happiness (or, An Ancient Philosophy on How to Live)
Social Science Research Building, Room 122, 1126 East 59th Street
Not every culture has thought individual happiness should be the aim of life, but for the ancient Greeks and Romans, attaining this elusive goal was the main purpose of practicing philosophy. What might be surprising to us is the way one school in particular—the Roman Stoics—proposed going about it. Were they out of touch with reality? Or all too sane? We’ll discuss their unique perspective on getting to your “happy place” and its feasibility for ordinary human beings (like us).
Keywords: 7 steps to achieve happiness; seemingly pessimistic but true optimism; Why Classics?--See how the study of the ancient texts changed through history; that's fascinating.
CINEMA & MEDIA STUDIES
Screening of Jour de Fête
Film Studies Center, Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 307, 5811 South Ellis Avenue
In Jour de Fête (Holiday, France, 1949), director Jacques Tati stars in his first feature that he shot simultaneously in an experimental, obsolete color process and, as a precaution, black and white. Restored to full color in 1995, the film is Tati’s exploration of provincial French cultural traditions against post-WWII modernity, mechanization, and American “progress.” But it is also a highly self-reflexive text about the filmmaking process, daily life, the history of comic style, and the role vision plays in laughter.
Keywords: Tati, Chaplin, how technology shapes our life, color vs. black&white--ironically technical~
from: http://humanitiesday.uchicago.edu/program
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