Literature 3013 - In Praise of Idleness:Literature and the Art of Conversation

Institution:

Bard College

Subject:

Description:

The useful, Schiller wrote in The Aesthetic Education ofMan, is the great idol of our age. It divorces leisure from labor and turns life into a series of utilitarian dead ends. Conversely, the impulse to play, to engage in gratuitous moments of being or in seemingly evanescent conversations, might be the only chance to convert specialized knowledge into self-knowledge. Yet conversation has often been condemned as dangerous for its proximity to the decadent and the idle. This course examines these issues on rhetorical and thematic levels. Readings include critiques of "pure" work (Aristotle, Schiller, Marx, andNietzsche); texts that expose the vanity of conversation (Pascal's Pensée s,Mol ière'sMisanthrope novels that explore the tensions between work and conversation (James's The Europeans, Updike's Rabbit, Run); and texts that offer aesthetic theories of conversation (Proust's Swann'sWay and Against Sainte-Beuve). Other readings include Beckett's Waiting for Godot; Paul Lafargue's In Praise of Idleness; and Laziness, a recent French best seller by Corinne Maier.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bard.edu

Phone Number:

(845) 758-6822

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.