HU 305 - Singing the Body Electric:Romanticism and its impact on Western Culture

Institution:

Maine College of Art

Subject:

Description:

Camille Paglia, in The Sexual Personae, aired the increasingly common thesis that the youth revolution of the 1960s was the single largest outbreak of Romantic thought in the history of Western culture - and also that for the most part intellectuals did not see it coming. Why did it occur What was its significance and impact And why does Romanticism continue to reassert itself in popular culture today (e.g., in the New Age movement, the environmental movement, popular films, and the music of Green Day, Beck, Cold Play, and others) And what are the various theories, negative and positive, regarding its significance Is Romanticism a "naturalistic excess" and thereforea "menace to civilization" as IrvingBabbitt once proclaimed it A form of "degeneration" as Max Nordau preached inthe nineteenth century The foundation for an Aquarian Age of peace and creativity, as hippies postulated An inevitable counterbalance for a culture overly focused on the material and analytical dimensions of human existence We will explore these and other questions based on an analysis of Romanticism's historical development and its four most dominant themes, using the "Romantic Renaissance" ofthe Sixties youth culture as a touchstone and take-off point for our analysis.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.meca.edu

Phone Number:

(207) 775-3052

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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