Literature and Revolution: Great Books in Moments of Cultural Transformation

Spring 2011

Instructor: Prof. James Simpson

What is the function of literary texts in moments, from Plato to the Russian Revolution, that promise total, enlightened societal transformation? Each week, this course will focus on two texts related to selected "revolutionary" moments, one philosophical and one literary. Literary texts do not participate easily in the revolutionary order. They resist the textual simplicities of philosophy. Which do we trust: philosophy or literature? Texts include many found in traditional "Great Books" courses: Plato, Virgil, Augustine, Dante, Luther, Milton, Swift, Rousseau, Twain, Kant, Marx, and Chekov, among others.

Taught through the Harvard College General Education Program, Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding Division.