FRS 002 — Sec. 009 —
(2 unit) — CRN 92620 — T 2:10-3:00pm — 822 Sproul
Art and the Miseries of War
Instructor: Almerindo Ojeda, Department of Linguistics, College of Letters
and Science
Description: The purpose of this seminar is to examine the way
in which the miseries of war are depicted in the arts--to hold up, in fact, the
mirror of art to the miseries of war. The art to be examined will come in a wide
variety of forms (prose, poetry, painting, engraving, film, architecture, and
music), and its content will reflect the atrocities committed in a wide variety
of armed conflicts (The Trojan War, the Hundred Year War, the Thirty Year War,
the Napoleonic Wars, The American Civil War, World War I, The Spanish Civil War,
World War II, and The Vietnam War). The seminar will move at three levels: historical
(the causes and consequences of the conflicts depicted), esthetical (what makes
the works of art chosen succeed as works of art), and ethical (what miseries of
war are depicted in the pieces). Pedagogically, the goal of the seminar is to
provide the participants with a deeper appreciation of the construction and the
historical context of a number of major works of art, and to use this appreciation
to develop a more balanced attitude towards war than the one widespread today.
Having given this seminar twice before, I can attest to the fact that this seminar
has achieved these goals for a large number of participants. This year I would
like this to be a two-unit seminar. This is in response to suggestions made in
student evaluations, where it is pointed out that the amount of written work (weekly
essays and term paper) justify it.
Format: The seminar will meet once a week for one hour to discuss
the artwork of the week. Students must prepare for the discussion by preparing
a 500-word essay each week regarding the historical, esthetical, and ethical dimensions
of the work to be discussed in the seminar that day. Field trips may be organized
to film showings, concerts, art exhibits, or plays. Grading:
The grade for the course will be computed as follows: 50% participation, 25% weekly
reaction pieces to each of the works assigned, 25% analysis of a work of art not
discussed during the seminar. In this analysis, the student will offer a brief
analysis of how the work was put together, describe the historical context of
the piece, and identify the miseries of war reflected in the piece chosen.
About the Instructor: Almerindo Ojeda teaches Linguistics at
the University of California, Davis. He received his BA from the Universidad Catolica
del Peru, and both his MA and his PhD from the University of Chicago. His research
covers areas of syntax and semantics, and is broadly interested in issues of language
and cognition. Currently he is developing a purely extensional theory of meaning
and the boundaries of nominal reference. He is an enthusiast of the arts and is
concerned about issues of peace and social justice.