Ger/Lit 392 The Languages of War

Wednesday 6:10PM - 9:00PM

The history which bears and determines us has the form of a war. . .
-Michel Foucault

Promotional, speculative, virtual: war no longer corresponds to Clausewitz's formula of politics pursued by other means; it rather amounts to the absence of politics pursued by other means.
-Jean Baudrillard

Although it is routinely condemned as inhuman, war has played a role in every culture in history. No ethical or political system ignores it, but the most basic questions about it appear impossible to resolve: Is war a normal state activity, or is it aberrant behavior on a grand scale, a symptom of a fatally flawed polity? Is war (or the threat of war) vital for protecting rights and freedoms, or is waging war a barbaric attack on everything just and rational? What, finally, are the alternatives to war? Can even the most fervent pacifism avoid becoming a war on war?

In this seminar, we will ask why no single approach to war-historical, psychological, philosophical-can explain the full range of its complexities. We will be interested in the ways in which war has been understood within aesthetic categories-as sublime or beautiful, or as an art form in its own right-and in the idea that language is a paradigm of violence. We will also consider how the concepts of fantasy and fiction have proven crucial to the conceptualization of war, and why the attempt to develop a discourse about human conflict frequently turns into a debate about divergent models of expression.

There will be two in-class tests (lasting approximately 75 minutes each) and a final 8-page paper. Since we meet only once a week, unexcused absences are strongly discouraged.

The books listed below are available in the bookstore. Other materials on the syllabus will be provided as handouts.

Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Vom Kriege
William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
Niccolo Machiavelli, Art of War
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Theodor Adorno, Minima Moralia (English- and German-language editions)
W.G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction, Luftkrieg und Literatur
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Paul Virilio, Pure War

Weekly Plan

January 28
Introduction

February 4
Carl von Clausewitz, On War

February 11
William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

February 18
Niccolo Machiavelli, Art of War

February 25
Immanuel Kant, To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch
G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right §324-340 (handout)

March 3
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Walter Benjamin, "The Critique of Violence" (handout)

March 10
1st in-class Test
Sigmund Freud, "Thoughts for the Times on War and Death" (handout)

Spring Break

March 24
Theodor Adorno, "The Meaning of Working Through the Past" (handout)
Minima Moralia

March 31
Minima Moralia

April 7
W.G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction

April 14
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

April 21
2nd in-class Test
Selections from J. Ullman & H. Wade, Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance (handout)
Jacques Derrida, "Seven Missiles, Seven Missives" (handout)
Selected speeches of G.W. Bush

April 28
Paul Virilio, Pure War

Final paper due Saturday, May 8 at 5PM