This course will consider the intertwining of literature, science, and technology. We shall investigate the literary representation of scientific activity and the variety of ways in which literary and scientific modes of thought have diverged or come together.
Fall 2011: Fuechtner (10)
Literature, Science and Madness
This course will provide an introduction to scientific and literary discourses on madness in 19th and 20th Century Europe. We will discuss literature, films and artwork such as Marquis de Sade's Crimes of Love, Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse trilogy or the art brut movement, and relate them to scientific and theoretical literature by authors such as Krafft-Ebing, Freud or Foucault. We will further analyze the connections between constructions of madness, criminality, gender and race.
