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WWI Assignment - Humanities 1003 Chapter 34
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//ABISOURCE//DTD XHTML plus AWML 2.2//EN" "http://www.abisource.com/2004/xhtml-awml/xhtml-awml.mod"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:awml="http://www.abisource.com/2004/xhtml-awml/"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="application/xhtml+xml; charset=UTF-8" /> <title> Abiword HTML Document </title> </head> <body> <div> <p> Chapter 34: pp. 399-408 </p> <p> </p> <p> This chapter presents undoubtedly the heaviest material in the textbook. Perhaps though by looking at the darkest events in the 20<span style="vertical-align:super">th</span> century, we might learn from the way writers and artists coped with the tragedy of war? How do their poems, stories, films, and paintings reflect on political forces such as fascism and totalitarianism? Can we find wisdom and even flickers of hope in these works? What price did these artists and writers pay as a result of the act of creation, especially if they were deemed enemies of the state? To what degree do they perpetuate or revolt against the conflicts? </p> <p> </p> <p> <span style="font-weight:bold">Active Vocabulary</span> </p> <p> gallows humor </p> <p> Dadaism </p> <p> tone (in works of art and literature) </p> <p> photomontage </p> <p> Weimar<span style="font-weight:bold"></span></p> <p> Read pages 399-408. </p> <p> </p> <p> I. Pay close attention to Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” and the excerpt from Remarque’s<span style="font-style:italic">All Quiet on the Western Front</span> (translated from the German). </p> <p> </p> <p> Listen to a dramatic reading of Owen’s poem. You might recognize the reader. </p> <p> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB4cdRgIcB8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB4cdRgIcB8</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> What biographical information does the text give you about Owen? There were a number of British soldiers in WWI who wrote famously and candidly about their experiences in war. One of the best resources is the First World War Poetry Digital Archive:<a href="http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/">http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/</a> </p> <p> The archive has audio, film, collections. Here is a link to Owen’s biography:<a href="http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/owen">http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/owen</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> Here is a link to the last letter Owen wrote to his mother, from ‘The Smoky Cellar of the Forester’s House.’<a href="http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/document/5262">http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/document/5262</a> </p> <p> What does the letter reveal to you about the man Owen, himself? About his abilities as a writer? </p> <p> </p> <p> If you want insight other than you own into why Owen’s poem is considered one of the most important of the 20<span style="vertical-align:super">th</span> century in the English language, here is a video of a British scholar examining the document:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp4QMI9hKdk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp4QMI9hKdk</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> II. Read the translated excerpt from Remarque’s<span style="font-style:italic">All Quiet on the Western Front</span>. </p> <p> </p> <p> Many consider this perhaps the finest war novel of the 20<span style="vertical-align:super">th</span> century. What biographical details does your text give you on this writer? Where was he from? Did he survive the war? If so, how? How did the Nazi regime respond to this book? </p> <p> </p> <p> Here’s a representative picture, to give you an idea. What is burning in the foreground? Can you guess? </p> <p> </p> <p> <img style="width:152.4mm; height:88.7mm" src="957WWIassignment.docx.txt_files/rId9.jpg" title="" alt="" align="" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> If you have a strong stomach and are so inclined, read Remarque’s book in English (even better, in German). Here’s a link to the audiobook (in English translation) if you prefer:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSrhR4EXido">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSrhR4EXido</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> You could also find the film and watch it. Here is a scene called<span style="font-style:italic">The Butterfly:</span> </p> <p> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMlDPsRwZE4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMlDPsRwZE4</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> III. Shifting from dark humor, or as your book terms it,<span style="font-weight:bold">gallows humor,</span>read 405-406, and look closely at Figure 34.3: George Grosz’s<span style="font-style:italic">Fit for Active Service.</span> Grosz, too, was a veteran of the German army. He was (loosely, perhaps) a Dadaist. He mischievously sent Dadaist care packages of satirically useless stuff, like ironed white shirts, to soldiers on the front. Was he mocking the soldiers? If not, who or what was he mocking? Do you remember the Dadaists from chapter 33? Dadaism: the anti-art movement. Here’s what Grosz himself had to say about it: </p> <p> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">"In those days we were all Dadaists. If the word meant anything at all, it meant seething discontent, dissatisfaction and cynicism. Defeat and political ferment always give rise to that sort of movement.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">We held Dadaist meetings, charged a few marks admission and did nothing but tell people the truth, that is, abuse them. The news spread quickly and soon our meetings were sold out, crammed with people wanting to be scandalized or just after fun.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">Between insults we performed 'art,' but the performances were as a rule interrupted. Thus hardly would Walter Mehring begin to rattle away at his typewriter while reciting some piece or other of his own composition, when Heartfield or Hausmann would come out from behind the stage and yell: 'Stop! You're not trying to bamboozle that feeble-minded lot down there, are you?' "</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">--George Grosz, </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">The Autobiography of George Grosz</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000"> [1955]</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">Here is a link to an article, with a few video clips, about Dada, if you need a refresher:</span><a href="http://www.openculture.com/2014/08/the-abcs-of-dada.html"><span style="font-family:'Arial'">http://www.openculture.com/2014/08/the-abcs-of-dada.html</span></a> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">Now that we have some context, back to Grosz’s political cartoon on p. 406. Can you read it? In other words, can you comprehend the text and the visual cues? Who are the people around the perimeter of the room? Why is the doctor in the center of the room examining a skeleton? Why does he say</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">KV</span><span style="font-family:'Arial';color:#000000"> (</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">short for</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">kriegsverwendungsfahig</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">, or "</span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222">fit</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">for combat")? Most importantly, what is the</span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff"> tone</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff"> of this cartoon?</span> </p> <p> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">In this vein, the Dadaists held, exactly one hundred years ago, what they called</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">The First International Dada Fair</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">, Berlin, June 2020.</span> </p> <p> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">See the image below, especially the sculpture hanging from the ceiling? That sculpture was made by John Heartfield and Rudolf Schlichter. If you want to explore political art, research John Heartfield :</span><a href="https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';background:#ffffff">https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/</span></a> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">He’s a rabbit hole of a topic from which you may never emerge. An unabashed lampooner of the madness and folly of fascism.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <img style="width:152.4mm; height:127.3mm" src="957WWIassignment.docx.txt_files/rId14.jpg" title="" alt="" align="" /></p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#222222">First International Dada Fair, Berlin, June 1920</span> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#222222">Gathered under the John Heartfield and Rudolf Schlichter sculpture </span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-size:10pt;font-family:'inherit';color:#222222">Prussian Archangel</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#222222"> (a swine's head poking out of a Prussian uniform) are participants in the opening of the </span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-size:10pt;font-family:'inherit';color:#222222">First International Dada Fair</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Arial';color:#222222"> at the Otto Burchard Gallery in Berlin, June, 1920.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <span style="font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">( from</span><a href="https://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/berlin-dada-art-grosz-heartfield-hoch"><span style="font-family:'Arial'">https://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/berlin-dada-art-grosz-heartfield-hoch#161</span></a><span style="font-family:'Arial';color:#000000">)</span> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">The Berlin Dadaists were pioneers of</span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">photomontage</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">. Go back to chapter 33 and look at Hannah H</span><span style="font-family:'Cambria';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">ö</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">ch’s</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">Cut with the Kitchen Knife</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff"> (pp. 396-397). What critique is she making of Weimar culture?</span> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff"></span><span style="font-family:'Verdana';color:#ffffff">–The bo Photomontage 1932</span> </p> <p> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">Finally, one of Heartfield’s images called</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff">Adolf the Superman Swallows Gold and Spouts Rubbish</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#222222;background:#ffffff"> (photomontage 1932). Food for thought.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:5.000000pt;margin-top:5.000000pt"> <img style="width:152.4mm; height:271.3mm" src="957WWIassignment.docx.txt_files/rId16.jpg" title="" alt="" align="" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> </body></html> ">
