ENGL 401/02, “The Manifesto”
Spring,
2002 Office
Hours: M 3:30-4:30,W 11:30-12:30
37
S. Burrowes; 865-9681
Arts 230, MWF10:10-11:00
Required Texts:
Mary Ann Caws,
ed., Manifesto: A Century of Isms
Most other
readings, marked by **, will be available for purchase in a photocopy packet
at Gnomon Copy on College Ave.
Readings marked
with a star will be distributed in class.
First week:
Introduction
to the concept of the manifesto form. We
will discuss the trademarks of the form, including tone (anger, resentment,
resolve), enumeration of demands or of political or artistic declarations, the
kind of language typically used, the ways in which the form typically makes
use of the pronoun “we,” the fact that the form often claims to speak for
the many.
1/7/02:
Introduction
1/9/02:
Reading: “The Poetics of the Manifesto,” Caws, xix-xxxi.
In class I will distribute: “Rectangle Manifesto” (c. 1997), “Anti-Coolies
Manifesto” (c. 1995), “Because,” Asian and Pacific Students’
Association, 1990
1/11/02:
Reading: **J. Lyon, Manifestoes: Provocations of the Modern
(Cornell 1999), pp. 9-16. In
class I will distribute: “When Shall We Have Bread?” (c. 1791)
Second week:
We’ll begin to
discuss the history of the manifesto, in order to lay the groundwork for a
theoretical understanding of the form’s importance in modernity.
This week’s readings are largely proto- or pre-manifestoes.
1/14/02: **J.
Lyon, pp. 16-26.
**Digger tracts: “A
Mite Cast into the Common Treasury: or, Queries propounded (for all men to
consider of) by him who desireth to advance the work of publick Community”
[1649]; “To his Excellency the Lord Fairfax and the Counsell of Warre the
Brotherly Request of those that are called Diggers sheweth” [1649]; “The
Diggers Song” [1650]
1/16/02: **J.
Lyon, pp. 26-34.
**Diggers tracts: “A
Declaration of the Grounds and Reasons why we the Poor Inhabitants of the Town
of Wellinborrow . . .” [1650]; “A Declaration of the grounds and Reasons,
why we the poor Inhabitants of the Parrish of Iver in Buckinghamshire”
[1650]
1/18/02:
**J. Lyon, 34-45.
**John Milton, “A Manifesto of the Lord Protector of the
Commonwealth of England,
Scotland, Ireland, &c. Wherein is Shown the Reasonableness of the
Cause of This
Republic Against the Depradations of the Spaniards” [1655, in Latin;
trans. 1738]
Third week:
We’ll look at
the “Declaration of Independence” and many imitations thereof, in order to
begin thinking about what Derrida calls “iterability.” We’ll also begin the bi-weekly “Manifesto Workshop”
(every other Friday) and the “Manifesto Presentation” (every Friday).
1/21/02: MARTIN
LUTHER KING, JR. DAY
** “Declaration of Independence,” July 4, 1776.
(Foner, 41-46)
**
“Declaration of Independence from the War in Viet Nam,” Martin Luther
King, Jr., 1967 (Bloom and Breines 230-36)
**
“Declaration of Principles and Bill of Grievances of the Internationals of
the United States of America,” February 1874 (Foner 84-88)
**
“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions,” the Woman’s Rights
Convention, July 1848 (Foner 77-83)
**
“Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,” Ho
Chi Mihn, September 1945 (Katope/Zolbrod, 4-76)
1/23/02:
**“Negro Declaration of Independence,” the National Independent Political
Union,
February, 1876 (Foner 89-94)
**“Declaration
of Workers’ and Farmers’ Rights and Purposes,” the National Unemployed
Leagues, July 4, 1933 (Foner 159-62)
**“Black
Declaration of Independence,” the National Committee of Black Churchmen,
July 4, 1970 (Foner 163-69)
1/25/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Manifesto
workshop: 1st
session of group work from which will emerge, over the course of the semester,
one, or perhaps several, manifestoes.
Fourth week:
We’ll read a
few manifestoes from the French Revolution (written from positions both for
and against the revolution, as well as from positions within the Left), in
order to establish how the manifesto form negotiates various elaborations of
“shared” goals. Then we’ll
read some documents from English Chartism, and we’ll get started on the
Communist Manifesto.
1/28/02: **“Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen,” August 27, 1789
**“Declaration of the Rights of Women,” Olympe de Gouges, 1791
**“The Brunswick Manifesto,” July 25, 1792
1/30/02: **“Manifeste
des egaux” [“Manifesto of Equals”], Sylvain Maréchal, 1794
**“The End of the Old World,” Abbé Fauchet, 1793
**“The People’s Petition,”Chartism (British), 1838
2/1/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
**“The Communist Manifesto,” Karl Marx, February 1848
Fifth week:
We’ll continue
our reading of the influential “Communist Manifesto,” then move to a few
manifestoes from the Paris Commune of 1871, and a Mexican art manifesto issued
after the first intensive phase of the Mexican Revolution.
2/4/02: **“Communist
Manifesto”
2/6/02:
**“Commune de Paris Manifeste du Comité Central de L’Union des Femmes”
[Manifesto of the Central Union of Women], 1871
**“Commune de Paris, Le Peuple de Paris Aux Soldats de Versailles”
[The People of Paris to the Soldiers of Versailles], 1871
**“Manifesto
Issued by the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors, Mexico
City, 1922"
2/8/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Manifesto workshop.
Sixth week:
This week begins
a long section on artistic manifestoes written in the early twentieth century
groups such as as Imagists, Vorticists, Futurists, Dadaists, and Surrealists.
We will start by asking why art groups took up the manifesto form, and
how they altered or enhanced or parodied the form. Week 6 will concentrate on
Futurism, a cosmopolitan Italian art movement that addressed literature,
painting, theatre, fashion, and intersected at points with a growing
working-class populism in Italy.
2/11/02: Caws,
“Futurism,” 168-71
F. T. Marinetti, “The
Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” [1909], Caws, 185-89
**F.
T. Marinetti, “Against Amore and Parliamentarianism” [1911-15]; “Marriage
and the Family” [1919]
Valentine de Saint-Point,
“Manifesto of the Futurist Woman” [1912]; “Futurist Manifesto of Lust”
[1913], Caws, 213-20
2/13/02: Caws,
172-84, 190-211
Umberto Boccioni,
“Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture” [1912]; “Futurist Painting:
Technical Manifesto” [1910]; “Manifesto of the Futurist Painters” [1910]
F. T. Marinetti, “After
the Marne, Joffre Visited the Front in an Automobile” [1915]; “The
Futurist Synthetic Theatre” [1915]; “Tactilism” [1924]
Carlo Carrà, “The
Painting of Sounds, Noises, and Smells” [1913]
Luigi Russolo, “The
Art of Noises” [excerpts, 1913]
2/15/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Mina Loy, “Aphorisms
on Futurism” [1914-19]; “Aphorisms on Modernism” [1914-19]; “Notes on
Existence” [1914-19]; “The Artist and the Public” [1917], Caws,
327-335
“Feminist Manifesto” [1914], Caws, 611-613
Seventh week:
We will start
with Imagism (a poetry movement conceived principally by Americans living in
London) and then move into some of the manifestoes that appeared in the
Vorticist magazine, BLAST (the short-lived journal of a London art
group).
2/18/02: Caws,
section on Imagism, 351-363
Pierre Reverdy, “The
Image” [1918]
F. S. Flint, “Imagisme”
[1913]
Marsden Hartley, “The
Business of Poetry” [1919]
Ezra Pound, “A Few
Don’ts by an Imagiste” [1913]; “Axiomata” [1921]
2/20/02: Caws,
section on Vorticism, 338-348 (including introduction):
The Egoist [1914]
R. Aldington &co.,
“Beyond Action and Reaction” [1914]; “Our Vortex” [1914]
Wyndham Lewis, “Bless/Blast
England” [1914]
2/22/02: MIDTERM
EXAM
Eighth week:
Fabulous writings
by the Dadaists, an international group originally brought together in Zurich
by way of their shared opposition to WWI, as well as their completely anarchic
relation to art.
2/25/02: Caws:
288-91, 296-310
Zurich Dada: “Dada
Excites Everything” [1921]
Jean (Hans) Arp, “Manifesto
of the Dada Crocodarium” [1920]; “The Elephant Style versus the Bidet
Style” [1934]; “Infinite Millimeter Manifesto” [1938]
Tristan Tzara, “Note
on Art” [1917], “Dada Manifesto” [1918]; “Mr. Antipyrine’s Manifesto”
[1918]; “Note on Poetry” [1919]; “Mr. AA the Antiphilosopher Has Sent Us
This Manifesto” [1920]; “Proclamation without Pretension” [1920]
2/27/02: Caws,
312-26
Berlin Dada: Richard Huelsenbeck,
“Pig’s Bladder” [1920, German]
Theo van Doesburg,
“Characteristics of Dadaism” [excerpt, 1923, Dutch]
Marcel Duchamp, “Possible”
[1913, NY/Paris]
Francis Picabia, “Dada
Cannibalistic Manifesto” [1920]; “DADA Manifesto” [1920]; “Is an
Imbecile, an Idiot, A Pickpocket!!!” [1921, NY/Paris]
Man Ray, “Statement”
[1916, NY/Paris]
Hans Richter, “Against
Without for Dada” [1919, NY/Paris]
Jacques Vaché, “Manifesto
of UMORE” [1917, NY/Paris]
Marcel Duchamp, “Kind
of Sub-Title” [1934]
The Baroness Else Von Freytag-Loringhoven,
“The Modest Woman” [1921, NY/Paris]
3/1/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Manifesto workshop.
SPRING BREAK
Ninth week:
More Dada-like
experimentation, with some backing up to precursors in Cubism and moving
forward to the transformations of Surrealism.
3/11/02: Gertrude
Stein, “Composition as Explanation,” [1926], Caws, 670-679
Stephan Mallarmé, “A Throw of Dice” [1897], Caws, 31-49
3/13/02: Surrealists,
“Declaration of January 27, 1925," Caws, 450
André Breton and Diego Rivera,
“Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art” [1938], Caws 472-77
Aimé Césaire,
“In the Guise of a Literary Manifesto” [1942], Caws, 484-88
Salvador Dali, “Yellow
Manifesto” [1928], Caws, 367-72
3/15/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
**André Breton, “Secrets
of the Magical Surrealist Art,” from the first “Manifesto of Surrealism”
[1924], Manifestoes of Surrealism, trans. Richard Seaver and Helen Lane
(Michigan, 1972), 29-47.
Tenth week:
Some poetic
prefaces from the nineteenth century, and a few from the twentieth. Q: are
these literary manifestoes?
3/18/02: **William
Wordsworth, “‘Preface’ to Lyrical Ballads” [1802] Norton
Anthology of
English Literature, Part II, 5th ed., 155-70
3/20/02: **Percy
Bysshe Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry” [1821], Norton Anthology,
777-92
3/22/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Eugène Jolas &
co., “The Revolution of the Word” [1928], Caws, 530
Marsden Hartley, “Art
and the Personal Life” [1928], Caws 588-90
Frank O’Hara, “Personism” [1959], Caws, 591-92
Eleventh week:
Moving into the
1960s, when the production of manifestoes increased explosively. These are
from the civil rights movement, the free speech movement, the black liberation
movement, the chicano liberation movement.
3/25/02: ** “The
Port Huron Statement” [1960] (Bloom and Breines 61-74)
** “The Nanterre Manifesto” [1968] (Katope and Zolbrod 269-273)
** “The Digger Papers” [1968] (Bloom and Breines 316-22)
** “The Yippie Manifesto” [1968] (Bloom and Breines 323-24)
3/27/02:
**“List of Strike Demands: San Francisco State: Black Student Union and
Third World Liberation
Front” [1969] (Bloom and Breines 391-92)
**“The
Black Panther Platform: ‘What We Want, What We Believe’” [1966] (Bloom
and Breines 164-67)
**“Chicano Manifesto” [1971] (Bloom and Breines 177-80)
3/29/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Manifesto workshop.
Twelfth week:
Huge numbers of
manifestoes were produced by the many splinters of the women’s liberation
movement. Here are a few.
4/1/02: ** “The
Redstockings Manifesto” [1969] (Bloom and Breines 485-87)
** “Combahee River Collective Statement” [1977]
** “SDS National Resolution on Women” [1968]
** “WITCH Manifesto” [1968]
4/3/02: **
Valerie Solanas, “SCUM Manifesto” [1967; excerpts]
4/5/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Thirteenth
week:
“Gay Liberation”
manifestoes, then and now; and two fake manifestoes by a conceptual artist.
4/08/02: ** “What we Want, What We Believe,” Third World
Gay Liberation [1971] (Bloom and
Breines 600-604)
** “Dyke Manifesto” c. 1994
** “Queers Read this” c. 1999
4/10/02: **Jenny
Holzer, Two manifestoes, c. 1979
4/12/02: Manifesto
presentations by two students.
Manifesto workshop.
Fourteenth
week:
Finally, the
presentation to the class of your manifestoes.
4/15/02:
Manifesto presentation, group 1
4/17/02:
Manifesto presentation, group 2
4/19/02: NO CLASS
Fifteenth
week:
4/22/02:
Manifesto presentation, group 3
4/24/02:
Manifesto presentation, group 4
4/26/02: Review
Final Exam
Wednesday May 1,
6:50-8:40 p.m.
Course Requirements:
1.Attendance:
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class.
More than 4 unexcused absences will lower your grade by a full letter;
more than 6 will fail you out of the course.
(Excused absences are those related to debilitating illness or personal
trauma, religious holidays, and university-sanctioned activities, e.g.
athletics, competitions, performances; these must be discussed with me.)
2. Presentations:
On Fridays we will have manifesto presentations.
You will need to locate a manifesto that interests you–either from
one of the source books that I will make available to the class, or from the
library, or from wherever you happen to find one. You will sign up to present this manifesto to the class; your
presentation must provide historical background about the manifesto and an
analysis of its purpose and method. Presentations
should last about ten minutes; you’ll need to photocopy and distribute the
manifesto to the class.
3. Papers: You will
write a 3-5 page paper growing out of your manifesto presentation.
This will be due within a week of your presentation.
Papers should be carefully researched, written, and footnoted.
My criteria for grading will be just the same as any paper written for
an English class.
4. Manifesto workshops:
The class will be divided into four groups, and each group will work on one–or
perhaps a series–of manifestoes. This
writing will occur over the course of the semester, and during the last two
weeks of the semester these manifestoes will be presented to the class.
5. Grade breakdown:
Class participation: 20%; Midterm exam: 15%; Final Exam: 25%
Class presentation: 10%; Essay: 15%; Workshop presentation: 15%
6. Don’t cheat.
The penalties are profound.
7. Students with
disabilities will be fully accommodated in this course; if you have
special needs, please let me know right away.
8. Please feel free to make use of my office hours to discuss ideas, presentations, and any other course-related matters. I will hold office hours on Mondays from 3:30-4:30 and Wednesdays from 11:30-1:30, in my office is located in 37 S. Burrowes (in the English department).