Sex, Freud and Morality: The History and Culture of 1900 Vienna
Honors Course: Hist 217 – 3 credit hours (15 students)
Course Instructor: Dr. Kevin Callahan (Department of History)
Saint Joseph College, CT
College Honors Program
Director: Dr. Agnes Curry
Course Description: What would it be like to live in a culture fascinated by sexuality, yet where sex remains a taboo? Are we still living in this type of world today? The time and place of this paradox is 1900 Vienna, Austria, yet its legacy continues to shape our attitudes and assumptions about sex and gender roles. In this course, students engage from an interdisciplinary approach the history and culture of 1900 Vienna, where tradition and modernity clashed. Topics include Victorian sexuality, sex and social classes, sex and race, sex and politics, the theme of sex in cultural productions, and the role of sex in Freudian psychology.
Readings and Excerpted Readings:
Carl E. Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture
Adelheid Popp, The Autobiography of a Working-Class Woman
Sigmund Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
Authur Schnitzler, Hands Around
Arthur Schnitzler, The Road Into The Open
Oscar Wilde, Salome
Jill Knight Weinberger, Vienna Voices
The Memoirs of Vicki Baum, It Was All Quite Different Then
Stefan Zweig, An Autobiography: The World of Yesterday
Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Otto Weininger, Sex and Character
Movies/Videos on Reserve:
"Before Sunrise," "The Illusionist," "Vienna 1900," "History of Sex IV," "La Ronde," "Salome," "Die Fledermaus," "Der Rosenkavalier," "The Third Man"
Syllabus
| Date | Topic |
Part I: Sex, Politics, and Social Classes of 1900 Vienna |
Week 1 - Introduction | 29 Aug |
Introduction |
31 Aug |
Groups Meet to Organize |
Week 2 - 1900 Vienna | 3 Sept |
LABOR DAY |
5 Sept |
Movie: "Before Sunrise" or "The Illusionist"/Groups Meet to Organize |
7 Sept |
Groups Meet to Organize |
Week 3 Imperial Vienna | 10 Sept | Discussion of "Before Sunrise"/"The Illusionist"/Groups Meet to Organize First Reflection Paper: Write a Movie Review of Before Sunrise or Illusionist |
12 Sept |
Group Presentations |
14 Sept |
The City |
Week 4 - Middle-Class Vienna |
17 Sept |
The Habsburg Dynasty and Elizabeth: Empress of Austria |
19 Sept |
Austrian Liberalism/Middle-Class Values/Video "Vienna 1900" |
21 Sept |
Vienna Transformed: The Ringstrasse |
Week 5 - Prostitution & Middle-Class Morality | 24 Sept |
Education, Conformity, and Morality |
26 Sept | Video: "History of Sex IV: Victorian Sexuality" Second Reflection Paper Due! |
28 Sept |
19th-Century Prostitution |
Week 6 - The Working Class | 1 Oct |
Industrialization and Socialism |
3 Oct |
A Working-Class Woman: Adelheid Popp |
5 Oct |
Decline of Political Liberalism I: The Woman Question, Austrian Feminism, and Misogyny |
Week 7 - The Decline of Political Liberalism | 8 Oct |
Faculty Development Day |
10 Oct |
Decline of Political Liberalism II: Sex and Race, Anti-Semitism and Zionism |
12 Oct |
Midterm Review |
Week 8 - The Crisis of the Middle Class | 15 Oct |
Midterm Exam |
Part II: Sex & Culture in 1900 Vienna: The Birth of the Modern Age
|
17 Oct |
The Viennese Middle Class in Crisis in 1900 Vienna |
19 Oct |
Sigmund Freud’s Vienna |
Week 9 - Sex & Psychology | 22 Oct |
Video: "Sigmund Freud: Analysis of a Mind"/Overview of Freudian Concepts |
24 Oct |
Dora: A Case of Hysteria |
26 Oct | Dora/The Road into the Open Reading: Schnitzler, 1 |
Week 10 - Sex & Literature | 29 Oct | The Road into the Open Reading: Schnitzler, Chapter 2-3 |
31 Oct | "History of Sex, Part I" or Reading Day Reading: Schnitzler, 4 |
2 Nov | The Road into the Open Reading: Schnitzler, 5 Fourth Reflection Paper Due! |
Week 11 - Sex & Literature | 5 Nov | The Road into the Open Reading: Schnitzler, 6-7 |
7 Nov | The Road into the Open Reading: Schnitzler, 8 (chapter 9 optional) |
9 Nov | Movie/"La Ronde" Reading: Start Hands Around |
Week 12 - Sex & Theatre | 12 Nov | "La Ronde" Reading: Finish Hands Around Fifth Reflection Paper Due! |
14 Nov | Opera: "Salome" Reading: Read Salome |
16 Nov | Opera: "Salome" Reading: Read Salome |
Week 13 - Sex & Opera | 19 Nov | Salome Reading: Finish Salome |
21-23 Nov |
Thanksgiving Break |
Week 14 - Sex & Art | 26 Nov | Gustav Klimt Reading: Continue Schorske chapter on Klimt |
28 Nov | Gustav Klimt Reading: Continue Schorske chapter on Klimt |
30 Nov | Oksar Kokoschka Reading: Schorske, 322-344 |
Week 15 Sex & Art | 3 Dec | “City of the Dead”: Presentation by author Jill Knight Weinberger Reading: Excerpt from Vienna Voices |
5 Dec | Wild Card Day |
| 7 Dec | Final Exam Review Sixth Reflection Paper Due! |
Grading Policies:
Participation (33%): Participation means doing the readings conscientiously, being prepared to discuss them, willing to work in small-group discussions and activities, and being an active listener. Part of this grade will include our group presentation project during the first two weeks. Attendance will be taken regularly.
Midterm/Final Exam (33%): The mid-term/final exam will consist of two short essay questions and short identification terms. A list of sample essay questions and IDs, compiled with the assistance of the class, will be provided.
Reflection/Response Papers or Research Paper (33%) Students will write at least six 1½ -2 page (or longer) papers, which are commentaries that respond to some central issue(s) raised in the reading assignments (or historical documents, films, or class lectures/discussions). In lieu of the response/reflection papers, advanced students are encouraged to write a research paper in consultation with the instructor.
Contact person: Kevin Callahan, kjcallahan@sjc.edu