22164		2:30-3:45	TR			SHORE
Above section open to undergraduates only
A portion of the above section reserved for majors
D300: REEI graduate students register for REEI-R 500

From the title of the Romanian writer Emil Cioran's book.  This course
will begin around the turn of the century with the twilight of the
great empires (Russian, Prussian, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian),
exploring the origins and "invention" of modern Eastern Europe.  It
will go on to examine the "rebirth" of Eastern Europe in the
aftermath of World War I; the wild and experimental 1920s, including
avantgardism in the cultural sphere and the collapse of democracy in
the political sphere; and the polarizing ideological spectrum of the
1930s.  We will explore the dynamics of communism and fascism, along
with other configurations of Marxism and nationalism.  Given the
spectre of the Second World War, this course will pose the
overarching question of whether and how we can read the interwar
years in a way other than as a prelude to an inevitable catastrophe
to come?