Information may be Subject to Change

Time & Place

2025 Winter Term 2
Tuesdays & Thursdays
3:30pm to 5:00pm

Language & Prerequisites

This course is taught in English and there are no prerequisites.

Live Streaming and Lecture Recording

This lecture will be streamed live.

Degree Requirements

This course counts towards the Literature Requirement for UBC’s Bachelor of Arts degree (for students who enrolled before 2024W). It is currently featured on the list of exceptions for the Literature Requirement. This means that you will need to reach out to an advisor and ask them to manually apply this course to the literature requirement on your Academic Progress Report.

Course Description

This course examines key publications by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, focussing on their respective critiques of Western culture. We will investigate the cultural and historical environment in which these authors produced their writings, and we will explore the reception of these texts in the literary arts. Our goal is to appreciate the historical impact of these authors as well as their ongoing relevance for social, cultural and aesthetic theory.

Texts

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – The German Ideology (Excerpts)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – The Communist Manifesto
Rosa Luxemburg – Leninism or Marxism?
Friedrich Nietzsche – On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense
Friedrich Nietzsche – The Antichrist
Friedrich Nietzsche – The Dionysiac World View
Thomas Mann – Little Herr Friedemann
Sigmund Freud – New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (Excerpts)
Sigmund Freud – Civilization and Its Discontents
Sigmund Freud – The Future of An Illusion
Alexander and Margarete Mitscherlich – The Inability to Mourn (Excerpts)

Evaluation of Student Work

Two Midterm Exams (33% each)
Final Exam (34%)