ITALN-204 The Sound of Silence: Music, Literature and European Modernity
This course explores the nature of silence in literature and music as a way to understand how sound, or lack thereof, came to shape modern Europe. We will discuss the history of silence as a philosophical concept, as a response to crisis, alienation and negation, gendered muteness, as well as the aesthetics of dissonance. Literary and musical selections include Boethius, Dante, Petrarch, Gaspara Stampa, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Robert Musil, Arnold Schoenberg, Theodor Adorno, Eugenio Montale, Anna Banti, Alda Merini, Luigi Nono, Ingeborg Bachmann, George Steiner. Taught in English.
Writing-Intensive (18)
Credits
1
Cross Listed Courses
MUSIC-204