CIVILIZATION AND THE ARTS: FIN-DE-SIECLE VIENNESE CULTURE AND THE COFFEEHOUSE

GNST 1400: SPRING (II) 2001

Bob Corbett, instructor

MEETS: 1 - 3 PM, TUESDAY - THURSDAY

BELOW YOU WILL FIND INFORMATION ON:

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• Course Objectives
• Readings
• Syllabus
• Course Requirements and Grading

• Course Objectives (short version).

  Vienna at the turn of the 19th to 20th century was an important intellectual center not only for Austria, but for the rising movement of MODERNISM in Europe. In Vienna this intellectual ferment was less situated in places like the universities, the institution of the church or salons of the elite than it was centered in the large system of coffee houses where people met and spent significant amounts of time.

  This course will investigate various aspects of the Viennese contribution to the birth of modernism, and will do so with a strong focus on the role of the coffee house. There will be an attempt to have the student get a sense of the vibrancy of those coffee houses of 100 years ago, and the invigorating spirit which early modernism lent to the city.

• Readings.

  We will read one main demanding and somewhat difficult text:
  FIN-DE-SIECLE VIENNA: POLITICS AND CULTURE
  written by Carl E. Schorske.
  New York: Vintage Books, 1981. ISBN# 0-394-74478-0.

  EXTRA CREDIT POSSIBILITIES

• Course Requirements and Grading

  Grading: While I will grade each individual assignment, the grade of the course will not be merely the sum of the individual grades. Rather, I will take into account an overall sense of quality in the general tone of one's work. However, the sum of one's individual grades will certainly be a strong indication of where one stands. In a rough sense the assigments will be valued in this fashion:

  Grading

  • Attendance: This will be only a negative possibility. You begin will full credit.
    • If you miss more than 2 class your grade will be lowered one full letter grade.
    • If you miss more than 3 classes your grade will be lowered two full letter grades.
    • If you miss more than 4 classes your grade will be lowered three full letter grades.
    • If you miss 6 classes you will receive a grade of F.
    • Special classes There are five off-campus meetings: 1. Belvedere Museum, 2. The Secession 3. and 4. Two coffee house visits and 5. The Ringstrasse trip. Were you to miss ANY ONE of them your grade will be reduced by one full letter grade for each one you missed.
  • General work required and graded
    • Sum of the daily quizzes: 30%
    • The research paper: 20%
    • The group oral presentation: 50%
    • total:
    • ......................100%

    • EXTRA CREDIT POSSIBILITIES

    Five important additional notes:

    1. There will be a quiz on 5 of the 7 Tuesdays (after the initial meeting). The quiz will be given at exactly 1 PM and will last only 10-15 minutes. There will be no extensions of time and the quizzes will not be given at any other time in any circumstance. These quizzes have two purposes:
       • To get students to class on-time.
       • To encourage students to do the reading with care.
    2. The group oral presentation is 50% of your grade, and part of that grade will be earned in each of the two coffee house visits with Corbett. Additionally, you will participate in that grading yourself, grading your participation and the relative worth of each group member's participation. See the special instructions and description of this requirement.
    3. I will only give a grade of incomplete in a very unusual circumstance, one in which the student was doing all work in a timely and acceptable fashion and then some major catastrophe strikes, one for which the student can give evidence of and which is seriously debilitating. Even then, an incomplete would be negotiated toward the shortest reasonable time to fulfill the work with no extensions. In only the rarest occasions would a grade for a fulfilled incomplete ever be higher than a C.
    4. Alternative grading procedure is possible:  Were any student unhappy with the above grading procedure, the student is welcome to begin discussion with Corbett toward forming an alternative grading procedure. This would take an initial discussion with the Corbett which would be initiated by the student. Were an agreement reached then the student has the responsibility to write up the new grading contract and have it signed by both Corbett and the student. Such a contract would have to be signed and finished, and a copy given to Corbett, before the third week of classes had ended.
    5. A statement on plagiarism. Plag1arism is turning in any written work as one's own which was written by someone else. This is a completely unacceptable behavior in the academic world and is counted as a clear case of cheating. Any student caught plagiarizing in this class will be given an F for the entire course. No second chances will be given. The policy is firm and absolute.

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