Course objectives: The course aims to identify and understand discursive mechanisms in building the American imaginary in the literatures and cultures of (Southeast) Europe and to analyse and interpret literary and cultural texts that represent and shape the idea of the United States in a European context.

Enrolment requirements and/or entry competences required for the course: None

Learning outcomes at the level of the programme to which the course contributes:

(1) Explain and compare theoretical approaches to Southeast European studies in the social sciences and humanities

(2) Critically assess and apply theoretical approaches to the analysis of phenomena and processes in Southeast Europe

(3) Critically examine cultural perceptions of Southeast Europe

(4) Evaluate the empirical validity of statements and conclusions in various types of texts

(5) Recognize, use, integrate, and document data from various sources

Expected learning outcomes at the level of the course:   

(1) Recognize and explain the strategies and procedures to which different European literatures and cultures represent and shape the idea of the United States through the 20th century.

(2) Explain the basic concepts and approaches in the disciplines of literary imagology and popular geopolitics.

(3) Critically evaluate and apply theoretical approaches in the analysis of selected literary and cultural texts and phenomena of European literature that thematise the United States.

(4) Analyse and interpret literary and cultural texts that represent and shape the idea of the United States through the 20th century

(5) Name, explain and use key terms related to literary imagology and popular geopolitics.

(6) Recognize different strategies and mechanisms in shaping the imaginary of the United States in the context of 20th century European literature and culture.

(7) Interpret and critically valorise individual examples and approaches to literary and cultural works.

(8) Critically use primary and secondary sources related to literature and culture.

Course content (syllabus):

(1) Introduction to the problems of the course and introduction to the way of working on the course.

(2) Basic theoretical settings of literary imagology and popular geopolitics.

(3) The twentieth century – the “American century”: the economic rise of the United States and its consequences for Europe.

(4) Emigration to America from Southeast Europe through Ethnic Literature and Emigrant Experience: Louis Adamič and Gabro Karabin

(5) Gender perspective of emigrant experience: Anzia Yezierska and Kristina Leko

(6) The Critical Imaginary of American Capitalism: A Central European Perspective: Franz Kafka: America

(7) Socialist revolutionary perspective of the first half of the 20th century: Vladimir Mayakovsky

(8) The Great Depression and the Literary Imagination of the Economic Crisis: Ilf and Petrov; Egon Erwin Kisch

(9) Americanization of Southeast Europe: Ljubomir Radičević: Love and Fashion

(10) European critique of the American landscape of late capitalism of the 20th century: Jean Baudrillard

(11) America in the Imaginary of Decadent Socialism: Dubravka Oraić Tolić

(12) Post-socialist perspective on America from the end of the 20th century: Dubravka Ugrešić, Slavenka Drakulić, Eva Hoffman

(13) New emigration from Southeast Europe to America: Goran Paskaljević: Someone Else’s America

(14) Academic writing and design of the final seminar paper

(15) Student presentations of synopsis of seminar papers

Format of instruction: Lectures, seminars and workshops, independent assignments, multimedia and the internet, work with mentor, field work

Student responsibilities:

Monitoring student work: Class attendance, research, essay, seminar paper

1. Vladimir Mayakovsky: My Discovery of America, London: Hesperus Press, 2005.
2. Ilf & Petrov’s American Road Trip, Princeton Architectural Press, 2013.  
3. Egon Erwin Kisch: “At Ford’s Place in Detroit”, Michigan Historical Review, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 125-131.          
4. Anzia Yezierska: ”America and I”, 1923.
5. Franz Kafka: Amerika, Schocken; Reprint edition, 1996.
6. Gabro Karabin: Honorable Escape, 1937.
7. Louis Adamič: Laughing in the Jungle, Ayer Co Pub, 1969.
8. Louis Adamič: My America, New York ; London : Harper & Brothers, 1938.
9. Dubravka Oraić Tolić: American Scream, Ooligan Press, 2005.
10.  Jean Baudrillard: America, London: Verso, 1989.    
11. Eva Hoffman: Lost in Translation : Life in a New Language, London: Penguin Books, 1989.
12. Dubravka Ugrešić: Have a Nice Day: From the Balkan War to the American Dream, Viking Adult, 1995.
13. Slavenka Drakulić: How We Survived Communism & Even Laughed, Harper Perennial, 2016.

1. Barclay, David E. i Glaser-Schmidt, Elisabeth, ur. (2003): Transantaltic Images and Perceptions: Germany and America since 1776, Washington: German Historical Institute i Cambridge University Press.
2. Beller, Manfred i Leerssen, Joep ur. (2007): Imagology. The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters, Amsterdam and New York, Editions Rodopi B.V..
3. Brunnbauer, Ulf (2016): Globalizing Southeastern Europe: Emigrants, America, and the State Since the Late Nineteenth Century, London: Lexington Books.
4. Ceaser, James W (1997): Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought, New Haven – London: Yale University Press.
5. De Grazia, Victoria (2005): Irresistible Empire: America’s Advance through Twentieth Century Europe, Cambridge – Massachusetts, London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
6. Dubrović, Ervin, ur. (2008): Merika : iseljavanje iz srednje Europe u Ameriku 1880.-1914. = Emigration from Central Europe to America 1880-1914 : [katalog izložbe : Muzej grada Rijeke od 10. prosinca 2008. do 28. veljače 2009.], Rijeka: Muzej grada Rijeke, http://www.muzej-rijeka.hr/merika/index.html.
7. Ellwood, David W. (2012): The Shock of America: Europe and the Challenge of the Century, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
8. Hasty Peters, Olga i Susanne Fusso (1988), ur.: America through Russian Eyes, 1874-1926, Yale: Yale University Press.
9. Kuisel, Richard (1996): Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization, University of California Press, Berkely, Los Angeles and London.
10. Nolan, Mary (2012): The Transatlantic Century. Europe and America, 1890–2010., Cambridge – New York – Melbourne – Madrid – Cape Town – Singapore – São Paulo – Delhi – Mexico City: Cambridge University Press.
11. Ramet, Sabrina P. i Crnković, Gordana, ur. (2003): Kazaam! splat! ploof!: The American Impact on European Popular Culture since 1945, Lanham, Boulder, New York i Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc..
12. Ruland, Richard (1976): America in Modern European Literature: From Image to Metaphor, New York: New York University Press.
13. Saunders, Robert A. i Vlad Strukov, ur. (2018): Popular Geopolitics. Plotting an Evolving Interdiscipline, London i New York, Routledge.
14. Šesnić, Jelena (2018): ”Images of America from the Austro-Hungarian Periphery. The Example of Croatian Travel Narratives of the United States“, u: Postimperiale Narrative im zentraleuropäischen Raum, ur. Marijan Bobinac, Johanna Chovanec, Wolfgang Müller-Funk, Jelena Spreicer. Tübingen: Francke: 123-142.
15. Vučetić, Radina (2018):Coca-Cola Socialism: Americanization of Yugoslav Culture in the Sixties, Budapest–New York: Central European University Press.
16. Zaborowska, Magdalena J. (1995): How We Found America: Reading Gender through East European Immigrant Narratives, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
17. Zunz, Oliver (1998): Why the American Century?, Chicago i London: The University of Chicago press.

Other:

1. Ljubomir Radičević: Ljubav i moda, 1960 (movie)
2. Goran Paskaljević: Someone Else’s America, 1995 (movie)
3. Kristina Leko: Amerika, 2005 (video instalation)