0M.Phil.

II

Code . . .
Course Title: Title Seminar on Philosophy, Art, and Literature
Credit Hours: 3

Course Description

The course focuses on the art and its relation with Tragedy and Nature (Units I and II), and the
further understanding of art as Idea and Abstraction (Units III and IV). The first sets of
relationship define art in the two key domains of human existence which are tragedy and nature,
and the second sets comprehend art as idea and abstraction.
The western philosophical and critical writings are chronologically arranged from the Greeks to
the presents. Thus the course aims at reading some key writings on the theories of aesthetics.

Course Objectives

The major objective of the course to provide student the critical knowledge of the ideas related
with the philosophy of art thematically related tragedy, nature, idea, and abstraction. Literary
and Visual representation will help exemplify and elaborate on the philosophy of art. The
general objective is to critically survey the key western ideas related with the discourses on art
from the Greeks to Postmodernism.

Teaching Method

Along with class lectures, the course demands student presentation on the four areas indicated in
the four units. Students are required to show a comprehensive understanding of the concepts of
art in relation to literature and the visual arts. We will have ten-minute student presentation from
Day 2. There are two term papers required in the semester. The details regarding the papers will
be announced in the class.

Evaluation procedures

Term paper one: 10%

Term paper two and class presentation: 15%
Mid Term Exam: 15%
End Term Exam: 15%
Class Presence: 5%

UNIT 1. Art and Representation I (Tragedy)

Plato: "Defense of Socrates"
Aristotle: Mimesis and Catharsis from Poetics
Literary Representation: Clytemnestra murdering Agamemnon from
Aeschylus’s Agamemnon (p 87)
Illustration: Bellini: "Agony in the Garden," Titian "The Flaying of Marsyas"
UNIT II. Art and Representation II (Nature)

Hegel: Lectures on Fine Art (Norton)

Kant: Beautiful and Sublime from Critique of Judgment (Norton)
Coleridge: Fancy and Imagination from Biographia Litereria
Literary Representation: Coleridge: "Kubla Khan", Shelley’s “The Cloud”
Illustrations: da Vinci, “Mona Lisa”, Turner: "Snow Storm"

UNIT III. Art as Idea

Walter Pater: "Preface," "Conclusion" from Renaissance

Nietzsche: from The Birth of Tragedy (Apollonian and Dionysian)
Carl Jung: "Concerning Mandala Symbolism"
Literary Representation: Browning: "Porphyria's Lover", Frank O'Hara, “Why I am not a
painter”,
Illustrations: Michael Angelo’s “David”, Rubens: "Descent from the Cross,"
"Mandala."

UNIT IV. Art as Abstraction

Baudelaire: "The Painter of Modern Life"

Foucault: "This is not a Pipe."
Derrida: From The Truth in Painting.
Lyotard: The Sublime and the Avant-garde (Lyotard Reader ed by Andrew Benjamin)
Literary Representation: Stevens, “Sunday Morning”, WB Yeats: "Circus Animals’ Desertion"
Illustration: Matisse, “The Dance”, Cezanne: "Le Chateau Noir," Picasso: "Guernica"

Contact hours from day 1 to day 45 (for a 3-credit course),

Days and Contents

1. Introduction to the course

2. Introduction on How to read the arts

3. Plato: "Defense of Socrates"

4. Aristotle: Mimesis and Catharsis from Poetics

5. Literary Representation: Clytemnestra murdering Agamemnon from Aeschylus’s Agamemnon (p 87)

6. Illustration: Bellini: "Agony in the Garden"

7. Titian "The Flaying of Marsyas"

8. Presentation

9. Presentation

10. Hegel: Lectures on Fine Art (Norton)

11. Kant: Beautiful and Sublime from Critique of Judgment (Norton)

12. Coleridge: Fancy and Imagination from Biographia Litereria

13. Literary Representation: Coleridge: "Kubla Khan"

14. Shelley’s “The Cloud”

15. Illustrations: da Vinci, “Mona Lisa”

16. Turner: "Snow Storm"

17. Presentation

18. Presentation

19. Walter Pater: "Preface,"

20. Walter Pater: "Conclusion"

21. Nietzsche: from The Birth of Tragedy

22. Nietzsche: from The Birth of Tragedy

23. Carl Jung: "Concerning Mandala Symbolism"

24. Carl Jung: "Concerning Mandala Symbolism"

25. Literary Representation: Browning: "Porphyria's Lover",

26. Frank O'Hara: “Why I am not a painter”,

27. Illustrations: Michael Angelo’s “David”,

28. Rubens: "Descent from the Cross,"

29. "Mandala."

30. Presentation

31. Presentation
32. Baudelaire: "The Painter of Modern Life"

33. Foucault: "This is not a Pipe."

34. Foucault: "This is not a Pipe"

35. Derrida: From The Truth in Painting.

36. Derrida: From The Truth in Painting.

37. Lyotard: The Sublime and the Avant-garde

38. Lyotard: The Sublime and the Avant-garde

39. Literary Representation: Stevens, “Sunday Morning”

40. WB Yeats: "Circus Animals’ Desertion"

41. Illustration: Matisse, “The Dance”

42. Cezanne: "Le Chateau Noir," Picasso: "Guernica"

43. Revision

44. Revision

45. Revision

Prescribed Text: Course Packet

Reference Materials: Check IACER Blog in the website: iacer.edu.np