Cultural history of the Low Countries until 1940 I 15-HKN3-NID-12

(First semester of a two-semester course. Continued as 15-HKN3-NID-22 in the second semester.)

This two-semester course consists of two interrelated parts (Part I and Part II - 15-HKN4-NID-12). The aim of the course is to familiarise students with a wide range of cultural phenomena (ranging from literature, visual arts, architecture, music etc.) in the Low Countries, presented against a background of historical, social and political transformations. The course offers a chronological overview of movements and tendencies, starting from the Middle Ages up till the World War II. The winter semester covers topics up till the Age of Enlightment; the summer semester begins with the Romantic era.

The course covers such topics as the first instances of literature in Dutch, impact of Islam on the Low Countries’ culture, epic poetry, mysticism, the role religion (catholicism vs. protestantism), the Dutch independence struggle, the rich culture of the Golden Age, colonial expansion and slavery, 19th century industrialisation and the consequent raise of socialism and the first political parties, women suffragist movement, Flemish language and culture movement, modern architecture, experimental cinema in the interbellum period etc. The course includes theoretical background discussions of such artistic and cultural movements, as for example realism, naturalism, psychoanalysis, symbolism, impressionism and expressionism, while the emphasis is placed on the understanding of the impact of social and political changes on the worldview of people living in given historical circumstances.