106-270/370 Art/Pornography/Blasphemy/Propaganda

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Subject Description:

An introduction to the history and cultural politics of censorship of the arts during the twentieth century, focusing on the contested borders between Art and its presumed Others: pornography, blasphemy and propaganda. The subject provides an introduction to the processes and mechanisms by which censorship operates in the West; the historically and culturally variable nature of taboos (legal and otherwise) on the forms and content of 'artistic expression'; and the ways in which the concept of 'aesthetic value' has been used to defend specific literary, filmic and musical texts against censure or censorship on the grounds of their perceived obscenity, blasphemy or propaganda.

Assessment:

Prescribed Texts:

Course reader available from the department. Any edition of the following texts:

• H Darville, The Hand That Signed the Paper
• A Dworkin, Mercy
• B E Ellis, American Psycho
• M Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• D H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
• Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Matagari
• P Réage, Story of O (Part 1)
• S Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
• A Solzhenitzyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
• O Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The 2 Live Crew, Nasty As They Wanna Be, (music).
• Films:, Blue Velvet
• , The Last Temptation of Christ