The Descent into Modernity: The 20th Century

Assignments for the Week of May 16-20

World War I--1914-1918

Monday:  Mr. House will duly report to court for jury duty today.  Your trial is a different one:  Read extensively from The Brothers Karamazov.  Prepare a report that includes your starting and stopping pages on today's reading.  Be prepared to write a short (one or more pages) account tomorrow of the reading you do today.

The official assignment:  Book Seven: Alyosha

Tuesday:  The Twentieth Century Foretold and Told in Poetry:  "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold

An Outline of the 20th Century

Discussion of The Brothers Karamazov

Reading Assignment:  Book Eight: Mitya 

Wednesday:  The Twentieth Century Foretold and Told in Poetry:   "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy

Events Leading Up to World War I

Brothers Karamazov Discussion Points

Reading Assignment:  Book Nine: The Preliminary Investigation

Thursday:  The Twentieth Century Foretold and Told in Poetry:  "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats

World War I--In Brief

Brothers Karamazov Discussion

Reading Assignment:  Continue Book Nine

Friday:  The Twentieth Century Foretold and Told in Poetry:  "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen

The Russian Revolution

Simon Schama Video--"The Two Winstons"

Quotes from Paul Johnson:

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Western elites were confident that men and progress were governed by reason. A prime discovery of modern times is that reason plays little part in our affairs.
- from Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Nineties

My grandfather used to say, "Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad". It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.
        - from a Spectator column in January 2005



Just a Few of Paul Johnson's Great Books