Literature and philosophy for a long time spoke as if each nation had an essence or character or soul that defined it or distinguished it from universal human nature, in which that character was also understood to participate. To speak of national character today seems to be difficult, possibly offensive, and yet unavoidable even in an age of heralded globalization, sub-national ethnic fragmentation, and rejection of "essentialism." We all recognize the characteristic manners of various nations, even as we also know the horrors produced by perverted theories about national character. We wish to ask such questions as what is a nation, and what is the relevance for politics of national identity. In particular, we wonder whether the literature, art, or music of a nation discloses that character, providing a privileged glimpse into the soul of the nation. Finally, we wonder whether the characters of particular nations bode ill or well for the prospects of democracy in them.
LECTURE SERIES SCHEDULE
Autumn Quarter
October 14
National Character and National Soul
Professor Wilson Carey McWilliams
Department of Political Science, Rutgers University
November 4
French Unconsciousness
Professor Rémi Brague
Department of Philosophy, Université Paris I
November 18
Enduring Change: Confucianism and Human Rights
Professor Anthony Yu
Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
Winter Quarter
January 20
Neither in Heaven nor Beyond the Sea: Reflectionson Jewish National Character
Professor Hillel Fradkin
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.
February 3
Nationalism, Democracy, and Religion in England
Professor J.C.D. Clark
Department of History, University of Kansas
February 17
Does America Have a National Character?
Professor Andrew Delbanco
Department of English, Columbia University
Spring Quarter
April 14
Political Alternatives in Nineteenth Century Literature, With Special Emphasis on Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov
Professor Donna Orwin
Russian Department of Slavic Languages, University of Toronto
May 26
Iran, A Nation in Exile: Women, Culture and the Islamic Republic's Identity Crisis
Professor Azar Nafisi
SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
©1999, 2000 The John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy, University of Chicago
Revised: January 2nd, 2000
http://olincenter.uchicago.edu/souls.html