English 192-009
Freshmen Seminar: The Art of War: America's Wars in Literature & Film
Instr: Clohessy, Ronald
Office: CRT 516; 229-2972
e-mail: clohessy@uwm.edu
Office Hours: TBA
Course Information: M&W; 4:00-5:15pm; SAB G28
Course Description
Look at the offerings for any given week on the "History Channel" and you will find that at least 60% of them are on war or war-related topics. What questions does this fact raise regarding our society's conception of the history of this country and history in general? What issues does this raise concerning the role of war in our society? What is it about war that we, as a nation, find both repelling and fascinating? In this course we will attempt to answer these questions. But, more importantly, it is the course goal to get students to examine the films and novels we will discuss in a new way. Specifically, what we will explore is how these texts are used to construct a history, or rather historical reading, of the United States. To this end then, class discussions will focus not so much on the conventions used in constructing these texts, but on how they are a reflection of the concerns of the society at the time they were produced. For example, how Stephen Crane seems less interested in telling a story about the Civil War and more so with constructing an image of the soldier that would serve as a model for those who would fight this country's expansionist wars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Or, how M* A *S *H is less a story about the Medical Corps during the Korean War and more an analogy for what Altman perceived as the chaos, stupidity, and senselessness of this country's involvement in Vietnam. The course will conclude with a discussion of post-Vietnam war literature and film and how those texts are often used not only to re-write the history, or at least the ending of that war, but also to build support for the new role of this country's military as defenders of the "new world order".
Ron Clohessy, received his PhD in English from UWM where he has taught introductory composition for the English Department for a number of years. He has also studied film at UWM and the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York and has taught military history for the Army ROTC program at Marquette University. These academic interests combined with long service in the U.S. Army make this topic one of great personal interest for him.
