In her 1974 essay entitled “Fascinating Fascism,” Susan Sontag argues that the fascism that plunged the world into war in the 1930s and 1940s was in essence an aesthetic mode distinguished by its horrifying blend of sublime beauty with apocalyptic violence. This class will investigate the similarities and differences of two particular brands of fascism (the German and the Japanese) in hopes of identifying and understanding the cultural and ideological dynamic that makes this worldview possible. Wartime Germany and Japan represent two distinct cultural, linguistic and historical constellations and yet in the period in question they shared a surprising number of commonalities: resuscitations of ancient mythologies, discourses of ethnic purity and racial superiority, and conflations of medieval narratives and modernist sensibilities. The instructors hope that the comparison of the disparate contexts that gave rise to such similar wartime cultures will reveal something essential to the fascist condition. Course materials will include fiction, autobiographical writing, film, cultural criticism, anthropological studies, and musical compositions. The class will include Canvas on-line discussions, collaborative learning activities, and a final research paper.
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