32112

SoSe 17: Fun in the 19th Century

Sophie Spieler

Comments

“[N]o other modern language known to me has the exact equivalent of the English ‘fun’,” says cultural historian and theorist Johan Huizinga in Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (1938). In the American context, this notion is especially prevalent: in fact, ‘fun’ is one of the two most frequently used words in American print culture, as an analysis of the Corpus of Historical American English has shown (the other is ‘achievement’), and the frequency of usage rose particularly sharply in the course of the nineteenth century. In this seminar, we approach nineteenth-century American culture through the lens of fun. Situated in a wide semantic field—related to but not quite synonymous with play, entertainment, pleasure, or thrill; contrasted with boredom, seriousness, work, or compulsion—fun is a multidimensional category that can be conceptualized as a social and affective experience, as a practice, quality, or performance, but also as a political activity, a form of protest or resistance. In its multiplicity, fun thus offers a particularly productive point of departure to engage with historical texts and practices. During the course of the seminar, we traverse the nineteenth century chronologically, highlighting different cultural arenas in which fun becomes meaningful, for instance various forms of entertainment (races, blood sports, fairs, amusement parks), hobbies (sports, music, arts and crafts), and different conceptualizations of childhood. We’ll also examine illicit or taboo forms of fun (drug use, alcohol, sex) and address the role of danger and violence in their practice. In our discussions of these instantiations, we’ll focus on the one hand on the ways in which the experience of fun is informed and determined by class, race, and gender, and on the other hand on the influence of technological and economic developments, i.e. the gradual emergence of a capitalist ‘fun industry’. These explorations will take us through a number of public and private spaces—some contested, some iconic—and help us see a different side of nineteenth-century America. close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Thu, 14:00 - 16:00 13 Class schedule

Thu, 2017-04-20 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Sophie Spieler