Instructor: Martin Puchner
Day & Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00–1:30pm (EDT)
Summer 7-week session | CRN 33124
The course asks how literature, theater, and film have captured the spirit of capitalism—fueling its fantasies, contemplating its effects, and chronicling its crises. More than just an economic system, capitalism created new habits of life and mind; it also created new values, forged and distilled by new forms of art. Core readings by Franklin, O'Neill, Rand, Miller, and Mamet, films by Chaplin and Lang, and background readings by Smith, Marx, Taylor, Weber, and Schumpeter.
This course meets via web conference. Students may attend at the scheduled meeting time or watch recorded sessions on demand. The recorded sessions are typically available within a few hours of the end of class and no later than the following business day. Harvard College students: This course is eligible for degree credit, but see important policy information. Please note: In addition to the scheduled class time, this course has required recorded lectures and activities that students complete on demand. Please see course syllabus for details. The overall amount of time students spend on this course is equivalent to other 4-credit courses.