2. Jean Paul Sartre – (1905-1980); French existentialist; believed that humans simply exist and did not believe in God, reason, and progress

3. existentialism – philosophy that basically said God did not exist and human existence as unexplainable; came of age in France during the years immediately followed World War II; terrible conditions of the war reinforced the existential view of life

4. Albert Schweitzer – (1875-1965); theologian who wrote Quest of the Historical Jesus; argued that Christ while on earth was a completely natural man whose teachings had been only temporary rules to prepare himself and his disciples for the end of the world

5. Soren Kierkegaard - (1813-1855); Danish religious philosopher; ideas were extremely influential, rejected formalistic religious and denounced the worldliness of the Danish Lutheran church; eventually resolved his person anguish over his imperfect nature by making a total relig

19. Bauhaus – interdisciplinary school made up of merged Weimar schools of fine and applied arts; brought together many leading modern architects, artists, designers, and theatrical innovators, who worked as an effective, inspired team; with its stress on functionalism and good design for everyday life, attracted enthusiastic students from all over the world

26. Alban Berg – (1885-1935); wrote opera, Wozzeck, first performed in Berlin in 1925; blended a half-sung, half-spoken kind f dialogue with harsh, atonal music; Wozzeck is a gruesome tale of a soldier driven by Kafka-like inner terrors and vague suspicions of unfaithfulness to murder his mistress

25. Igor Stravinsky – (1882-1971); wrote ballet, The Rite of Spring, which almost caused a riot when it was performed in 1913; combination of pulsating, barbaric rhythms from the orchestra pit and an earthy representation of lovemaking by the dancers on the stage seemed a shocking, almost pornographic enactment of primitive fertility rite

22. Dadaism – attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior, delighting in outrageous conducts; its name came from the French word ‘dada’, meaning ‘hobbyhorse’, and is deliberately nonsensical; famous example of Dadaism: reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in which the famous woman with the mysterious smile sports a mustache and is ridiculed with an obscene inscription

ious commitment to a remote and majestic God

12. Marcel Proust – (1871-1922); French novelist; in his semi-autobiographical Remembrance of Things Past, recalled bittersweet memories of childhood and youthful love and tried to discover their innermost meaning; lived like a hermit in a soundproof apartment for 10

Some topics in this essay:
George Orwell, Mona Lisa, Wassily Kandinsky, Leni Riefenstahl, Alban Berg, Max Planck, Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, Rite Spring, Decline West, western civilization,