Offered Spring 2014
T TH 10:30-11:50 a.m.
Brigette Buettner-Gorra
ARH 321 Art and Natural History, c. 1250-1650
Bridging the gap between the history of art and the history of science, the manuscript and the print age, the medieval and early modern periods, this seminar interrogates the creative ways in which the writing of natural history was entwined with visual representation. It focuses on four areas of descriptive knowledge, incubators of modern disciplines: bestiaries (zoology); herbals (botany); lapidaries (geology); alchemy (chemistry). This course includes fieldtrips (to the Mortimer Rare Book Room, the Botanical Gardens, a regional museum of natural history). It welcomes students interested in art history, the history of science, the history of ideas, medieval and Renaissance studies. Open to juniors and seniors only. No prerequisite but permission by the instructor. {A/H} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
T 3:00-4:50 p.m.
Brigette Buettner-Gorra
Requirements/Departments (Art)
Offered Fall 2013
M W F 10:00-10:50 a.m.
Craig R. Davis
Offered Spring 2014
M W F 10:00-10:50 a.m.
Craig R. Davis
The course is devoted to a study of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. The tales represent the popular narrative genres of the High Middle Ages, including chivalric romances, moral and devotional works, and indecent comic tales. Through close study of the tales and of the pilgrimage framing-story that unites them, students acquaint themselves with Chaucer's skills as a narrative poet. Some of its techniques have their counterparts in fiction of recent centuries; others will be new to modern readers. The course provides an introduction to Chaucer's world--social, philosophical, and religious, as well as literary.
Requirements include translation quizzes, a critical paper, a research paper, and a final examination.
{L} 4 credits
Offered Spring 2014M W 2:40-4:00 p.m.
Nancy Mason Bradbury
Victorian writers, artists, and architects looked back to the Middle Ages as an imaginative space in which to explore ideas about their own society. Thus in the nineteenth century we find an intriguing outbreak of interest in castles, abbeys, cathedrals, knights, damsels in distress, monks, manuscripts, merry minstrels, dedicated craftsmen, and dashing outlaws. This interdisciplinary course offers students the opportunity to study a variety of works from both perriods -- fiction, poetry, painting, architecture, political manifesto, scholarship -- and the chance to discover how the later period re-imagined the earlier one in the image of its own desires and aspriations.
Our topics will include the material book in the Medieval and Victorian periods, Arthurian legend in medieval and nineteenth-century England, the Gothic revival in British art and architecture, the cult of Chaucer, controversies over women's education, and the idealization of medieval communities in Victorian social and political theory. This course satisfies the English Department requirement for a course prior to 1800 or prior to 1900 and counts as a literature course for the Medieval Studies major. Requirements include regualr attendance and participation, two papers, and a final examination.
Offered Spring 2014
T TH 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Nancy Bradbury and Cornelia Pearsall
CLT202 Western Classics inTranslation, from Homer to Dante
Texts include the Iliad; tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; Plato's Symposium; Virgil's Aeneid; Dante's Divine Comedy. Lecture and discussion. {L} {WI} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
T TH 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Scott Bradbury, Robert Hosmer, William Oram
CLT 202/ENG 202, like CLT 203/ENG 203, is among the courses from which Comparative Literature majors choose two as the basis of the major. Students interested in Comparative Literature and/or the foundations of Western literature and wanting a writing-intensive course should take 202 or 203, or both.
ENG/CLT306 Foundations of Celtic Europe: Old European, Indo-European, Etruscan, Greek and Roman
Celts are the only Indo-European-speaking people to adopt the Old European cult of the great mother as their dominant divinity, creating the La Téne complex in the fourth century BC. This tradition was replicated in Britain and Ireland for centuries into the first millenium AD, ultimately yielding such manuscript treasures as the Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels, as well as vernacular poems and sagas of two parallel universes, this world and Annwn 'the Unworld', neither home to the gods nor ambiguously land of the dead, but rather a preternatural realm whose inhabitants interact in love or hostility with humans.
{L} 4 credits
Offered Spring 2014
T 3:00-4:50 p.m.
Craig Davis
Offered Fall 2013
T TH 10:30-11:50
Craig R. Davis
French
Requirements/Departments (French)
Greek
- GRK 310 Advanced Readings in Greek Literature I & II
- Authors read in GRK 310 vary from year to year, but they are generally chosen from a list including Plato, Homer, Aristophanes, lyric poets, tragedians, historians and orators, depending on the interests and needs of the students. GRK 310 may be repeated for credit, provided that the topic is not the same. Prerequisite: GRK 213 or permission of the instructor.
Euripides and Thucydides: Athens Destroys Itself
A study of how a contemporary tragedian and a contemporary historian viewed Athens' loss of its empire in the Peloponnesian War. Prerequisite: GRK 213 or permission of the instructor. 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
T TH 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Scott Bradbury
This course investigates the many-layered levels of the city of Rome's complex history and cultures from its origins to the seventh century, focusing especially on the period of the Antonines in the second century and ending in the late seventh century. Special attention will be given to the social, cultural, and political history of Rome, the era of Constantine and his "New Rome," the catastrophes and triumphs of the late Roman empire, paupers, emperors and kings, bishops and popes, myths, legacies, and deep secrets. {H} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
Lecture - M W 11:00 a.m. -12:10 p.m.;
Disc.1, F 10:00-10:50 a.m.; Disc.2, F 11:00-11:50 a.m.
Joshua Birk
Detailed study of Dante's Inferno in the context of his other works. Conducted in Italian.
{L/F} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
T TH 10:30-11:50 a.m.
Alfonso Procaccini
An in-depth thematic study of Boccaccio’s literary masterpiece, Decameron, including its style, structure and historical context. Particular attention will be devoted to Boccaccio’s singular interest in how imagination effectively combats the various constraints and even tragic aspects of life such as the plague or certain forms of social, political, and psychological oppression. In what way do Boccaccio’s novelle provide every reader the same “diletto e utile consiglio” which he was so intent on offering his gracious ladies? Conducted in Italian. Open only to senior Italian majors or by permission of the instructor. {L/F} 4 credits
Offered Spring 2014
T TH 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Alfonso Procaccini
Offered Fall 2013
M W 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Scott Bradbury
LAT213 Introduction to Virgil's "Aeneid"
Selections from the Aeneid, with attention to literary, historical, and cultural aspects. Prerequisite: 212 or permission of the instructor. {F} {L} 4 credits
Offered Spring 2014
TIME: TBA
Justina Gregory
LAT330 Advanced Readings in Latin Literature
- Augustine's Confessions
- A study of the autobiography of one of Western Christianity's greatest minds, with attention to the social and cultural transformation of the Later Roman Empire in Augustine's era. LAT 330 may be repeated for credit, provided that the topic is not the same. Prerequisite: Two courses at the 200-level or permission of the instructor.
- Offered Spring 2014
- TIME: TBA
- Scott Bradbury
A study of Western philosophy from the early Greeks to the end of the Middle Ages, with emphasis on the pre-Socratics, Plato,
Aristotle, the Stoics and Epicureans, and some of the scholastic philosophers. {H/M} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
TIME: M W F 11:00 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.
Susan Levin
Requirements/Departments (Philosophy)
- REL238 Mary: Images of Cults
- Whether revered as the Birth-Giver of God or remembered as a simple Jewish women, Mary has both inspired and challenged generations of Christian women and men. This course focuses on key developments in the "history of Mary" since Christian times to the present. How has her image shaped Christianity? What does her image in any given age tell us about personal and collective Christian identity? Topics include Mary's "life"; rise of the Marian cult; differences among Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians; apparitions (e.g., Guadalupe and Lourdes); miracle-working icons; Mary, liberation and feminism. Liturgical, devotional, and theological texts, art, and film. Enrollment limited to 30. {H} 4 credits
- Offered Fall 2013
- T TH 1:00-2:20 p.m.
- Vera Shevzov
- REL245 The Islamic Tradition
- The Islamic religious tradition from its beginnings in 7th century Arabia through the present day, with particular emphasis on the formative period (A.D. 600-1000) and on modern efforts at reinterpretation. Topics include Muhammad and the Qur'an, prophetic tradition, sacred Law, ritual, sectarianism, mysticism, dogmatic theology, and popular practices. Emphasis on the ways Muslims in different times and places have constructed and reconstructed the tradition for themselves.
- {H} 4 credits
- Offered Fall 2013
- T Th 9:00-10:20 a.m.
- Suleiman Mourad
- REL345 Seminar: The Making of Muhammad
- This seminar examines the place of prophecy in Muslim thought by analyzing historical sources for the life of Muhammad: the Qur'an, traditional and revisionist biographies, poetry, art, and literature. Topics include the challenges of reconstructing the historical Muhammad, representations of his character and teachings in the traditions of Islamic theology, mysticism, and sacred history, medieval European presentation of the prophet of Islam and his portrayal in modern film and fiction. The course offers students an opportunity to investigate with some sophistication questions that require careful attention to research methods, critical theory, and writing. {H} 4 credits
- Offered Fall 2013
- T 1:00-2:50 p.m.
- Suleiman Mourad
Requirements/Departments (Religion)
Topic: Sex and the Medieval City
This course examines the medieval understanding of sex and the woman’s body within an urban context. We will read medieval texts on love, medicine and women’s sexualityby Iberian and North African scholars. We will investigate the ways in which medieval Iberian medical traditions have viewed women’s bodies and defined their health and illness. We will also address women’s role as practitioners of medicine, and how such a role was affected by the gradual emergence of “modern” medical institutions such as the hospital and the medical profession. Prerequisite: SPN 220 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 19. {L/F} 4 credits
Offered Fall 2013
T TH 3:00-4:50 p.m.
Ibtissam Bouachrine
SPN332 The Middle Ages Today
Topic: Queer Iberia and North Africa
This course examines the medieval and early-modern Iberian and North African understanding of sexuality in light of modern critical theory. Special attention will be given to the Arabic and Castilian representations of same-sex desire. Readings will include texts by Ibn Hazm, Juan Ruiz, al-Tifashi, al-Nafwazi, Wallada, Ibn Sahl of Seville, Ibn Quzman, and Fernando de Rojas. All readings in Spanish translation. Taught in Spanish. Enrollment limited to 14. {L/F} 4 credits
Offered Spring 2014
TIME: TBA
Ibtissam Bouachrine
Admission by permission of the instructor and the Medieval Studies Council
4 credits. Offered both semesters each year.
Admission by permission of the instructor and the Medieval Studies Council
8 credits. Full year course; offered each year.
Requirements/Departments (Special Studies)
Director: Joshua Birk
Admission by permission of the Medieval Studies Council.
8 credits. Full-year course; offered each year
Please consult the Director of Medieval Studies for the application procedure.
Requirements: the same as those for the major, except that the thesis (eight credits) shall count as one course (four credits) in the area of concentration. The subject of the thesis should, preferably, be determined during the second semester of the junior year. There shall be an oral examination on the thesis.
Requirements/Departments (Honors)
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