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HUMN 1010-6听 Introduction to Humanities I
G. Bernardini/A. Eddy
Humanities 1010 is a 6 credit hour course that meets six times a week (three literature discussion classes and three lecture-demonstrations in art and music). 听The course provides an analytical and comparative study of works in literature, music, and visual arts from Antiquity to the 17th听century. 听This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum in 2 areas: historical context or literature and the arts.
Music: The music lectures will cover the basic elements of musical compositions, providing those without a music background a solid foundation from which to build upon. 听The class studies the music found in a number of different time periods starting with Antiquity, then moving on to Medieval, followed by Renaissance vocal/instrumental music and dance, as well as the Reformation and Counter-Reformation periods. 听Readings and listening assignments will be assigned on a regular basis (an audio CD is included in the textbook).
Art: The Art lectures will begin by studying the Sculpture and Architecture of the various Greek time periods, including Classical, Late Classical, and the Hellenistic eras. From that point, the course will examine the various works of art produced during the time of the Roman civilization before moving on to Romanesque and early Gothic architecture. 听In addition, Renaissance portraits and the technique of perspective will be analyzed during lecture, with an emphasis on the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. 听麻豆淫院 are expected to complete weekly readings from听Art Through the Ages听and听Art History鈥檚 History听as well as study the works listed on the course website.
Literature: The literature section includes works such as Homer鈥檚听Odyssey, Greek tragedy, Plato鈥檚听Symposium, Dante鈥檚听Inferno, Cervantes听Don Quixote, Boccaccio鈥檚听Decameron, a Shakespearean tragedy, selections from Montaigne鈥檚听Essais.听 When registering for Humanities 1010, students should sign up for a literature section.听 These sections meet three times a week.
HUMN 1701-3听 Nature and Environment in German Literature and Thought
Adrian Del Caro
In this survey of 鈥済reen鈥� writing from early Goethe to the late twentieth-century, we will critically examine texts from sevel periods in many different genres, including Nietzsche鈥檚 masterpiece Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Nature and environment are the unifying themes of our course, with these terms referring both to nature as the wild and to human nature interacting with its environment. By the end of the course we will be familiar with several major figures of European intellectual history whose thought influences current sensibilities regarding humanity鈥檚 place on and treatment of the Earth. Assessment includes 3 quizzes, a midterm, participation assignment (lead the discussion on a topic), and final or research paper.
HUMN 2000-3听 Methods and Approaches to the Humanities
Paul Gordon/David Ferris/Davide Stimilli
Humanities 2000 will be team-taught by various members of the Comparative Literature and Humanities Department faculty who will each offer a separate 鈥渕ini-course鈥� on one of the essential issues or methodological concerns which students can expect to encounter in their future coursework for the Humanities major. 听Although the subject of each mini-course may be expected to vary from year to year, topics proposed by faculty in the past include: word/image studies; rhetoric; translation; the canon; gender studies; cultural studies; literature and the other arts; literary theory; philosophy and literature; etc.听听Prerequisite HUMN 1010 or 1020.听 Restricted to Humanities Majors.
HUMN 3043-3 The Tragic Sense
Paul Gordon
In this course we will examine theories of tragedy (Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche) and apply those theories, in order to examine their potential efficacy, to various works of art. After a careful examination of Greek tragedy, beginning with Aeschylus and Sophocles and concluding with Euripides鈥� last play on The Bacchae, the only extant tragedy which deals with Dionysus and the 鈥渂irth of tragedy,鈥� we will examine the survival of tragedy in 19-th and 20th century works of art-specifically, the works of the William Butler Yeats, Ibsen (Hedda Gabler), Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard), and Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire).
HUMN 4004-3 Film Theory
J. C. Farmer
This course is designed as an introduction to the major positions and concepts in film theory. As one of the key phenomena of the twentieth century, film has attracted a large number of philosophically-minded observers who have sought to understand its power and potential. We tend to take cinema in its present form for granted, and thus it can be an exciting process of defamiliarization to ask ourselves deceptively childlike questions such as, 鈥淲hat is cinema?鈥� or 鈥淲hy do people go to the movies?鈥� The tradition of film theory allows us to think in new ways about many aspects of the medium鈥搃ts raw materials, its technical means, its stylistic choices, its social implications, and its meaning for audiences. The goals of this course are first, to give you entrance into an on-going dialogue about cinema that has stretched over decades, and second, to improve your own skills in analytical and conceptual thinking.
*This is a controlled enrollment course, contact Shirley.Carnahan@Colorado.edu for registration information regarding this course.
HUMN 4093-3 Studies: (Post)Colonial Indian Fiction: Texts and Contexts
Arnab Chakladar
Our readings in this course will span the high-tide of English colonialism in India, the rise of Indian nationalism, the partition and independence of India (and Pakistan), and the early decades after decolonization. We will do two things: 1) we will trace the rise of the novel in India, and 2) we will examine the cultural narratives of imperialism and nationalism and try to uncover the complex ambivalences and collusions beneath what appears to be a simple conflict between colonizer and colonized. In both cases we will ask the question, 鈥淗ow are English and Indian identities created, staged and written under colonialism?鈥� and see what answers we can come up with.
This will be a reading intensive course.
Texts will likely include: Anita Desai, The Clear Light of Day, E.M. Forster, A Passage to India, Rudyard Kipling, 鈥淣aboth鈥�, 鈥淥n the City Wall鈥�, R.K. Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma, Raya Rao, Kanthapura, Salman Rushdie, Midnight鈥檚 Children, Paul Scott, The Jewel in the Crown, Rabindranath Tagore, Ghare Baire (The Home and the World).
HUMN 4120-3 Greek and Roman Tragedy
J. M. Elliott
This is a reading course which carries upper-division credit in the Core Curriculum in the content area of Literature and the Arts. There is no formal prerequisite, but experience writing and talking about literature will be helpful. We will be reading a selection of the surviving works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (all works written at Athens in the 5th c. BCE) and Seneca (whose 1st c. CE tragedies represent the sole examples of the genre at Rome surviving in non-fragmentary form). There will also be substantial secondary or background reading to guide the development of an understanding of the religious and moral dimensions of tragic drama in context. In this course, the aim will be to develop skills and habits of close observation, analysis and argument, as well as respect for ideas, nuances and differences. As we read, we will attend to the importance of the texts in the literary historical tradition and their role in shaping cultural norms, habits of thought and the imaginative landscape of western civilization. We will also consider what they tell us of what it is to be human in a complex and ever-changing world.
HUMN 4140-3 The Age of Dante
S. Magnanini
In this course we will undertake close readings of selected cantos from Inferno and Purgatorio which will bring into relief the history and culture of the Medieval Mediterranean world. Our readings will provide insight into a number of aspects of Medieval culture, including the persistence of the classical tradition, medieval views on women, the impact of non-Christian civilizations, and the poetic traditions of the period. We will study the Divine Comedy as a summa of medieval learning in natural philosophy (cosmology, medicine, astronomy) and the liberal arts. As we read, we will also examine visual representations/interpretations of Dante鈥檚 poem, from medieval illuminated manuscripts to the recent films Se7en and Hannibal. 麻豆淫院 will hone their critical thinking skills while developing the skills necessary for perceptive literary and cultural analysis.
All works will be read and discussed in English, although from time to time we will refer to the Italian. Italian majors and minors should be reading the Italian as well, and will be expected to write a brief essay in Italian.
HUMN 4155-3 Philosophy, Art and the Sublime
Paul Gordon
Perhaps the most sublime utterance is that inscribed on the temple of Isis: 鈥淚 am all that is, that was, and that will ever be; no mortal has lifted my veil.鈥� (Kant)
In this course we will examine theories of the sublime and apply those same theories to various works of art. Beginning with Longinus, we will then move to the beginning of modern discussions of the sublime in Burke and Kant before proceeding to the 鈥済olden age鈥� of sublimity, 18-19th century German and English romanticism. After a study of sublimity in Goethe鈥檚 Faust we will then turn our attention to the writings of the English romantic poets (Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge), as well to the early 19th-century novel, Mary Shelley鈥檚 Frankenstein. After an examination of the sublime paintings of Turner (and his predecessors) we will move, in the final section of the course, to an examination of the survival of the sublime in the 20th century paintings and films of Barnett Newman, Georgia O鈥橩eefe, Werner Herzog, and John Carpenter.
HUMN 4504-3 Goethe鈥檚 Faust
Adrian Del Caro
We emphasize Goethe鈥檚 Faust parts I and II, but the course begins with Marlowe鈥檚 reworking of the original Faust material, includes Byron鈥檚 Manfred and selections from Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, before concluding with Thomas Mann鈥檚 novel Doctor Faustus. The Faust theme has intrigued students of literature and thought for many centuries, and it serves as a metaphor for the modern condition. How does one assign a value to the human soul, if Christianity is not accepted as the supreme authority? What happens to notions of the good life in the age of Enlightenment? How are human beings disposed to conceive of their essence 鈥渁fter the death of God?鈥� How does evil manifest itself in the twentieth century? How does the dualism of the here and now versus the here-after influence humanity鈥檚 habitation of the Earth? Requirements include short papers on the three main readings, midterm, and final or research paper.
HUMN 4730-3 Italian Feminism: Culture, Theory, Narrative
Suzanne Magnanini
During the early modern period (1300 鈥� 1700) male authors all across Europe vigorously debated the status of women. Should women be educated? Do they possess the mental and physical capacities to govern? What are their duties as wives and mothers? What are the implications of women鈥檚 physical difference? In this course, we will first focus on the often overlooked 鈥渙ther voice鈥� to be heard in this debate, that of women. In particular, we will examine the artistic production of early modern women, both literary and visual, living and working in Venice and the Veneto. Throughout the course we will listen to what this 鈥渙ther voice鈥� had to say about topics as diverse as sex, love, education, politics, art, motherhood, and marriage. Modern theoretical and critical writings will accompany the primary texts. 麻豆淫院 will hone their critical thinking skills while developing the skills necessary for perceptive literary and cultural analysis.