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HUMN 1010-6听 Introduction to Humanities I
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 fromArt 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Inferno, Cervantes听Don Quixote, Boccaccio鈥檚听Decameron, a Shakespearean tragedy, selections from Montaigne鈥檚Essais.听 When registering for Humanities 1010, students should sign up for a literature section.听 These sections meet three times a week, MWF.
HUMN 2000-3听 Topics in 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 2145-3听 African America in the Arts
Stuart Lawler
Introduces interrelationships in the arts of African Americans and the African American contribution to American culture as a whole.听听Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: cultural and gender diversity or United States context.听For information on this course, please contact Libby Residential Academic Program (303-735-4211).
HUMN 3015-3听 Jung, Film and Literature听
Jim Palmer
The basic themes of C. G. Jung鈥檚 archetypal psychology (shadow, anima/animus, character typology, and individuation) are studied and applied as tools of critical analysis to selected films and literary texts of the modern period. 听Prerequisite, instructor consent.听 Same as FILM 3022.
HUMN 3043-3听 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 19th and 20th century works of art鈥攕pecifically, the works of the William Butler Yeats, Ibsen (Hedda Gabler), Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard), and Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire).听听Restricted to Sophs/Jrs/Srs.
HUMN 3092-3听 Literature in History: Shipwrecks, Mutinies & Other Catastrophes at Sea
Davide Stimilli
As the scene of sinking, the sea is the听mise-en ab卯me听par excellence of human history.听 But it is also the stage for a variety of other catastrophic events: mutinies, discoveries, acts of piracy, deadly confrontations with marine creatures natural and supernatural.听 This course will consider the conditions under which history stages its own catastrophe against the background of the sea, the most archetypical symbol of human destiny, and then sacralizes the wreckage as relic.听 Materials will include theoretical texts (selections from Aristotle鈥檚听Poetics, the听Peri Bathous, or听The Art of Sinking in Poetry, Thoreau鈥檚听Cape Cod, Ferenczi鈥檚听Thalassa, Blumenberg鈥檚听Shipwreck with Spectator), accounts of witnesses and survivors (selections from Columbus鈥� and Cortes鈥� reports, Melville鈥檚听Journal, Garcia Marquez鈥檚听Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor), historical accounts (Xenophon鈥檚听Anabasis, Barber鈥檚听History of the Amistad Captives, Conrad鈥檚 鈥淟oss of the Titanic鈥�), fictional narratives (selections from Defoe鈥檚听Robinson Crusoe, Melville鈥檚听Benito Cereno听and听Billy Budd, Conrad鈥檚Lord Jim, Crane鈥檚听The Open Boat, Coetzee鈥檚听Foe, Yoshimura鈥檚听Shipwrecks, Barnes鈥櫶�History of the World in 10 陆 Chapters, Junger鈥檚听Perfect Storm), poems (selections from the听Aeneid听and听The Divine Comedy, Hopkins鈥櫶�The Wreck of the听Deutshcland, Ungaretti鈥檚听Joy of Shipwrecks, Walcott鈥檚听The Bounty), plays (Shakespeare鈥檚听Tempest听and听Pericles, Synge鈥檚听Riders to the Sea), paintings (Copely鈥檚听Brook Watson and the Shark, Turner鈥檚听Wreckers听and听The Slave Ship, Gericault鈥檚听The Raft of the Medusa, Friedrich鈥檚听Monk by the Sea听and听The Sea of Ice), and movies (Eizenstejn鈥檚听Battleship Potemkin, Welles鈥櫶�Four Men on a Raft, one version of听The Mutiny on the Bounty, Herzog鈥檚听Fitzcarraldo, Spielberg鈥檚Amistad.)
HUMN 3321-3听 Culture and Literature of Ancient China
M.A. Richter
Focuses on the religious, cultural, philosophical, and literary aspects of ancient Chinese civilization (1500 B.C. 鈥� A.D. 200). 听Special attention is paid to foundational works that influenced later developments in Chinese culture.听 All readings are in English.听Recommended prerequisite EALC 1011 or CHIN 1051. 听Same as CHIN 3321.
HUMN 3841-3听 Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
Brad Ashbury
Surveys the major works, authors, and genres of literature from the late Meiji period and 20th century in their historical and cultural contexts. 听Attention is given to various approaches of literary analysis and interpretation.听 Taught in English.听Recommended prerequisite JPNS 1051.听 Same as JPNS 3841. 听Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: critical thinking.
HUMN 4000-3听 Studies in Romanticism: The Later Romantics
Jill Heydt-Stevenson
This course places a major emphasis on French, German, and British writers and artists of the 19th century.听Prerequisite HUMN 2000 or Jr/Sr standing.听Same as ENGL 4574-002.
HUMN 4120-3听 Greek and Roman Tragedy
John Gibert
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). 听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. 听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. 听We will also consider what they tell us of what it is to be human in a complex and ever-changing world. 听There is no formal prerequisite, but experience writing and talking about literature will be helpful. 听This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
HUMN 4155-3听 Philosophy, Art and the Sublime
Paul Gordon
鈥淧erhaps 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)听 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. 听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. 听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.听听This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum in 2 areas: critical thinking or ideals and value.听Prerequisite HUMN 2000 or Jr/Sr standing.听 Restricted to Humanities majors.
HUMN 4504-3听 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. 听The Faust theme has intrigued students of literature and thought for many centuries, and it serves as a metaphor for the modern condition. 听How does one assign a value to the human soul, if Christianity is not accepted as the supreme authority? 听What happens to notions of the good life in the age of Enlightenment? 听How are human beings disposed to conceive of their essence 鈥渁fter the death of God?鈥� 听How does evil manifest itself in the twentieth century? 听How does the dualism of the here and now versus the here-after influence humanity鈥檚 habitation of the Earth? 听Requirements include short papers on the three main readings, midterm, and final or research paper.听听Same as COML 5504 and GRMN 4504/5504.
HUMN 4811-3听 19th听Century Russian Literature
Vicki Hendrickson
The 19th century was a turbulent time in Russian society, and nowhere are the heated debates over the future and welfare of the country more acutely revealed than in the literature produced in that period. 听Such issues as 鈥渢he women question,鈥� the liberation of the serfs, radicalism, and nihilism all find expression through the various writers who dominated the literary scene 鈥� Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky, among others. 听This course is intended to introduce students to not only the social movements, but the cultural movements as well. 听Aside from the topics listed above, we will explore the sentimentalism and romanticism that reflected the Western influence on the Russian novel in the first half of the 19th century, and move on to the novels of realism exemplified by the literary giants of the second half of the century. 听Grades for the course will be determined by quizzes, short papers, and a final, as well as participation in class discussions. 听No prior experience with Russian language or literature is required. 听Same as RUSS 4811-001.听 Approved for the arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
HUMN 4835-3听 Literature and Social Violence
Cathy Comstock
Provides a theoretical understanding of heightened awareness arising from literary and sociological investigations of contemporary sources of social violence (gang culture, racism, domestic violence), combined with the concrete knowledge offered by an internship in a social service agency.听 Optional internship credit is available.听 Please contact the Honors Department for more information.听听Restricted to Sophs/Jrs/Srs.听 This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.