Course Offerings

Winter 2025▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Survey of Western Art: Renaissance to the Present

ARTH 102 - Lepage, Andrea

Chronological survey of Western art from the Renaissance through the present. Topics include the Renaissance, from its cultural and stylistic origins through the Mannerist movement; the Baroque and Rococo; the Neoclassical reaction; Romanticism and Naturalism; the Barbizon School and Realism; Impressionism and its aftermath; Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, and the Postmodern reaction to Modernism.

Survey of Western Art: Renaissance to the Present

ARTH 102 - Bent, George

Chronological survey of Western art from the Renaissance through the present. Topics include the Renaissance, from its cultural and stylistic origins through the Mannerist movement; the Baroque and Rococo; the Neoclassical reaction; Romanticism and Naturalism; the Barbizon School and Realism; Impressionism and its aftermath; Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, and the Postmodern reaction to Modernism.

Italian Renaissance Art

ARTH 256 - Bent, George

Survey of the art and architecture of Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries. The course focuses on innovations of the Early, High, and Late Renaissance through the work of Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Alberti, Leonardo, Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Images are considered as exponents of contemporary political, social, and religious events and perceptions.

The Early Renaissance in Italy

ARTH 354 - Bent, George

Examination of the intellectual, cultural, and artistic movements dominant in Florence between ca. 1400 and ca. 1440. Images and structures produced by Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Donatello, and Fra Angelico are considered within the context of Florentine social traditions and political events.

Classical Mythology

CLAS 201 - Crotty, Kevin

An introduction to the study of Greek mythology, with an emphasis on the primary sources. The myths are presented in their historical, religious, and political contexts. The course also includes an introduction to several major theories of myth, and uses comparative materials drawn from contemporary society and media.

Arthurian Legend

ENGL 240 - Kao, Wan-Chuan

Why does King Arthur continue to fascinate and haunt our cultural imagination? This course surveys the origins and histories of Arthurian literature, beginning with Celtic myths, Welsh tales, and Latin chronicles. We then examine medieval French and English traditions that include Chretien de Troyes’ Perceval, the lais of Marie de France, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. In addition to historical and literary contexts, we explore theoretical issues surrounding the texts, especially the relationship between history and fantasy, courtly love and adultery, erotic love and madness, romance and chivalry, gender and agency, and Europe and its Others. Finally, we investigate Arthurian medievalisms in Victorian England and in American (post)modernity through Tennyson, Twain, Barthelme, and Ishiguro. Along the way, we view various film adaptations of Arthurian legends. All texts are read in modern English translation.

Shakespeare and Company

ENGL 319 - Pickett, Holly

Focusing on the repertory and working conditions of the two play companies with which he was centrally involved, this course examines plays by Shakespeare and several of his contemporary collaborators and colleagues (Jonson, Middleton, Fletcher). Attentive to stage history and the evolution of dramatic texts within print culture, students consider the degree to which Shakespeare was both a representative and an exceptional player in Renaissance London's show business.

LIT219-01/REL219-01 Augustine and the Literature of Self, Soul, and Synapses

LIT 219 - Kosky, Jeffrey

Same as LIT 219. A careful reading of the depiction of the restless soul in Augustine's Confessions is followed by study of fictional, philosophical, religious, and/or scientific literature. Students reflect on the state of the soul in a world made of selves or the fate of the self in a soulless world ... and whether there might be other options

Medieval and Renaissance Culture: Literature

MRST 111 - Radulescu, Domnica

An introduction to the interdisciplinary study of the Medieval and Renaissance periods through the study of a particular literary topic. Recent studies: Boccaccio, the Birth of Italian Literature, and Dreaming in the Middle Ages.

Special Topic Title:  Giants of Italian Renaissance LiteratureThis course proposes an overview of some of the major literary and philosophical figures of the Italian Renaissance who have profoundly influenced Western thought and culture. The course starts with a thorough reading of Dante's Inferno, continues with selections of sonnets from Petrarca's Canzoniere, then moves on to a wide selection of stories from Boccaccio's Decameron and concludes with the reading of Machiavelli's The Prince and the play The Mandrake Root. The readings and discussion will focus on the evolution of humanist thought, of literary virtuosity and philosophical concepts as embodied throughout the various genres and centuries represented by this particular selection of authors and works. It culminates with a full-fledged theatrical Renaissance type performance of Machiavelli's play The Mandrake Root.

Directed Individual Study: Capstone

MRST 403B - Pickett, Holly

Individual study of selected topics in Medieval and Renaissance studies.

Directed Individual Study: Capstone

MRST 403B - Kao, Wan-Chuan

Individual study of selected topics in Medieval and Renaissance studies.

Gender and Sexuality in Islam

REL 284 - Atanasova, Kameliya

How have issues of gender and sexuality in Medieval and Modern Islamic societies been debated across the Middle East, South Asia, and the West? Students examine scholarly and public discussions of gender and Islam, and they build a vocabulary in which to talk about women. queer, and intersex history as they concern Muslim societies and their foundational sources in their regional and historical contexts.

Spanish Civilization and Culture

SPAN 211 - Mayock, Ellen

A survey of significant developments in Spanish civilization. The course addresses Spanish heritage and the present-day cultural patterns formed by its legacies. Readings, discussions and papers, primarily in Spanish, for further development of communication skills.

Fall 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Survey of Western Art: Ancient to Medieval

ARTH 101 - Van Loan, Theodore

Chronological survey of Western art from the Paleolithic Age through the Middle Ages in Italy and Northern Europe. Examination of cultural and stylistic influences in the art and architecture of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Consideration of distinct interests of Early Christian, Byzantine, and Medieval Europe. Focus on major monuments and influential images produced up to circa 1400.

Survey of Western Art: Ancient to Medieval

ARTH 101 - Bent, George

Chronological survey of Western art from the Paleolithic Age through the Middle Ages in Italy and Northern Europe. Examination of cultural and stylistic influences in the art and architecture of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Consideration of distinct interests of Early Christian, Byzantine, and Medieval Europe. Focus on major monuments and influential images produced up to circa 1400.

Medieval Art in Italy

ARTH 350 - Bent, George

Art and architecture of the Italian peninsula, from circa 1200 to 1400. This seminar addresses issues of patronage, artistic training and methods of production, iconography, and the function of religious and secular imagery. Topics of discussion include the construction of Tuscan cathedrals and civic buildings; sculpture in Siena, Pisa, and Rome; and painting in Assisi, Padua, and Florence.

ENGL252-01/MRST252-01 Shakespeare

ENGL 252 - King, Emily

Same as MRST 252. A study of the major genres of Shakespeare's plays, employing analysis shaped by formal, historical, and performance-based questions. Emphasis is given to tracing how Shakespeare's work engages early modern cultural concerns, such as the nature of political rule, gender, religion, and sexuality. A variety of skills are developed in order to assist students with interpretation, which may include verse analysis, study of early modern dramatic forms, performance workshops, two medium-length papers, reviews of live play productions, and a final, student-directed performance of a selected play.

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

ENGL 313 - Kao, Wan-Chuan

This course considers the primary work on which Chaucer's reputation rests: The Canterbury Tales. We pay sustained attention to Chaucer's Middle English at the beginning of the semester to ease the reading process. Then we travel alongside the Canterbury pilgrims as they tell their tales under the guise of a friendly competition. The Canterbury Tales is frequently read as a commentary on the social divisions in late medieval England, such as the traditional estates, religious professionals and laity, and gender hierarchies. But despite the Tales' professed inclusiveness of the whole of English society, Chaucer nonetheless focuses inordinately on those individuals from the emerging middle classes. Our aim is to approach the Tales from the practices of historicization and theorization; that is, we both examine Chaucer's cultural and historical contexts and consider issues of religion, gender, sexuality, marriage, conduct, class, chivalry, courtly love, community, geography, history, power, spirituality, secularism, traditional authority, and individual experience. Of particular importance are questions of voicing and writing, authorship and readership. Lastly, we think through Chaucer's famous Retraction at the end" of The Canterbury Tales, as well as Donald R. Howard's trenchant observation that the Tale is "unfinished but complete." What does it mean for the father of literary "Englishness" to end his life's work on the poetic principle of unfulfilled closure and on the image of a society on the move?"

European History, 325-1517

HIST 100 - Chalmers, Matthew

An introductory survey, featuring lectures and discussions of European culture, politics, religion and social life, and of Europe's relations with neighboring societies, from the rise of Christianity in Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance, to the beginnings of the 16th-century Protestant and Catholic Reformations.

The World of Islam: Origins to 1500

HIST 170 - Atanasova, Kameliya

This course surveys the political, social, and cultural history of the Islamic World from the 7th to 15th centuries, with particular attention paid to the diverse geographical and cultural contexts in which pre-modern Islamic civilization flourished. Topics include the origins of Islam in late Antiquity; the development of Islamic religious, political, and cultural institutions; the flourishing of medieval Islamic education, science, and literature; the tension among state, ethnic, sectarian, and global Muslim identities; and the emergence of a distinctly Muslim approach to historiography.

Pre-Modern Chinese Literature in Translation

LIT 218 - Elford, Christopher

A survey of Chinese literature from the earliest period to the founding of the Republic in 1912. Taught in English, the course presupposes no previous knowledge of China or Chinese culture. The literature is presented in the context of its intellectual, philosophical and cultural background. Texts used may vary from year to year and include a wide selection of fiction, poetry, historical documents, Chinese drama (opera) and prose works. Audiovisual materials are used when appropriate and available.

Ancient Greek Philosophy

PHIL 110 - Goldberg, Nathaniel

An examination of the metaphysics of the pre-Socratic philosophers, especially the Milesians, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, and the Atomists, and the ethics and political philosophy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Topics include the origin and nature of the kosmos , the nature and existence of the god(s), the trial and execution of Socrates, theories of virtue, the nature of knowledge and truth, justice and the ideal state, the nature of eudaimonia (happiness, flourishing), and the possibility of akrasia (weakness of the will).

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

REL 101 - Filler, Emily

An introduction to the history, literature and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).

Magic, Science, and Religion

REL 225 - Lubin, Tim

How do religious and scientific explanations and methods of inquiry differ? What are the roles of reason and authority in each case? This course draws together materials from antiquity to the present, from the West and from Asia, to illustrate a variety of types of systems of "knowledge." Theoretical readings are balanced with diverse case studies from diverse contexts: religious doctrines, mystical practices, alchemy, astrology, sorcery, "traditional medicines," and modern religious movements. Students research a system of their choice and analyze its claims and methods in comparison with those of other traditions covered in the course.

Introducción a la literatura española

SPAN 220 - Mayock, Ellen

Spanish literary masterpieces from the Poema del Cid through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.

El Cid in History and Legend

SPAN 333 - Bailey, Matthew

A study of the most significant portrayals of the Castilian warrior Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid (1045-1099), from his 12th-century biography Historia Roderici to the Hollywood blockbuster El Cid . Epic poems, late medieval ballads, and Renaissance drama all recreate the legendary life of El Cid. This course examines the relevant narratives in an effort to determine the heroic values and attributes recreated by authors and their audiences for nearly a thousand years.

Spring 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

ENGL241-01/FILM241-01 Cinema Arthuriana

ENGL 241 - Kao, Wan-Chuan

This course is a survey of Arthurian films and an introduction to film studies. We will read select premodern and modern texts and examine a variety of films across the twentieth• and the twenty-first centuries. The course begins with Arthur the messianic hero, then proceeds to the romance of the Holy Grail, the tribulations of Gawain, and finally the American repurposing of matters of Arthur. H film is an escapist medium, it is first and foremost a mirror to society that reflects its cultural fantasies and structural imaginaries. We will consider forms of medievalism and forces of ideology and periodization that these films embody and project, as well as reception theories and on our own historical contingencies.

Topics in European History: Illegal Republics: Self-governance in the Middle Ages

HIST 229F - Vise, Melissa

It’s the eleventh century and Europe’s political imagination is dominated by single leaders: popes and bishops, monarchs and local rulers. But you’re a city in the north of Italy where a vacuum of power, a memory of Rome, and a vibrant mercantile community conspire to form something not seen in centuries: the republic. How do you do it? Max Weber famously termed these cities “illegal republics” as they stood completely outside the scope of extant medieval jurisprudence. Church officials and emperors were inclined to agree with him. But that did not stop the political reimagining that these cities effected. In this Spring Term course, students will encounter the history of these first Western republics since Rome turned imperial. They will construct a final group project that imagines something that the cities themselves never experienced: a medieval constitutional convention.