Introduction to Humanities Giulia Bernardini & Alexandra Eddy

HUMN 1010     Art/Music Syllabus     HUMN 1010 Music Website

Recitation Schedule 011 77117 9:00-9:50 AM MWF KTCH 301 Voss 021 77118 9:00 - 9:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Vicks 031 77119 10:00-10:50 AM MWF KTCH 301 Voss 041 77120 10:00-10:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Vicks 051 77121 11:00-11:50 AM MWF KTCH 301 Wiese 061 77122 11:00-11:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Rogers 071 77123 1:00-1:50 PM MWF KTCH 303 Rogers 081 77124 1:00-1:50 PM MWF KTCH 301 Green 091 77125 2:00-2:50 PM MWF LIBR M210 Stockton 101 77126 11:00-11:50 AM MWF STAD 135 McMorris 881* 77132 9:30-10:45 AM TR KTCH 231 P. Gordon 733** ***** 10:00-10:50 AM MWF FARRAND S. Carnahan 743** ***** 11:00-11:50 AM MWF FARRAND S. Carnahan *Honors section, 3.3 cumulative GPA required. **Section 733 and 743 are only available to Farrand RAP particpants. For more information: 303-492-8848.

Recitation Syllabi Jim Voss (011) Megan Vicks (021) Jim Voss (031) Megan Vicks (041) Annjeanette Wiese (051) Katina Rogers (061) Katina Rogers (071) Sally Green (081) Donna Stockton (091) Susan McMorris (101)

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). The course provides an analytical and comparative study of works in literature, music, and visual arts from Antiquity to the 17th century. 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. 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. 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. 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. Students are expected to complete weekly readings from Art Through the Ages and Art History’s History as well as study the works listed on the course website.

Literature: The literature section includes works such as Homer’s Odyssey, Greek tragedy, Plato’s Symposium, Dante’s Inferno, Cervantes Don Quixote, Boccaccio’s Decameron, a Shakespearean tragedy, selections from Montaigne’s Essais. When registering for Humanities 1010, students should sign up for a literature section. These sections meet three times a week, MWF.

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Methods / Approaches to the Humanities Paul Gordon, David Ferris, Davide Stimilli

HUMN 2000-001     Syllabus

Humanities 2000 will be team-taught by various members of the Comparative Literature and Humanities Department faculty who will each offer a separate "mini-course" on one of the essential issues or methodological concerns which students can expect to encounter in their future coursework for the Humanities major. 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; film, etc.
Prerequisite HUMN 1010 or 1020. Restricted to Humanities Majors.

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Arts, Culture & Media Benjamin Robertson

HUMN 2100-001     Syllabus

Arts, Culture & Media Catherine Wilkins

HUMN 2100-002        Syllabus

This course promotes a better understanding of fundamental aesthetic and cultural issues by exploring competing defitions of art and culture. Sharpens critical and analytical abilities by asking students to read and compare different theories about arts, culture, media, and identity, and then to apply and assess those theories in relation to a selection of visual and verbal texts from a range of cultural and linguistic traditions.

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Kafka and the Kafkaesque Davide Stimilli

HUMN 2601-001     Syllabus

One proof of a writer’s acknowledged status as a classic is undoubtedly the currency of his or her name in ordinary parlance. Not only has “Kafka” become a household name, but even the adjective derived from his name, “Kafkaesque” is liberally applied to anything, from works of art to state burocracies, from types of shoes to architectural styles, by people who may have never read a word of Kafka’s writing. The term is therefore often misused and misunderstood, in spite of being by now recorded and defined in every dictionary of the language. This course is meant to counteract such a trend and to expose the students to a wide selection of Kafka’s literary output, with the aim of reaching our own tentative answer to the question: What is the Kafkaesque? We will then expand upon Jorge Luis Borges’ suggestion, in a seminal essay he devoted to “Kafka and His Precursors,” that extraordinary writers change our understanding and appreciation of the past, as much as they modify the future of literature, and upon Gilles Deleuze’s contention, in his fundamental study of film aesthetics, The Movement-Image, that Orson Welles’ cinematographic style is the visual equivalent of Kafka’s literary style. We will do so by looking for traces of the Kafkaesque in the verbal as well as the visual arts, beyond the empirical existence of the writer called “Kafka”.

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Slavic Laughter Mark Leiderman

HUMN 3092-001     Syllabus

Examines forms, genres and social functions of laughter in Slavic cultures (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, and others). Analysis of the carnivalesque, grotesque, and irony in the works of Gogol, Chapek, Hashek, Lem, Kundera, Gombrowicz, Kharms, Zoshchenko, Ilf and Petrov, Kusturica, Kieslewsky, and other authors; also provides an introduction to literature and film of Eastern Europe. Taught in English.
Same as RUSS 3231.

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Power of the Word: Subversive and Censored 20th Century Indo-Pakistani Literature Laura Brueck

HUMN 3092-002     Syllabus

This course explores radical, provocative, and rebellious literature and film that has challenged hegemonic visions of national, political, social, and sexual identities in 20th and 21st century India and Pakistan. Readings, discussions, and screenings in the course revolve around several thematic foci: nationalism, independence, and the partition of India and Pakistan; challenges to Islam; communal conflict; gender and sexuality; and contemporary resistance to hierarchical formations of caste and tribe. In the context of these themes, we will explore a diverse range of modern and contemporary cultural, political, and social issues that have shaped the postcolonial development of India and Pakistan. Further, we will think about the various ways in which diverse genres of literature (novels, short stories, poetry, film, political essay etc.) in various languages (Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Urdu, English) are employed to challenge prevailing social narratives.
Restricted to sophomores/juniors/seniors. Same as HIND 3811.

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Modern Media and the Parisian Avant-Garde, 1848-1914 Giulia Bernardini

HUMN 3093-001     Syllabus

From 1848 to 1914, France experienced intense socio-political tension and transformation. Against a backdrop of imperial and republican struggles for power, its cities grew into sprawling urban centers populated by a working class inspired by the ideals of socialism, and by a growing bourgeoisie with expendable income and leisure time. At the frontline of society was the avant-garde: the painters, musicians, and authors whose self-imposed task it was to translate this new state of modernity into their chosen media. This class will study the Parisian avant-garde – its artistic personalities and movements – to investigate the notion of the artist as cultural commentator and to inquire how it built the foundations for twentieth century modernism. Though we will focus primarily on the visual arts, works of literature and music will also be used to enrich our understanding of this era.
Restricted to sophomores/juniors/seniors.

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The Arts and Religious Experience Catherine Wilkins

HUMN 3093-002     Syllabus

This course will focus on the interrelationship between religious experience and the fine arts, including literature, music, architecture, and the visual arts. Particular emphasis will be placed upon how the arts have dealt with the issue of direct religious experience, as opposed to merely religious subject matter. Consequently, most of the primary sources studied in this class will focus upon mysticism, personal spirituality, or participatory ritual and the translation of these phenomena into artworks. A larger goal of this course is to help the student develop the vocabulary and writing skills necessary to communicate concepts concerning the humanities at large.

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Film Criticism and Theory Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz

HUMN 3104-801     Syllabus

Surveys the range and function of film criticism, introduces major positions and concepts of film theory, and focuses on students' abilities to write about film.
Prerequisite FILM 1502. Same as FILM 3104.

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20th Century Narrative Annjeanette Wiese

HUMN 3210-001     Syllabus

This course will examine narrative as a central form of representation in the twentieth century by analyzing the effects of form on how we understand and construct our world. Two questions will guide this examination: “what kind of relation (if any) is there between narratives and reality (or ‘life’)?" (posed by Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan); and, “what kind of notion of reality authorizes construction of a narrative account of reality?” (posed by Hayden White). With the aid of different theories of narrative, we will attempt to answer these questions by closely analyzing how narrative structure informs perception as well as how perception has changed over the course of the past century. Authors to be studied include Woolf, Faulkner, Borges, Nabokov, Reed, Carter, Calvino, Atwood, and Spiegelman. Theoretical readings will consist of selections from Benjamin, Bruner, Chatman, Jameson, Prince, and White. We will also view and analyze one film (Pan’s Labyrinth).

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Tragedy - CANCELLED

HUMN 3240-001

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Culture and Literature of Ancient China Mark Richter

HUMN 3321-001     Syllabus

Focuses on the religious, cultural, philosophical, and literary aspects of ancient Chinese civilization (1500 B.C. - A.D. 200). Special attention is paid to foundational works that influenced later developments in Chinese culture. All readings are in English.
Recommended prerequisite EALC 1011 or CHIN 1051. Same as CHIN 3321.

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Dada and Surrealist Literature Patrick Greaney

HUMN 3702-001     Syllabus

Surveys the major theoretical concepts and literary genres of the Dada and Surrealist movements. Topics include Dada performance and cabaret, the manifesto, montage, the readymade, the Surrealist novel, colonialism and the avant-garde, and literary and philosophical precursors to the avant-garde. Taught in English.
Same as GRMN 3702. This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.

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Modern Japanese Literature in Translation Shigeru Suzuki

HUMN 3841-001     Syllabus

Surveys the major works, authors, and genres of literature from the late Meiji period and 20th century in their historical and cultural contexts. Attention is given to various approaches of literary analysis and interpretation. Taught in English.
Recommended prerequisite JPNS 1051. Same as JPNS 3841. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: critical thinking.

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Internship: Literature & Social Violence Cathy Comstock

HUMN 3935

Internship must be taken concurrently with HUMN 4835. For course description, see below.

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Nordic Colonialism - CANCELLED

HUMN 4092-001

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Greek and Roman Epic John Gibert

HUMN 4110-001, -002     Syllabus

Students read in English translation the major epics of Greco-Roman antiquity such as the Iliad, Odyssey, Argonautica, Aeneid, and Metamorphoses. Topics discussed may include the nature of classical epic, its relation to the novel, and its legacy. No Greek or Latin required. Same as CLAS 4110.
Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.

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Art and Psychoanalysis Paul Gordon

HUMN 4135-010     Syllabus

Recitation Schedule 011 W 3:00 - 3:50 PM GUGG 2 012 CANCELLED 013 W 4:00 - 4:50 PM GUGG 2 014 W 11:00 - 11:50 AM MUEN E130 015 F 1:00 - 1:50 PM KTCH 120 016 CANCELLED 017 M 1:00 - 1:50 PM MUEN D439 018 W 1:00 - 1:50 PM MUEN D439

Explores psychoanalytic theory as it relates to our understanding of literature, film, and other arts. After becoming familiar with some essential Freudian notions (repression, narcissism, ego/libido, dream work, etc.), students apply these ideas to works by several artists (e.g., Flaubert, James, Kafka, Hoffmann, and Hitchcock).
Prerequisite: HUMN 2000, or junior/senior standing.

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Decameron Cosetta Seno Reed

HUMN 4150-001     Syllabus

Analyzes the rise of realism in 13th and 14th century Italian literature and parallel manifestations in the visual arts. Focuses on Boccaccio's Decameron and contemporary realistic prose and poetry with emphasis on gender issues and medieval cultural diversity. Taught in English.
Prerequisite, junior standing or instructor consent. Same as ITAL 4150.
Approved for arts and science core curriculum: literature and the arts, or cultural and gender diversity.

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Philosophy, Art & the Sublime Paul Gordon

HUMN 4155-001     Syllabus

"Perhaps the most sublime utterance is that inscribed on the temple of Isis: "I am all that is, that was, and that will ever be; no mortal has lifted my veil." (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 "golden age" of sublimity, 18-19th century German and English romanticism. After a study of sublimity in Goethe’s 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’s 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’Keefe, Werner Herzog, and John Carpenter.
This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum in 2 areas: critical thinking or ideals and value. Prerequisite HUMN 2000 or Jr/Sr standing. Restricted to Humanities majors.

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19th Century Russian Literature Vicki Grove

HUMN 4811-001     Syllabus

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. Such issues as "the women question," the liberation of the serfs, radicalism, and nihilism all find expression through the various writers who dominated the literary scene - Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky, among others. This course is intended to introduce students to not only the social movements, but the cultural movements as well. 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. Grades for the course will be determined by quizzes, short papers, and a final, as well as participation in class discussions. No prior experience with Russian language or literature is required.
Same as RUSS 4811-001. Approved for the arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.

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Literature & Social Violence Cathy Comstock

HUMN 4835-730     Syllabus

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. Optional internship credit is available (see HUMN 3935). Restricted to sophomores/juniors/seniors. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.

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Introduction to Humanities II Giulia Bernardini & Alexandra Eddy

HUMN 1020     Art/Music Syllabus     HUMN 1020 Music Website

Recitation Schedule 011 17296 9:00-9:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Voss 021 17297 11:00 - 11:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Popovich 031 17298 10:00-10:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Voss 041 17299 10:00-10:50 AM MWF KTCH 301 Vicks 051 17300 11:00-11:50 AM MWF KTCH 303 Rogers 061 17301 11:00-11:50 AM MWF KTCH 301 Vicks 071 17302 1:00-1:50 PM MWF KTCH 303 Rogers 081 17302 2:00-2:50 PM MWF KTCH 303 Wiese 091 17304 3:00-3:50 PM MWF KTCH 303 Wiese 101 17305 1:00-1:50 PM MWF KTCH 301 Popovich 881* 17307 9:30-10:45 AM TR KTCH 231 P. Gordon 733** ***** 10:00-10:50 AM MWF FARRAND TBD 743** ***** 11:00-11:50 AM MWF FARRAND TBD *Honors section, 3.3 cumulative GPA required. **Section 733 and 743 are only available to Farrand RAP particpants. For more information: 303-492-8848.

Recitation Syllabi Jim Voss (011) Ljudmila Popovich (021) Jim Voss (031) Megan Vicks (041) Katina Rogers (051) Megan Vicks (061) Katina Rogers (071) Annjeanette Wiese (081) Annjeanette Wiese (091) Ljudmila Popovich (101)

This course provides an analytical, chronological, comparative and integrated study of works in literature, music and visual arts from the Baroque to contemporary eras. While students are reading Racine and Moliere, for example, the art and music lectures examine the architecture of Versailles and compositions of Lully and other court composers. In the appropriate context with the literature, such composers as Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky are studied, along with such artists as Fragonard, Goya, Monet, and Picasso. This course is approved for arts and sciences core curriculum in 2 areas: historical context or literature and the arts.

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Studies in Humanities: Shipwrecks, Mutinies, and Other Catastrophes at Sea Davide Stimilli

HUMN 3092-001     Syllabus

As the scene of sinking, the sea is the natural mise-en-abîme par excellence of human history. 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. This course will consider the conditions under which history stages its own catastrophe against the backdrop of the sea, the most archetypical symbol of human destiny, and then sacralizes the wreckage as relic.

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Studies in Humanities: The Postmodern David Ferris

HUMN 3092-010     Syllabus

Course description for this course is not yet available.

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Topics in Humanities: The Craft of Mystery Shirley Carnahan

HUMN 3093-001     Syllabus

The Craft of Mystery is an interdisciplinary course intended to explore several examples of and theories about the formation and growth of the genre of detective fiction, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The course also explores the social conditions of the times in which the texts were written and the possible resulting influences on style. An intensive reading course, The Craft of Mystery includes short stories, novels, plays, films, and critical essays. The final portion of the course compares concepts about the formation of the genre to examples from other genres and time periods to see how they compare to the "classic" examples.

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Film Criticism and Theory E. Acevedo-Muñoz

HUMN 3104-001     Syllabus

Surveys the range and function of film criticism, introduces major positions and concepts of film theory, and focuses on students' abilities to write about film. Prerequisite FILM 1502. Same as FILM 3104.

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Tragedy Paul Gordon

HUMN 3240-001     Syllabus

In this course we will examine theories of tragedy (Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche) and apply those theories to various works of art. After a careful examination of Greek tragedy, beginning with Aeschylus and Sophocles and concluding with Euripides’ last play (The Bacchae), the only extant tragedy which deals with Dionysus and the “birth of tragedy,” we will examine the survival of tragedy in numerous 19th and 20th century works of art which challenge the notion of the so-called “death of tragedy”—specifically, the works of William Butler Yeats, Ibsen (Hedda Gabler), Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard), and Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire).

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The Enlightenment Ann Schmiesing

HUMN 3505-001     Syllabus

By questioning long-standing assumptions and traditions, Enlightenment thinkers achieved a reformulation of ideals and values which has been of lasting influence on modern society. In the context of the Enlightenment emphasis on reason and humanity, this course examines eighteenth-century European arguments for (and against) freedom of religion, the abolition of slavery, and the emancipation of women, as well as eighteenth-century views on science, education, and government. Text by Leibniz, Lessing, Kant, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Graffigny, Locke, Hume, Wollstonecraft, and others. Same as GRMN 3505. Approved for arts and science core curriculum: ideals and values.

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The Question of Romanticism Jilliam Heydt-Stevenson

HUMN 4000-001     Syllabus

Course description for this course is not yet available.

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Film Theory Topics: Realism/Reflexivity Bruce Kawin

HUMN 4004-801     Syllabus

A study of classical theory, emphasizing the issue of realism (including the differences between film and reality, what happens when an object is photographed, whether film is inherently photographic, psychological reality, etc.), and the effects of narrative framing, emphasizing contemporary theories of reflexive aesthetics and structures (including films by Kurosawa, Bergman, and Godard and studies of works that appear to be aware they are works of art or may appear to have narrating minds). Restricted to senior HUMN/FILM/FMST majors. Prerequisite FILM 3104 or instructor consent. Same as FILM 4004 and ARTF 5004. This course is approved for Arts & Sciences core curriculum: critical thinking.

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Greek and Roman Tragedy Jacqueline Elliott

HUMN 4120-001, -002     Syllabus

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 be some additional primary sources I will ask you to consider, and substantial secondary or background reading to guide the development of an understanding of the political, religious and moral dimensions of tragic drama in context. Techniques of production and performance will be considered as meaningful as issues of theme and characterization. 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. We will also consider what these texts tell us of what it is to be human in a complex, ever-changing and ever-challenging world. Same as CLAS 4120.

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Greek and Roman Comedy Andrew Cain

HUMN 4130-001, -002     Syllabus

Studies Aristophanes, Plautus, and Terence in English translation. No Greek or Latin required. Same as CLAS 4130 Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.

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Arts of Interpretation Paul Gordon

HUMN 4555-001     Syllabus

Introduces various hermeneutical methodologies (literary/philosophical criticism, biblical exegesis, art history, etc.) with which to examine the question of interpretation. Methodologies are studied in close conjunction with particular works of art. Prerequisites, HUMN 2000 or junior/senior standing. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: critical thinking.


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Italian Feminisms Cosetta Seno-Reed