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Cervantes is known chiefly for DON QUIXOTE, often described as the first modern novel and fountainhead of one of the great modern myths of individualism. In fact, besides the chivalric novel he reimagined virtually every fashionable genre of his time: verse, theater, novella, the pastoral and the Greek adventure novels. Cervantes' art remains fresh and unsettling, distinguished as it is by its revaluation of humor, invention, make-believe, and play; seriousness in his textual world is not to be confused with solemnity, the typical ploy of political, religious, and intellectual orthodoxies then as now. Characteristic themes: social "reality" as artifact or fiction, the counterintuitive or paradoxical character of truths, the irreducible diversity of taste and perception, the call for consent in politics and love, personal identity (including gender) as a heroic quest. We will read, discuss, and write about DON QUIXOTE and a select few of Cervantes' other works, along with a sampling of critical, philosophical, literary, and other artistic responses they have inspired.
COURSE FORMAT: Discussion
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-21-2005
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459