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Crosslistings: ARHA 226 |
It is a well-known fact that the recuperation of classical models was fundamental for the early modern cultural movements that we identify by the terms "Humanism" and "Renaissance". Students today are perhaps less aware
that politics rivaled aesthetics as a central concern of this age. Conspiracies, war, and other forms of violence--their causes, manifestations, and consequences--are as crucial as any reflection on notions of the
classical
for understanding the culture and cultural phenomena of Italy during the 15th-16th centuries.
In this course we will focus on the conversation that emerges along these lines, between aesthetics and politics, in
the literature
and visual arts of the period. We will give special attention to the relationship between covert and overt modes of communication by analyzing how secret language unfolds in opposition to the obvious public forms of
address.
Our inquiry will involve a wide variety of genres and styles: private epistles and public orations; dialogues, diaries, dramas; epic and lyric poems; treatises and novellas, coded diplomatic letters, historiographic and
autobiographic recollections. We will study as well pertinent works of art by the prominent painters, sculptors, and architects of Renaissance Italy.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/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-30-2006
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459