HUM 201-08, Search : Literature Track, 2006 Fall

Abstract

In this course, students will approach literature and art as a form of knowledge about society. In particular, we will ask what the content and specific form of an artwork communicate about conflicts and changes in the society surrounding it, and how these changes affect questions of meaning and purpose. We will draw on a variety of literary and philosophical texts, but also on painting and music. We will investigate the role of religion as a defining force of medieval society; the rise of cities and the increasing division of labor, which led to new, secular forms of knowledge; the role of art in the Italian Renaissance; the spiritual and social implications of the Reformation; and the Enlightenment’s attempts to create a new basis for human community.