World Masterpieces

Fall 2010

090:238:section  02
TuTh 1100-1220
Penn 401 

AegisthusSirens bardo mosaicVirgil and muses bardo mosaicBotticelli's drawing of SatanWife of Bath from Ellesmere ms15th c ms of Parzival



Professor James Rushing, Department of Foreign Languages
Office: Armitage 470
Office Hours: TTH 11:00-12:00, 2:55-3:55
Phone: 856-225-6125 (office); 609-714-9566 (home)
E-mail: rushing@camden.rutgers.edu
    
Texts:     •The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, 8th edition., vol. 1. (Do not buy a different edition; do not buy volume 2.) (This is listed as NA in the schedule below.)
        •Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. Cyril Edwards.
        •Other short texts to be provided on xerox.
Course learning goals


THIS WEBSITE IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED. STUDENTS TAKING WORLD MASTERPIECES SECTION 02 IN THE FALL OF 2010 SHOULD LOGON TO THE SAKAI SITE FOR THE CLASS -- https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal




Tentative Schedule
Tue., Sept. 1        Introduction. Saying one thing and meaning something else: metaphor, the essence of artistic signification. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73: “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” (xerox). Two Parables from Luke and Matthew (NA 1089-90) – the prodigal son and the sower – “Why Jesus Teaches in Parables” (from Matthew 13, NA 1090-91).

Thu., Sept. 3        Aeschylus, Agamemnon (NA 506-550, and read “The Ancient World” in NA 1-14).

Tue., Sept.  8       No class. (Go to Monday classes today.)

Thu., Sept. 10     Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides (NA 551-606)

Tue., Sept. 15     Sophocles, Oedipus the King (NA 612-652); Aristotle on tragedy  (NA 780-84).

Thu., Sept. 17     Greek philosophy: Plato and Aristotle in NA  816-836.

Tue., Sept. 22      Homer, The Illiad (NA 107-158)

Thu., Sept. 24      Homer, The Illiad (NA 158-205)

Tue., Sept. 29      Homer, The Odyssey books I-XII (NA 206-355, skipping books III, IV, and VI)

Thu., Oct. 1          Homer, The Odyssee books XIII-XXIV (NA 355-495, skipping books XVI, XVIII, and XX)


Tue., Oct. 6          Virgil, Aeneid (NA 930-995)
                                   Materials for class: Auerbach on Homer.

Thu., Oct. 8         Virgil, Aeneid (NA 995-1023)
                                    Materials for class: Aeneid I.1-7; Aeneid, beginnings of IV and XII
Tue., Oct. 13        Ovid, Metamorphoses (NA 1023-64)

Thu., Oct. 15       Augustine, Confessions (NA 1114-1141) The End of Antiquity?
                                  Also read the final section of Ovid's Metamorphoses (not in NA), here.

Tue., Oct. 20       EXAM
                               Study Questions: Multiple Choice Section
                               Study Questions: Essay Section

Thu., Oct. 22       Hildebrandslied (translation here). Beowulf (NA 1174-1218)
                                       Manuscript of Hildebrandslied.
                                         Beowulf text and translation; first page of manuscript.
Tue., Oct. 27       Beowulf (NA 1218-1247)

    Note: Oct. 30 is the last day to drop a course with a grade of W.

Thu., Oct. 29        Song of Roland (NA 1247-1316)
                                     Background on Song of Roland
                                      "Some types of Literary Meaning"

Tue., Nov. 3         Medieval lyric (readings here); Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival  Books/Chapters 1 and 2  (Edwards translation 3-49; Hatto translation 15-69)
                               Summary of the plot of Parzival, including parts not being read in this class.

Thu., Nov. 5         Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival  Books/Chapters 3-6 (Edwards translation 50-142; Hatto translation 70-175)
                             
Tue., Nov. 10       Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival  Books/Chapters 9, 11, 14-16 (Edwards translation 183-212, 233-45, 284-348; Hatto translation 222-55, 280-93, 340-411)

Thu., Nov. 12       Dante, The Divine Comedy (NA 1465 - 1531)
                                   Excerpts from Dante's letter to Can Grande della Scala and from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology)
                                      Examples of medieval books:
                                        A tenth-century Virgil
                                        A thirteenth-century Bible
                                        A Dante manuscript of the 1330s
                                        A Parzival manuscript of the 1270s


Tue., Nov. 17        Dante, The Divine Comedy (NA 1532-1597)

Thu., Nov. 19        EXAM
                                 Study Questions: Multiple Choice section
                                  Study Questions: Essay Section                                   


Tue., Nov. 24        Bocaccio, Decameron, Prologue and Tenth Story of the Tenth Day (NA 1600-02 and 1634-1641).    


Thu., Nov. 26       Thanksgiving Day


Tue., Dec. 1          Petrarch, Letter on the Ascent of Mount Ventoux (NA 1897-1902), selected sonnets (NA 1903-1908).    

Thu., Dec. 3         Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue and Miller’s Tale (NA 1701-1732).    

Tue., Dec. 8        Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale (NA 1732-1756).

Thu., Dec. 10       John Milton, Paradise Lost (NA 2550-2631)
                                Antiquity -- Middle Ages -- Renaissance
                                   Ancient Art:  The Sacrifice of Isaac, mosaic, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (5th century)                                
                                   Medieval Art: The Sacrifice of Isaac from the Huntingfield Psalter (early 13th c.)
                                   Renaissance Art: The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio (1603-04)

Wed., Dec. 16         2-5 pm     FINAL EXAM
                                 Information and study questions.