Literature and Culture of the Renaissance

Prof. Alvin Snider
008:102:001
2:30P - 3:45P TTh 208 EPB
Office hours: 354 EPB, T 12:30 - 2:30, 4:00 - 6:00
Tel.: 335-0470 (o); 354-1356 (h)
English Dept. Office: 308 EPB; Chair: Jonathan Wilcox; Tel: 335-0454

Course Description

The term "Renaissance" was formulated to describe the humanistic revival of art, culture, and learning that originated in Italy in the fourteenth century and spread throughout Europe. In recent years, however, the whole idea of the Renaissance has been challenged for ignoring questions that arise from the history of the period: Does the term disparage the learning of the Middle Ages and the world beyond Europe? Did tradespeople and peasants participate in a "re-birth" of learning and culture? Did women have a Renaissance? Did science? Did the rise of market economies and the nation-state play a significant role in the process of cultural change?

The course draws on a wide range of texts from Renaissance Italy, France, Spain, the Low Countries, and England. We will consider issues such as the relation of poetry to traditional and emergent forms of knowledge; "good manners" and the civilizing process; transformations of the political and social order; individualism and the discovery of the self; natural philosophy and magic; European expansion in the New World; humanism and public virtue; literacy, education, and the rise of print culture.

Texts are chosen from the following list:

Baldesar Castiglione, Book of the Courtier (Penguin)
Bartolomé de Las Casas, Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin)
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (Penguin; Harper)
Michel de Montaigne, Essays (Penguin)
Marguerite de Navarre, The Heptameron (Penguin)
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (Hackett)
Thomas More, Utopia (Hackett)
Pico della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man (Hackett)
Desiderius Erasmus, Erasmus Reader (Toronto)
Natalie Davis, Return of Martin Guerre (Harvard)
Luis Vaz de Camoes, The Lusiads (Oxford)
Francesco Petrarch, Selections from the Canzoniere (Oxford)
François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel (Norton)

Required Books (2007)

Montaigne, Essays: A Selection, ed. Screech (Penguin)
de Las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, trans. Griffin (Penguin)
Cervantes, Don Quixote, trans. Grossman (Harper)
More, Utopia, trans. Wootton (Hackett)
Erasmus Reader, ed. Rummel (U of Toronto)
Natalie Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Harvard)
Petrarch, Selections from the Canzoniere, trans. Musa (Oxford)
Books available for purchase at the University Bookstore, IMU.

Course Requirements

Two papers (60%), in-class presentation and write-up (20%); attendance and class participation (20%).

The first round of essay topics is posted to the website at the beginning of the semester. The second round is available in draft but will be revised a few weeks into the semester. Topics are closely linked to our discussion, and you will have a hard time making sense of them unless you keep up with the reading and attend class.

I'm asking students to submit papers to Turnitin.com, a plagiarism detection service. Along with the essay topics you will find more information on this process, including a login and password, and you can submit work in MS Word or other file formats (WordPerfect, RTF, plain text, PDF, etc.). From Turnitin I get a report showing possible matches between the submitted essays and resources on the internet and in various databases. You should also print out the paper and hand it in to me on the due date. I prefer not to have files e-mailed to me as attachments, and Turnitin keeps an electronic copy on file, anyway.

The success of the class depends in part on open discussion and interaction among students and the instructor. All students should expect to participate during classes and to lead discussion on one occasion. One way in which students can strengthen their communication skills in this class is by engaging in cooperative learning in small groups.

Look over the grading criteria and course goals.

This Style Sheet should be helpful for the essays.

Regular attendance together with participation contribute ten per cent of your grade. Students must keep up with assigned readings before coming to class so that we can discuss the material. Those absent without a valid reason (usually health) for more than the college-wide maximum of three classes will have their non-attendance factored into their final grades.

The Rhetoric Department offers assistance in reading (335-0205), writing (at the Writing Center in 110 EPB: 335-0188), and speaking (335-0205) (at the Speaking Center in 12 EPB.

Grading System

Students should generally assume that courses taken in the English Department use plus-minus grading. For advanced courses with representative enrollments, COLAS recommends the following grade distributions (in percentages):

Students with Disabilities

Instructors will make reasonable accommodations for students with physical, mental or learning disabilities. Students with disabilities that may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements should visit their instructor during his or her office hours so that appropriate arrangements may be made. It is the student's responsibility to contact Student Disability Services, 3100 Burge Hall (335-1462), and obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request form (SAAR). This form specifies what course accommodations are judged reasonable for a given student. An instructor who cannot provide the accommodations specified, or has concerns about the accommodations, must contact the Student Disability Services counselor who signed the request form within 48 hours of receiving the form from the student.

Academic Policies

This course is given by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This means that class policies on matters such as requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Students wishing to add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive approval of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Details of the University policy of cross enrollments may be found at http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.doc.

Departmental/Collegiate Complaint Procedures

A student who has a complaint against any member of the college's teaching staff is responsible for following the procedures described in the Student Academic Handbook, which is available on the web site of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml/. The student should first attempt to resolve the issue with the faculty member or the teaching assistant involved. Lacking a satisfactory outcome, the student can turn to the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Programs (Douglas Trevor, douglas-trevor@uiowa.edu, 335-0472). If a satisfactory resolution remains unmet, the student may contact the English Department Chair (Jonathan Wilcox, jonathan-wilcox@uiowa.edu, 335-0454). If the complaint concerns a teaching assistant, the student should contact the supervising faculty member first, then speak to the chair of undergraduate programs, and lastly approach the departmental chair. After these options have been exhausted, the student may turn to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 120 Schaeffer Hall (335-2633). Please note: in complaints involving the assignment of grades, it is college policy that grades cannot be changed without the permission of the department concerned.

Plagiarism

You are expected to be honest and honorable in your fulfillment of assignments and in test-taking situations. Plagiarism and cheating are serious forms of academic misconduct. Examples of them are given in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml/. The English Department works with individual instructors to detect plagiarism and cheating and to ensure that appropriately serious punishments are applied. An instructor who suspects a student of plagiarism or cheating must inform the student (in writing) as soon as possible after the incident has been observed or discovered. Instructors who detect cheating or plagiarism may decide, in consultation with the departmental chair, to reduce the student's grade on the assignment or the course, even to assign an F. In either case, the instructor will write an account of the chronology of the plagiarism or cheating incident for the departmental chair, who will send an endorsement of the written report of the case to the Associate Dean for academic programs. A copy of the report will be sent to the student, who has the right to request a hearing within the Department and/or within the College.

Homework Expectation

For each semester hour of credit that an English Department course carries, students should expect to spend approximately two hours per week outside of class preparing for class sessions. That is, in a three-credit-hour course, instructors design course assignments on the assumption that students will spend six hours per week in out-of-class preparation.

Website

At the course website ( http://www.uiowa.edu/~c008102a/ ) you will find links to this course outline and to information about assignments. The website will be updated once or twice during the Fall semester, and I will add the names of students who are leading discussion.

Login username: ren
Website password: 8102

The outline below includes some links to poetry available on-line: you should print out these poems and bring them to class for discussion.

Course Outline