current semester
Spring 2012 Course Listing
ART 207/MED 207
Medieval Art and Architecture of the Holy Land
Professor Nino Zchomelidse
MW 11:00-11:50am
The course focuses on art and architecture in the political and religious contexts of the Middle East, from the 4th to the 14th c. The three monotheistic religions all claimed specific territories -- in particular the city of Jerusalem -- for cult practices. This situation resulted in military conflicts that had an impact of Western Medieval, Byzantine and Islamic art in the Holy Land. The political conflicts, which still plague the region today, are rooted in the complex situation of the medieval period. The Roman, Arab, Byzantine, and crusader invasions resulted however in exciting eclectic styles that characterize the art and architecture of the region. We will discuss concepts behind political and religious leadership, as they intersect with the power of the arts
ART 537/MED 500
The Medieval Image and Concepts of Authenticity
Professor Nino Zchomelidse
T 7:30-10:20pm
The course examines the notion of the authentic in conjunction with medieval images. It investigates the construction, reception, and theoretical grounding of authenticity of reliquaries, icons, and imprints on cloth or seals. These objects elucidate the shift from mimesis towards other artistic strategies (stylization, abstraction, bricolage). Rather than studying different modes of representation, we will focus on the very validity of representation in the Middle Ages and approach this issue from the viewpoints of history, anthropology, philology and visual studies.
ENG 304/MED 305
Medieval Travel Literature: Destinations to Die For
Professor Sarah M. Anderson
TTh 1:30-2:50pm
This course considers medieval English travel writing, examining the imaginative territories charted by explorers and pilgrims, armed and unarmed. Stances toward lands traveled to differ: anthropologist avant la letter; frankly exploitative merchant; and religious motivated by piety. We'll find too that the lands traveled from are reshaped by travelers' tales. "Place is the beginning of the generation of things," writes Roger Bacon, and so the whole round orbus terrae--sphere of the world--is formed, filled with wonders, and endlessly discussed by these early writers. With these fabulous works, a fantastic trip begins.
ENG 422/MED 422
Loss and Longing in the Anglo-Saxon Age
Professor Sarah M. Anderson
T 7:30-10:20pm
The "art of losing isn't hard to master," claims modern poet Elizabeth Bishop. Humans write elegies because we are shredded by loss. Yet, the genre of elegy in English isn't easy to account for. This course starts where English does--in the Anglo-Saxon period. Old English lyrics, prose reflections, and the epic Beowulf are searing witnesses to yearning and regret. Paradoxically, these texts celebrate loss, even as they console. What could be mourned, and who grieve? What is this "English" sense of loss? In readings comparative and critical, we'll discover how millenium-old speakers comprehended and perhaps mastered their losses.
GER 321/GSS 321/MED 321
Before Gender: Cross Dressing and Sex in Medieval Romance
Professor Sara S. Poor
TTh 1:30-2:50pm
A young Arthurian knight loses honor because he enjoys having sex with his wife. The Grail King is wounded near fatally in the genitals while trying to win the "wrong" woman. Young kings dress up and act like women in order to woo their prospective brides. This course will explore what it meant to be men and women in love (with each other or with God) in some of the most spectacular literary works of the German Middle Ages. The larger context for our discussion will be a more nuanced understanding of the history of sexuality. Readings and discussion primarily in modern German, some readings and discussion in English.
GER 509/MED 509
Reading Medieval Books
Professor Sara S. Poor
W 1:30-4:20pm
Seminar introduces students to basics of reading medieval German handwriting, with examples from early courtly literature to late medieval devotional prose. Students will also engage with history of manuscript studies and recent debates connecting codicology to literary and critical theory. Questions of the status and gendering of vernacular literacy will also be addressed. Class project will be a collaborative transcription and analysis of a fifteenth-century German compilation of saints lives by female scribe, Anna Eybin.
Departmental Undergraduate Courses on Medieval Subjects
FRS 136
Dante's Inferno: A Guide to Hell (and Back)
Professor Simone Marchesi
W 1:30 – 4:20 pm
ENROLLMENT BY APPLICATION OR INTERVIEW. DEPARTMENTAL PERMISSION REQUIRED.
ENG 200
Introduction to English Literature: 14th to 18th Century
Professor Andrew Cole
Professor Sophie G. Gee
T, TH 12:30-1:20
An introduction to the leading figures of earlier English Literature (Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, and Swift), to literary history as a mode of inquiry, and to the analysis of the way literature makes meaning shaping the way human beings think about themselves and each other with respect to art, artfulness, beauty, romance, desire, agency, God, the mind, sex, death. We will consider how authors create literature in dialogue with their predecessors, and in relation to contemporary circumstances. We will focus on the qualities of literary brilliance that have made this canon so revered and influential.
REL 251
The New Testament and Christian Origins
Professor AnneMarie Luijendijk
MW 11:00 – 11:50 am
A historical introduction to early Christian texts within and outside of the New Testament canon. The course emphasizes studying ancient sources relevant for early Christianity from a variety of backgrounds (Jewish, Greco-Roman, Christian) and teaches different strategies to read these texts. When possible, archaeological remains and papyrological sources are brought in as material context. The precepts function to explore important topics such as early Christian attitudes towards slavery and the position of women in Early Christianity and to bring up debates in contemporary culture involving New Testament and other early Christian texts.
ENG 311 (LA)
The Medieval Period
Professor Andrew Cole
T,TH 3:00-4:20pm
In this course we will study in detail several of the major authors from late medieval England. In fact, these poets are by far the best of their time. We will read their poetry in its original language, Middle English, but no previous experience is required. While this course is all about primary texts, secondary readings will be made available from time to time.
REL 333/JDS 333
Jewish Mysticism and Magic in Late Antiquity
Peter Schäfer
M 1:30-4:20 pm
The course traces the development of Jewish mysticism from its origins in the Bible (Ezekiel) to Merkavah mysticism, the first full-fledged mystical movement in ancient Judaism. We follow the dangerous ascent of the few initiates to the divine throne in heaven, their vision and participation in the heavenly liturgy. Since mysticism and magic are closely interrelated in antiquity, special emphasis will be put on the magical aspects of Jewish mysticism.
HIS 343 / CLA 343
The Civilization of the Early Middle Ages
Professor Helmut Reimitz
MW 11:00-11:50am
This course will survey the "Dark Ages" from the end of the Roman Empire to the end of the first millennium (ca. 400-1000 AD), often seen as a time of cultural and political decline, recently even labelled as the "end of civilization". The complex political and social landscape of the Roman Empire, however, had more to offer than just to end. This course will outline how early medieval people(s) in the successor states of the Roman Empire used its resources to form new communities and will suggest to understand the "Dark Ages" as a time of lively social and cultural experimentation, that created the social and political frameworks of Europe.
HIS 355 / HLS 355
Transformation of the Ancient World: Byzantium 500-1200
Professor John F. Haldon
T, TH 11:00-11:50am
This course introduces the history and culture of Byzantium, with some material on the medieval European world to the West and the Islamic states to the East. We will focus on the development of Byzantine society and economy, on how the state worked, and how Byzantium related to its neighbors to both the West and the East. Why did the eastern Roman empire survive the barbarian invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries? How was the state ruled and by whom? How did it deal with the powerful Islamic states to the East? How and why did the Byzantines arouse the hostility and suspicion of the medieval West and the papacy?
REL 355 / HLS 356
The Apostle Paul in Text and Context: His Letters, His Communities, and His Interpreters
AnneMarie Luijendijk
W 1:30-4:20 pm
ENROLLMENT BY APPLICATION OR INTERVIEW. DEPARTMENTAL PERMISSION REQUIRED.
In this seminar we will: 1) study the New Testament letters of the apostle Paul in their first-century context and their earliest interpretations; and 2) explore recent trends in Pauline scholarship, including the New Perspective. We will pay special attention to archaeological finds from the Pauline cities, which help us understand better the cultural, political, and religious milieu in which the letters were received and read. In the Spring break (March 15-25) the class will travel to Greece and visit the archaeological sites of the cities with early Christ-communities and other important or relevant sites.
COM 364 / SPA 364
Intricate Alliances: Early Modern Spain and England
Professor Marina S. Brownlee
This course considers empire - its complex and dynamic myths and realities - in the case of Early Modern Spain and England. Though undeniably political, military, and economic rivals, there exist at the same time networks of 'intricate alliances' and concerns that consistently inform the cultural articulations of these two empires. Works addressing empire such as Shakespeare's 'Tempest' and Calderón's 'Life is a Dream', race and blood purity and its implications in Shakespeare's 'Othello' and Calderón's 'The Surgeon of His Honor', gender and disability issues in the writings of Aphra Behn and María de Zayas will be considered.
REL 375/GSS 376
Gender, Bodies, and Sacraments: Penitence and Eucharist in Catholic Europe and the Americas
Jessica Delgado
T 1:30-4:20 pm
This seminar will examine the gendered and embodied meanings of sacraments, first through a sustained examination of confession and communion in Catholicism, and second, through an additional example of each student's choosing. Readings will focus on the changing practices and meanings of penitence and Eucharistic sacrifice in medieval and early modern Europe, colonial Latin America, and the contemporary US. Students will also choose an additional example through which to explore the relationship between gender and sacrament in its historical context and will bring this independent reading to bear in class discussions when appropriate.
ART 382
Cultures of Enchantment
Professor Thomas F. Leisten
Professor Jelena Trkulja
T 1:30-4:20pm
Between the 3rd and 10th centuries, the superpowers of the early medieval world - Byzantium on one side and Sasanian Iran and later the Islamic caliphate on the other - were locked in a lethal struggle for domination and survival. The ongoing wars, diplomatic contacts and trade were instrumental in shaping cultural identities and political ideologies on the two sides. Furthermore, both blocks mobilized the visual and performative arts in an effort to assert power within their own realms and project themselves as superior to their enemies.
ART 440 / HLS 441
Seminar. Renaissance Art
Professor Lia R. Markey
TH 1:30-4:20pm
"Renaissance Collecting: Art, Wonder and Knowledge, 1400-1650" explores collecting in Europe via the study of primary sources and modern theories about possessing, consuming and gift giving things. Princes, noblewomen, emperors, naturalists and artists alike acquired art, flora, fauna, ethnographica and exotica for diverse collecting spaces such as studioli and kunst and wunderkammern. These collections transcended the traditions of medieval treasuries, developed out of modes of categorization derived from antiquity, and ultimately became the foundation for the rise of the museum in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Professor Sarah Kay, Chair of French and Italian at Princeton University will be teaching a course on Temporality at NYU in Spring 2012.
Departmental Graduate Courses on Medieval Subjects
NES 503
Themes in Islamic History 600-1800
Professor Michael A. Cook
TH 1:30-4:20 pm
This year the course will be a seminar on Islamic history from 600 to 1800 intended to prepare students for Generals and for eventually teaching such a course.
ENG 511
Special Studies in Medieval Literature - Medieval Forma: The Shape of Thinking
Professor D. Vance Smith
TH 9:00-11:50 am
How do we read a poem in the wake of formalism and its critiques? How do we describe a work in the absence of useful generic categories--the case for much Middle English literature? This course will examine both questions by reconstructing what "form" meant for medieval writers and readers, and what we mean by it today. Topics will include anthologies and miscellanies; mise-en-page; forma tractatus, forma tractandi; causa formalis; theories of reference; romance; lyric; tragedy and comedy; the relations among form, ideological formation, and historicism; philosophical form; formalism in practice; the critiques of formalism; minor literatures.
MUS 512
Topics in Medieval Music - Guillaume de Machaut
Professor Anna Zayaruznaya
TH 2:00-4:50 pm
This course is focused on the musical and poetic works of Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377). Taking our cue from the multi-media manuscripts that preserve Machaut's oeuvre, we will consider the poetic and musical output together, paying particular attention to the ways in which text, music, and image interact. Topics covered will include Machaut's narrative poetry and his construction of authorial voice, the important musico-poetic genres in which he composed (motet, virelai, ballade, rondeau, lai), competing current theories about 14th-century compositional process, and the question of text-music relations.
CLA 513 / COM 516
Ancient Literary Criticism
Professor Denis Feeney
Professor Andrew L. Ford
This seminar will follow the development of ancient literary criticism in the Greek and Roman world from its beginnings in the practice of Greek poets to the developed curricula of the Roman Empire. The course considers the phases by which literary criticism became a practice in its own right, taking into account the various modes of engagement bracketed under "literary criticism": philosophy, commentary, rhetoric, literary history and aesthetics.
HIS 543 / HLS 543
The Origins of the Middle Ages
Professor Helmut Reimitz
TBA
This seminar explores the transition from the late ancient to the medieval world through the lens of the historians of the time. What role did the writing of history play in understanding social change? Which preexisting historical models or texts were used, how were they reconfigured, and what new ones were created in order to respond to the fundamental social changes? How did the writing of history not only reflect but also encourage social change? The course explores these processes and introduces students of late antique and medieval studies to techniques such as codicology, palaeography, and the art of editing.
See Princeton
University course pages for full course details.