MRST 110 - Medieval and Renaissance Culture

FDR: Offered as 110A when HL; or as 110 when HU; depending on topic.
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Winter

An introduction to the interdisciplinary study of the Medieval and Renaissance periods through the study of a particular topic. Recent studies: The Crusades, Monasticism, Chivalry, Elizabethan England, the Birth of Italian Literature, Pilgrimage, and European Encounters with Islam.

Topic for Winter 2012:

MRST 110A-01: Giants of Italian Renaissance Literature (3). This course proposes an overview of some of the major literary and philosophical figures of the Italian Renaissance who have profoundly influenced Western thought and culture. The course starts with a thorough reading of Dante’s Inferno, continues with selections of sonnets from Petrarca’s Canzoniere, then moves on to a wide selection of stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron and concludes with the reading of Machiavelli’s The Prince and the play, The Mandrake Root. The readings and discussion will focus on the evolution of humanist thought, of literary virtuosity and philosophical concepts as embodied throughout the various genres and centuries represented by this particular selection of authors and works. It culminates with a full-fledged theatrical Renaissance type performance of The Mandrake Root in the Lenfest Center. (HL) Radulescu.