TOURO COLLEGE COURSE SYLLABUS
LANDER COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT:
COURSE TITLE:
COURSE NUMBER:
PREREQUISITES:
CREDIT HOURS:
DEVELOPER:
LAST UPDATE:
Humanities
Renaissance Literature
HML 201
LLE 102 or permission
3
Michael Popkin
October 30, 2003
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is aimed at introducing students to Renaissance literature of, with emphasis on the
way stories were treated in different ways by different writers and used by those writers to
express both societal and individual interpretations of reality.
COURSE/DEPARTMENTAL OBJECTIVES
The student will:
 Familiarize herself with the most significant works of Renaissance literature
 Understand that knowing about these particular works can enrich and enliven her
interpretation of other works of literature
 Improve her ability to think critically
 Gain an appreciation for different cultures and different ways of perceiving reality
 Improve her ability to analyze and write about literature
COURSE/INSTITUTIONAL OBJECTIVES
This course is intended to enrich students’understanding of their place in the Western tradition,
to develop their critical reasoning skills, and to foster their abilities to access and evaluate
information clearly and objectively. More specifically, the course is designed to cultivate the
ability to analyze and appreciate literature, philosophy, and art. Through the study of diverse
populations, the course also will foster a respect and appreciation for cultural diversity.
1
COURSE CONTENT
English Literature





Shakespeare: Sonnets
Shakespeare: The Tempest
Shakespeare: Othello
Pope: Poems
Swift: Gulliver’s Travels
French Literature





Marguerite de Navarre: Stories
Montaigne: Essays
Moliere: Tartuffe
Racine: Phaedra
Voltaire: Candide
Other European Literature







Petrarch: Sonnets
Erasmus: The Praise of Folly
Machiavelli: The Prince
Ariosto: Orlando Furioso
Castiglione: The Courtier
Cervantes: Don Quixote
Lope de Vega: Fuente Ovejuna
HARDWARE/SOFTWARE/MATERIALS REQUIREMENTS:
Not applicable.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Regular Attendance
Reading Assignments
Quizzes
Mid-Term Exam
Ten-Fifteen pages of written work
Final Exam
2
GRADING GUIDELINES
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Students must come to class prepared and ready to participate.
Students must take at least five quizzes. (50 points)
Students must take the mid-term exam. (70 points)
Student must hand in carefully written essays on a timely basis. (100 points)
Students must take the final exam. (80 points)
METHODOLOGY
In addition to lecturing, the professor should regularly call on students to ask and answer
questions and to state their opinions.
COURSE TEXTS
Title:
Editor:
Edition:
Pub. Date:
Publisher:
The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Sarah Lawall
Second Edition, Volume C
2002
W. W. Norton
Title:
Editor:
Edition:
Pub. Date:
Publisher:
The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Sarah Lawall
Second Edition, Volume D
2002
W. W. Norton
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Note: Most of the following volumes have been reprinted many times. Used copes of various editions can be
found on websites such as add.com and amazon.com. For that reason, no publishers are listed.
GENERAL
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Mimesis
Erich Auerbach
(1953)
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Anatomy of Criticism
Northrop Frye
1957
3
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Sexual Personae
Camille Paglia
1990
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Great Books
David Denby
1996
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
The Western Canon
Harold Bloom
1994
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
The Seventeenth-Century Background
Basil Willey
1935
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
The Age of Ideas
George Havens
1955
NORTON CRITICAL EDITIONS
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Castiglione, The Courtier
Charles S. Singleton
2002
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Cervantes, Don Quixote
Diana de Armas Wilson
1981
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Erasmus, The Praise of Folly and Other Writings
Robert M. Adams
1989
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Machiavelli,The Prince
Robert M. Adams
1977
Title:
Editors:
Pub. Date:
Shakespeare, The Tempest
Peter Hulme and William H. Sherman
2003
Title:
Editor:
Shakespeare, Othello
Edward Pechter
4
Pub. Date:
2003
Title:
Editors:
Pub. Date:
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels and Other Writings
Robert A. Greenberg and William B. Piper
1973
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Voltaire, Candide
Robert M. Adams
1966
SPECIFIC WRITERS
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Shakespeare’s Dramatic Genres
Lawrence Danson
2000
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Helen Vendler
1997
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest
Hallett Smith
1969
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Preface to Othello
Harley Granville-Barker
1947
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Cervantes
Lowry Nelson, Jr.
1969
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
On Racine
Roland Barthes
1960
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
Moliere: The Man Seen Through The Plays
Ramon Fernandez
1958
Title:
Author:
Pub. Date:
The Novel in France
Martin Turnell
1951
5
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Twentieth Century Interpretations of Gulliver’s Travels
Frank Brady
1968
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Rape of the Lock
G. S. Rousseau
1969
Title:
Editor:
Pub. Date:
Voltaire
William F. Bottiglia
1968
6