Studies in the 16Th Century (420-0-20)

Topic

Violence & Form

Instructors

Cynthia Nyree Nazarian
847/491-8270
1860 S. Campus Drive, Crowe Hall #2-137

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Mon 1:00PM - 3:50PM

Overview of class

Both as ‘body' and as ‘genre' this course explores the ways in which ‘form' shapes and responds to violent imagery across French and European literature of the 16th century. We will interrogate the language of violence in love poetry, essays, tales, epic and chilvalric romance and explore what metaphors of torment and abjection allowed early modern writers to do. How did the eroticized body of the Beloved in the love sonnet become the wounded flesh of the Huguenot soldier during the Wars of Religion? How did the anatomized female form in the blason come to represent European nations torn apart by civil strife? We will examine structural and formal conventions as well as historical and political contexts to discern conversations between our texts and the turbulent times in which they were created. Authors will include Marguerite de Navarre, François Rabelais, various lyric poets, Michel de Montaigne, Shakespeare, Edmund Spencer, Agrippa d'Aubigné, etc.

**Please note: in addition to exploring early modern literary texts, this course will also focus on students' professional development through discussions of academic research, writing, and publishing.**

Class Materials (Required)

Course readings will be available as PDFs online.

Class Notes

Class will be taught in English.