Dr. Ethan Guagliardo
Monday 2:00-3:50, TB 490
Wednesday 1:00-1:50, TB 415
Spring 2019
Office Hours, TB 475: Wednesday 2:00-3:00; 4:00-5:00 and by appointment
Course Description
The word “Renaissance” conjures up images of revolution, of overthrowing the old and ushering in the new. This period sees the discovery of the New World, the rise of literary humanism, and the Protestant revolt against Roman Catholicism. But the concept of the “Renaissance”–along with that of the “Medieval”–was for the most part an invention of the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact, 16th- and 17th-century Europe was broadly continuous with the “Middle Ages”. The people were no less plague-ridden, and monarchs no less powerful; piety was never more fervent, and superstition never more terrible (more witches were burned during this time than any other). And yet something was surely changing, enough that scholars today usually describe the “Renaissance” as the “early modern” period. In this course, we will explore the continuities and discontinuities that compose the early modern world through the figure of the rebel. Did rebels think of themselves as rebels? Do early modern plays and poems have sympathy for the devil and his fellow-travellers, the rakes, rogues, and libertines of the period? If the early modern period can be described as a period of “revolutions”, were these revolutions oriented toward the new, or were they rather nostalgic, seeking a return to an imagined past?
Assessment
Participation: 15%
Short papers: 40%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 25%
Assignments
Participation: Students are required to participate in this class–that includes showing up, offering opinions, and completing all assignments.
Short papers: 4 pages each, please follow prompts. Some papers will require you to make use of the EEBO-TCP database.
Midterm/Final: There are no quizzes in this class. Exams will test reading knowledge.
Texts
Course Packet (available at library copy center)
John Milton, Paradise Lost(available at bookstore)
Recommended Readings
Week 1
Monday, Feb. 11th Introduction
Wed., Feb. 13th Martin Luther, from The Freedom of a Christian; The Art of Disagreeing Badly (an interactive exhibit)
Recommended readings: Richard Strier, “Martin Luther and the Real Presence in Nature”
Week 2
Monday, Feb. 15th Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, read first half
Wed, Feb. 17th Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, read second half
Recommended Readings: Leah Marcus, “Marlowe’s Magic Books”, in Marlowe in Context; Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning, chapter 5.
Week 3
Monday, Feb. 25th Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
Wed, Feb. 27th Thomas Middleton, The Revengers Tragedy, Acts 1-2
Recommended: Lawrence Danson, “Christopher Marlowe: Questioner”, ELR 12 (1982): 3-29.
Paper 1 Due Friday Feb. 29th.
Week 4
Monday, Mar. 4th Thomas Middleton, The Revengers Tragedy, Acts 3-4
Wed, Mar. 6th Middleton, The Revengers Tragedy, Act 5
Recommended: Steven Mullaney, “Mourning and Misogyny: Hamlet, The Revenger’s Tragedy, and the Final Progress of Elizabeth I, 1600–1607,” Shakespeare Quarterly 45 (1994): 139–62.
Week 5
Monday, Mar.11th Middleton, The Revengers Tragedy
Wed, Mar. 13th John Donne, from Songs and Sonnets
Week 6
Monday, Mar. 18th John Donne, from Songs and Sonnets
Wed, Mar. 20th Aemlia Lanyer, from Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Note: This week will have to be rescheduled, as I will be attending the Renaissance Society of America Conference in Toronto.
Recommended reading: Jonathan Post, “Irremediably Donne”, from English Lyric Poetry: The Early Seventeenth Century.
Paper 2 Due Friday Mar. 22nd.
Week 7
Monday, Mar. 25th John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, 1-2
Wed, Mar. 27st Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, 3-4
Recommended reading: Frances Dolan, “‘Can this be certain?’: The Duchess of Malfi’s Secrets,” in The Duchess of Malfi: A Critical Guide(2011)
Week 8
Monday, Apr. 1st Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, 5
Wed, Mar. 3rd Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
Week 9
Monday, Apr. 8th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1.
Wed, Apr. 10th Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 1-2.
Paper 3 due Friday April 12th.
Week 10
Monday, Apr. 15th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2.
Wed, Apr. 17th Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 2-3.
Recommended reading: from David Quint, Inside Paradise Lost.
Spring Break
Week 11
Monday, Apr. 29th Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 3-4.
Wed, May 1st Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 4-6.
Recommended reading: from Gordon Teskey, Delirious Milton.
Week 12
Monday, May 6th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 8.
Wed, May 8th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 8-9. Read: Genesis 2-3
Week 13
Monday, May 13th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9.
Wed, May 15th Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 10; 12.574-end.
Paper 4 due Wednesday May 15th.
Final Exam TBA
Ethan John Guagliardo 