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HUI 235 -- Course Description
- Sex, Love and Tragedy in Italian
Medieval Literature
- The course will explore the basic themes that have been haunting
humankind since the dawn of civilization: sex and love as they often take a tragic turn.
Whether they are expressed as animal sexual instinct or tender affection, these are the
forces that link human beings together.
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- The time covered in the course spans from 1265,
Dante’s date of birth, to 1375, when Boccaccio died. During this time one
civilization ended and another began. Dante is the last great voice of Medieval Italy.
Boccaccio links the medieval way of life to the age of Humanism, and
Petrarch, torn by
unresolved inner conflicts, stands as the first "modern man."
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- From Dante’s Divine Comedy we read Inferno
and Purgatorio. The human tragedy of hopelessness is present in the state of mind
of the souls in Inferno, while in Purgatorio the certainty of salvation from
human misery gives form to a sense of positive achievement.
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- Humanity is again represented by Boccaccio in his Decameron:
a kaleidoscope of human behavior. This book may shock modern readers for its candor in
depicting the human soul within the widest range of life experiences. Love is expressed
through innocent sexual feelings, self denial, honesty, base cheating, and lust. One can
compare Boccaccio with today’s society with its positive and negative aspects.
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- Petrarch bares his soul to expose himself as he is torn
between earthly love (for his beloved Laura) and divine love (for God). This conflict is
presented through lyric poetic forms destined to become the landmark for later poets in
Western civilization.
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- The course is presented through lectures; however,
discussion from students is encouraged. All assignments will be done at home
and either brought to class, or sent though e-mail, by the given deadlines. Assignments
will be distributed through this Web Site.
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- Grading: See
Assignments
Textbooks:
1. Dante's Vita Nuova,
translated by Mark Musa -- it should be available in the University
book store and Stony Books, on Rt. 25A in Stony Brook. (you can
also buy it online at
Amazon.com) 2. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
(Translation, J. F. Cotter), Stony Brook: Forum Italicum, 2006). (available
at the Center for Italian Studies -- Lib. 5006 -- $ 30.00: call 2-7444 to find out when the office is open (if you find it
closed) -- Cash, check, credit card accepted. 3. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron. trans.
M. Musa, New York: Norton, 1977 available at the
University Bookstore, at Stony Books (Rt. 25A), and online at
Amazon.com |