MLA 613 Human Spirit in Art Syllabus, Summer 2007
Instructor: Theodore Gracyk
This interdisciplinary course will explore competing theories of human nature and their diverse manifestations in great works of art. Do different eras and styles of art express different ideas about being human?
The course concentrates on selected views of human nature and to related art movements. Although there will be an emphasis on the visual arts, there will be opportunity to explore the main themes in relation to literature and, where appropriate, music.
We will focus on Greek antiquity, Medieval Christianity, Renaissance humanism, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. Related art topics might include Greek sculpture and tragedy, the Italian Renaissance, the paintings of Vermeer, the music of Beethoven, Romantic painting and poetry, surrealism, and abstract art. These European perspectives on what it is to be human will be contrasted with selected non-Western ideas, specifically Confucianism.
The course will be conducted as a seminar, not a lecture, and all students will be encouraged to share their views about the material.
No specialized knowledge is required. To keep textbook costs reasonable, the required readings will be supplemented by readings posted online. (Students without Internet access can be supplied copies of these readings upon request.) Each student will be required to select one artist, composer, or writer as the topic of a research paper.
Requirements: Your course grade is based on these four components:
Participation (20%)
Daily Summary (20%)
Midterm Essay (30%)
Research Paper (30%)
Participation is not the same as attendance. It involves thoughtful and constructive participation in classroom discussion, indicating your having prepared the assigned material.
Daily summaries are due at the start of each class. You will be sharing these with everyone, so you must bring enough copies for everyone. They are to be typed. They must not exceed 200 words. The purpose is to state, clearly and concisely, the main idea that you would like to discuss that day. The goal of this writing is to summarize the one idea from the readings that most interests you, and then to state why it interests you.
The midterm essay will be on an assigned topic.
The research paper will be on a topic of your choice, focusing on one artist, composer, or writer as an example of the human spirit (as understood by that individual's contemporaries). The essay is to have a critical examination component, following the model of the critical examinations at the end of each chapter of Stevenson & Haberman. More information will be provided. It will be due a few days after our last class session.
Required Texts:
Leslie Stevenson and David L. Haberman, Ten Theories of Human Nature, Fourth Edition (Oxford University Press)
Lu Chi , The Art of Writing (Milkweed Press)
COURSE PACKAGE FOR MLA 613 -- available only in the MSUM Bookstore.
Reading Assignments:
Tuesday, June 5 Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 5
Aristotle's Poetics (in course pack)Thursday, June 7 Pico della Mirandola's "Oration" (in course pack)
Walter Pater: Pico della Mirandola (in course pack)
Vasari: Leonardo (in course pack)Tuesday, June 12 Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 1 Thursday, June 14 Lu Chi: The Art of Writing
Selected poems (in course pack)Tuesday, June 19 Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 3 Thursday, June 21 Aquinas (in course pack)
Tolstoy (in course pack)Tuesday, June 26 Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 7
Marx (in course pack)
Stephen Crane: Maggie (in course pack)Thursday, June 28 Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 8
Freud (in course pack)Tuesday, July 3 No assigned readings I have compiled a guide to additional online resources.
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Last updated
May 30 2007
