Summer 2007

Instructor: Theodore Gracyk   

SYLLABUS 2007

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This interdisciplinary course explores 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?

Different class sessions are devoted to an exploration of a distinctive view of human nature, which we then relate to a particular art movement. 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, Renaissance humanism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. Related art movements will include Greek tragic theater, the Italian Renaissance, the paintings of Vermeer, the music of Beethoven, Romantic literature and painting, surrealism, abstract art, and films as art. These European perspectives on what it is to be human will be contrasted with selected non-Western ideas, specifically Confucianism and its influence on Chinese poetry and visual art.

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. Each student will be required to select one artist, composer, or writer as the topic of a research project, and each student will make a brief presentation of their research findings to the group.

		Required Texts:  Ten Theories of Human Nature, Fourth Edition Leslie Stevenson and David L. Haberman (Oxford University Press) Fourth Edition The Art of Writing Lu Chi (Milkweed Press)
		AND COURSE PACKET for MLA 613 Readings selected by the instructor Available ONLY in the MSUM Bookstore
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