Each term course will be offered in special topics of English and American literature. One three-hour seminar.
Forms of Literature
Professor/Instructor
Susan A. StewartTopics in Medieval Studies
Professor/Instructor
An intensive seminar devoted to a particular aspect of European medieval life and culture. Topics change yearly. One three-hour seminar.
Empire and Catastrophe
Professor/Instructor
Teresa ShawcrossCatastrophe reveals the fragility of human society. This course examines a series of phenomena--plague, famine, war, revolution, economic depression etc.--in order to reach an understanding of humanity's imaginings of but also resilience to collective crises. We shall look in particular at how political forces such as empire have historically both generated and resisted global disasters. Material dealing with the especially fraught centuries at the transition between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period will be set alongside examples drawn from antiquity as well as our own contemporary era.
Seminar. Medieval Art
Professor/Instructor
Charlie BarberTopics in medieval art and/or architecture. Prerequisite: a course in the art of this period or instructor's permission. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. One three-hour seminar.
Seminar in Medieval Art
Professor/Instructor
Beatrice Ellen KitzingerIntensive seminar on selective topics in Medieval art and theory from 400 to 1400.
An Introduction to the Islamic Scholarly Tradition
Professor/Instructor
A hands-on introduction to such basic genres of medieval scholarship as biography, history, tradition, and Koranic exegesis, taught through the intensive reading of texts in Arabic. The syllabus varies according to the interests of the students and the instructor.
Middle High German Literature
Professor/Instructor
Sara S. PoorBased on one specific text, the first term provides an introduction to language, metrics, manuscript tradition, and textual criticism. The second term deals with special topics in German literature between 1150 and 1450 or interdisciplinary topics such as orality and literacy, word and image.
Middle High German Literature II
Professor/Instructor
Sara S. Poor, Eric WhiteBased on one specific text, the first term provides an introduction to language, metrics, manuscript tradition, and textual criticism. The second term deals with special topics in German literature between 1150 and 1450 or interdisciplinary topics such as orality and literacy, word and image.
Seminar in Medieval French Literature
Professor/Instructor
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-TouletTo suit the particular interests of the students and the instructor, a subject for intensive study is selected from special topics such as chansons de geste, roman courtois, paleography and textual criticism, rhetorical theory, lyric poetry, the chronicles, and Provençal materials.
Topics in Medieval Music
Professor/Instructor
Rob C. WegmanSource-critical, historical, and stylistic studies of one of the late medieval polyphonic repertories are studied.
Problems in Post-Classical and Byzantine Literature
Professor/Instructor
Emmanuel C. BourbouhakisAs the late antique present began to dramatically assert its variance with the venerable Greco-Roman past, historical writing took on a significance hardly surpassed before, or after. Course surveys the diverse corpus of historiography in Greek from the 4th to the 7th centuries (and perhaps a bit beyond) when an unprecedented number of registers entered and enlarged the historiographic genre. Class reads texts in Greek (for accuracy and formal concerns) as well as in translation (for scope). Scholarship will buttress our weekly discussion.
Seminar in Medieval History
Professor/Instructor
William Chester JordanSelected problems in the social, administrative, and legal history of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, primarily during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.
Problems in Near Eastern Jewish History: Jewish and Islamic Law
Professor/Instructor
Eve KrakowskiA study of a number of central problems, historiographical issues, and primary sources relevant to the history of the Jewish minority under Islam in the Middle Ages.
Methods in Byzantine Literature and Philology
Professor/Instructor
Emmanuel C. BourbouhakisThis course emphasizes proficiency in post-Classical and Medieval Greek language through close readings and translations of literature. In addition to surveying the principal genres of literature and the questions surrounding them, it also introduces Ph.D. students to the instrumenta studiorum of Late Antique and Byzantine philology, such as palaeography, codicology, text editing, databases and bibliography.