Module description
The Renaissance was a period of rule-breaking, iconoclasm, and critique as well as of renewal. Both Renaissance humanism and the Reformation proposed innovative ideas of human dignity and purpose. In this module, we explore the ideological underpinnings of Renaissance discourses of renewal and revival and their contemporary critiques. The module aims to introduce students to the contemporary and critical debates on literature and ideology in the European Renaissance, and to set canonical texts in their European context. No previous knowledge of the period is required, and English translations are available of all texts.
Assessment details
One 4,000-word essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
- to introduce students to the contemporary and critical debates on literary and ideological production in the European Renaissance
- to encourage critical reading practice
- to develop students’ understanding of ‘ideology’ and ‘transgressive literature’
- to introduce students to a variety of critical and interpretive methods
- to enhance students’ awareness of the importance of historical and intellectual contexts for the reception and understanding of literary texts
- to induce a high degree of competence in the analysis and discussion of early modern texts
- to develop and enrich students’ knowledge and interest in the early modern period
- to develop students’ capacities to plan and compose extended essays on topics chosen by themselves and to engage in independent research towards these topics.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 7 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- a sophisticated awareness of the literary contexts of the texts studied
- a sophisticated awareness of the historical and political contexts of the texts studied
- a sophisticated awareness of modem critical debates on ideological and literary production in relation to Renaissance texts
- an ability to engage in detailed analysis of Renaissance texts
- a capacity to extract from such analyses broader implications for the understanding of the period
- an ability to identify relatively original questions and topics of pertinence to this field of enquiry
- an ability to organise and engage in independent research related to this topic
- an ability to organise, structure and compose an extended essay on a topic of their own choosing
Teaching pattern
One 2-hour seminar per week
Suggested reading list
Indicative core reading:
- Luís Vaz de Camões, The Lusiads
- Bartolomé de las Casas, Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
- Desiderius Erasmus, The Freedom of the Will
- Lazarillo de Tormes
- Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
- Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man
- Michel de Montaigne, Essais
- Marguerite de Navarre, The Heptameron
- François Rabelais, Gargantua
- Fernando de Rojas, Celestina
- Gil Vicente, The Boat of Hell
- Anon., The Historie of The Damnable Life, and deserued Death of Doctor Iohn Faustus