MEDREN 2217 - Shakespeare's London
Description: This course will explore roughly one and a half centuries of the history, politics, and culture of London, beginning with the religious upheavals of the Protestant Reformation, moving onto a civil war that saw King Charles I lose his head, and culminating with the devastating plague and Great Fire of London in 1666. We will begin by studying the factors behind London's phenomenal growth in the sixteenth century, a growth that quickly made the city the center of economic and political life in Britain. By reading a range of primary documents including urban surveys, plays, poems, and pamphlets we will consider the opportunities and problems created by rapid urbanization (social mobility, poverty, disease) as well as the institutions and structures that regulated the life of the city.
In our tour of this vibrant metropolis we will encounter an extraordinary range of figures: alongside the great and the good like Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Shakespeare, we will also meet prostitutes, vagabonds, and gulls (!). We will become familiar with the layout and buildings of London, its churches and cathedrals, its palaces and thoroughfares, and of course its iconic river Thames. We will linger especially at the theaters, bear gardens, cockpits, and brothels that made up London's burgeoning entertainment industry.
GE Cultures and Ideas, GE Diversity: Global Studies
Lecture: 30053
Time: TTh 9:35 - 10:55AM
Room: Journalism 375
Instructor: Christopher Highley
MEDREN 2666 - Magic and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Description: In this interdisciplinary course, students will explore the history and culture of witchcraft and magic from ca. 400 to 1700 C.E. within sociological, religious, and intellectual contexts. By the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of the practice, persecution, and social construct of magic and witchcraft in the medieval and early modern periods and its far-reaching impact on society.
GE Cultures and Ideas, GE Diversity: Global Studies
Lecture: 30054
Time: MWF 11:30AM - 12:25PM
Room: University Hall 014
Instructor: Sarah Iles Johnston
MEDREN 5631 - Survey of Latin Literature: Medieval and Renaissance
Description: This section of CMRS 5631 will be an intermediate reading course for students interested in medieval Latin literature and language. We will read a sampling of Latin texts written between late antiquity and c. 1200, with selections taken from biblical and liturgical sources, narrative prose and verse, lyric and satiric poetry, as well as legal documents. While helping students become more confident translators, the course also aims to acquaint them with some of the specialized reference-works and bibliographical resources pertinent to the study of medieval Latin. In addition to the daily homework of reading and translating, requirements for the class include submission of three written translation-passages, an oral report, a final paper or bibliographical project, and a short final exam.
Prerequisite: Latin 1103 or equivalent.
Questions? Please feel free to contact the instructor at jones.1849@osu.edu
Lecture: Undergrad - 20259, Graduate - 20260
Time: TuTh 9:35 - 10:55AM
Room: Derby Hall 049
Instructor: Christopher Jones
MEDREN 5695 - Advanced Seminar in Medieval and Renaissance Studies: Cervantes and the Mediterranean World
Description:
Miguel de Cervantes is known primarily for his masterpiece, Don Quijote de la Mancha (1605 and 1615), which some literary historians consider the first modern novel. Cervantes, however, wrote much more than the Quijote. His works include a pastoral novel (La Galatea, 1585), an important collection of novellas (Exemplary Novels, 1613), a romance beloved by the writer (The Labors of Persiles y Sigismunda), and a number of well known plays. In some ways, Cervantes’s life was as wide-ranging as his work. Striking out on his own down the roads heading south to Seville and east to the Mediterranean ports of the Levant, he was one of the few early modern Spanish writers who made his career mostly away from the Court. In fact, his intimate familiarity with the wide Mediterranean World at large derived primarily from his experience as a soldier and a prisoner. It is well known that Cervantes fought against the Ottoman navy under Don John of Austria at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and that he wore his wounds from that battle as a badge of honor for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, Cervantes’s renegotiation of Islam in literature occurs first and foremost in the context of Ottoman-controlled Algiers, where the writer himself spent five years as a captive in the Algerian bagnios. This course will focus on the ways in which some of Cervantes’s narrative and dramatic works make visible the tensions and transactions on the waters and the shores of the disputed Mediterranean sea. While a reading knowledge of Spanish is certainly a plus, the Cervantine works and secondary sources for this course are available in English, and the course will be taught entirely in English.
Books ordered for this course:
1. Mediterranean: A Cultural Landscape (Hardback - 1999)
by Predrag Matvejevic (Author)
Hardback: 218 pages
Publisher: University of California Press (1999)
Language: English
ISBN: 0-520-20738-6
*Please note: this book must be purchased used online.
2. Don Quixote (Penguin Classics) Paperback – February 25, 2003
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Author), John Rutherford (Editor, Translator), Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria (Introduction)
Paperback: 1072 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 25, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142437239
ISBN-13: 978-0142437230
3. "The Bagnios of Algiers" and "The Great Sultana": Two Plays of Captivity. Paperback – August 2, 2012
by Miguel de Cervantes (Author), Barbara Fuchs (Translator), Aaron J. Ilika (Translator)
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (August 2, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812222156
ISBN-13: 978-0812222159
4. WHICHEVER IS EASIEST TO GET, NOT SACRIFICING QUALITY. EITHER:
The Exemplary Novels: Complete Edition Paperback – September 27, 2013
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Author), Walter K. Kelly (Translator).
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 27, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 149283243X
ISBN-13: 978-1492832430
OR:
The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes Paperback – January 10, 2007
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Author)
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: BiblioBazaar (January 10, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0554037025
ISBN-13: 978-0554037028
5. An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa's Topography of Algiers (1612) (History Lang and Cult Spanish Portuguese). Paperback – April 15, 2011
by Antonio de Sosa (Author), Maria Antonia Garces (Editor), Diana de Armas Wilson (Translator)
Series: History Lang and Cult Spanish Portuguese
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press; 1st Edition edition (April 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0268029784
ISBN-13: 978-0268029784
Prerequisite: 6 credit hours in MEDREN at the 2000 level or above, or grad standing.
Lecture: Undergrad - 30057, Graduate - 30056
Time: WF 12:45 - 2:05PM
Room: Journalism 353
Instructor: Elizabeth Davis
MEDREN 7899 - Medieval & Renaissance Colloquia
Description: 1 credit hour per semester for attending CMRS lectures, faculty colloquia and subsequent discussions. This will amount to: 5 (1-hour+) lectures by visiting professors and at least 1 internal lecture and subsequent discussion (total 3 hours per event); at least one lunch with visiting faculty member (2 hours); active involvement with MRGSA and its activities; and meetings with the Center director (one hour once per term). With permission of the Director other professional activities (such as attendance at appropriate conferences, on or off campus) may be substituted. Most CMRS Lectures and Faculty Colloquia will begin at 4:00pm on Fridays; visit the CMRS Lecture Series page for the full schedule.
Prerequisite: Grad standing.
Lecture: 20264
Time: 4:00 - 6:00PM
Room: 18th Ave. Library 090
Instructor: Graeme Boone