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New Approaches in Renaissance Studies

ENGL 330.301
instructor(s):
TR 10:30-12

Using interdisciplinary methods and electronic technology, this course will survey the cultural history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Drawing on the latest methodologies and insights of English studies, we will take a new look at how aesthetics, politics, social traditions, and people's lives intersected at this vital and turbulent time of English history.

In this course students will work directly with the materials of English Renaissance culture. We will read a wide variety of texts, including examples of "self-help" books, marriage manuals, anatomy books and travel narratives, as well as plays and lyric poetry; we will also learn to "read" artifacts such as portraits, county and city maps, the design of books, and the architecture of the country house and garden.

To do so, the course will use multimedia resources, including electronic texts and images, video, and audio. In addition, writing assignments will teach students to use new electronic research techniques. In short, the course will use the newest scholarly methods and technologies to help us rethink the past.

fulfills requirements