Medieval Manuscripts
ARHA 312
Fall 2024
| Section:
01
|
| Crosslisting:
MDST 313 |
Medieval manuscripts were dense, considered gatherings of text and image, and they are among the richest of artifacts bequeathed to us by the Middle Ages. Manuscripts both crystallized and intervened in many of the key intellectual, religious, and aesthetic foundations of medieval Europe. To step into a luxurious medieval manuscript--into its script, its miniatures, its marginal decoration, its scribbles, its little monsters and unexpected grotesques, its tears and signs of use--is to probe a particular artform, distinct to pre-modernity, in which the definition of painted image and written word differed markedly from later centuries of the Western tradition. Throughout, basic questions of the relationship between text and image, and the linguistic and the pictorial, repeatedly beg attention. How were these books made, who used them (if they were used at all), how did the reading process unfold in the medieval period, and how did pictorial decoration assist in revealing--or, perhaps, obscuring--truth? These questions, and more, will inform this seminar's systematic inquiry of the making, function, and layout of the medieval book, from its Late Antique origins to the 15th century advent of printing. |
|
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
|
Fulfills a Requirement for: (ARHA-MN)(ARHA)(ARST)(MDST-MN)(MDST)(MDST-Art/Arch)(MDST-History)(MDST-Lang/Lit)(MDST-Phil/Reli) |
|
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
1. Christopher de Hamel, Making Medieval Manuscripts (Oxford, 2018), ISBN: 9781851244683
2. There will also be a course reader.
|
Examinations and Assignments:
Class participation, oral presentations, two response papers, seminar research project and seminar paper.
|
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
|
| Instructor(s): Ackley,Joseph Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: BOGH113; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 14 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 1 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 0 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
|
|