Love, Sex, and Marriage in Renaissance Europe
RL&L 123Z
Summer 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 123Z, FGSS 123Z, MDST 125Z, WLIT 249Z |
This seminar compares literary depictions of love, sex, and marriage from the 14th to the 17th centuries by writers from England, France, Germany, the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. (N.B. Students will be able to study writings from other parts of Europe over the course of the semester should they so choose.) We will read texts composed by women and men in genres including poetry, theater, the short story, the essay, the maxim, the travel narrative, and the sermon. Though the seminar is focused on literature, we will also consider painting, engravings, sculpture, and the decorative arts (e.g., wedding chests). We will explore questions such as: How were love and marriage related during the Renaissance? What roles did sex, gender, race, class, and violence play in relationships between couples and within society, and how were they represented in literature and art? How do gender and genre affect the ways in which love, sex, and marriage are depicted? How did cultural differences influence writers' and artists' interpretations of love, sex, and marriage? And what about "homosexual" love, same-sex unions, and depictions of dissident sexualities and genders? Finally, how have contemporary (21st-century) writers reimagined Renaissance representations of love, sex, and marriage, and why do Renaissance texts and images matter today? Other topics will include virginity and celibacy, friendship, erotic literature and pornography, religion, family and class structures, and divorce. This seminar engages students with university-level research by navigating search engines and databases (beyond a Google search!), honing their analytical skills, and polishing their academic prose. Students will also have the opportunity to write creatively should they so choose. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (College of Letters)(Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)(French Studies Minor)(French Studies)(Medieval Studies Minor)(Medieval Studies)(Romance Studies) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 - Summer Session II |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Selected poems by Anna Bijns, Luís de Camões, Elizabeth I, Veronica Franco, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Louise Labé, Madeleine de L¿Aubépine, Marie Maitland, Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Francesco Petrarca, Pierre de Ronsard, William Shakespeare, and Mary Wroth.
Selected prose by Giovanni Boccaccio, Laura Cereta, Kristina Wasa [Christina, Queen of Sweden], Luis de León, Martin Luther, Michel de Montaigne, Marguerite de Navarre, Ambroise Paré, and Virginia Woolf.
Toni Morrison, DESDEMONA, lyrics by Rokia Traoré (Oberon Books, 2012). Available as an e-book in the Wesleyan Library. Students can also purchase the book (ISBN: 9781849433891) if they prefer reading a hard copy.
William Shakespeare, OTHELLO. Students can also purchase the play (any edition) if they prefer reading a hard copy.
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Examinations and Assignments:
The course requirements reflect the fact that the readings, careful preparation for and participation in class, and the papers and oral presentations are mutually reinforcing activities. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Meere,Michael Times: .MTWRF. 03:30PM-05:10PM; Location: ONLINE; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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