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CS92PROD
Self and Text in Roman North Africa: Augustine's Confessions
COL 354Z
Winter 2024
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: HIST 354Z, MDST 354Z

The native North African Augustine of Hippo wrote the most influential autobiographical text in (so-called) Western literature. It remains the most brilliant text I have ever read: a mind-bendingly complex and yet fully coherent literary self. Let's read it together. Set between Carthage and Rome in 400, Augustine wrote just 10 years before the Eternal City would be sacked by the disaffected former legions of the empire (the Goths). Split between conqueror and conquered, civilization and apocalypse, Augustine wove humanity's existential and epistemological questions into a literary tapestry for the ages: Who am I? How do you speak? Who are you? How do I listen? Who are we? How do we know? At once memoir, critique of empire, philosophy, psychology, theology, personal history, criticism, and a letter, these CONFESSIONS require close, careful, focused, attentive readings from a diverse group of interpreters. Join our learning community and spend two snowbound weeks at Wesleyan with a book you will never forget.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA COL
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(CSCT)(MDST-MN)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on DEC-21-2024
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