WesMaps - Wesleyan University Catalog 2011-2012       Summer Session       Winter Session       Home       Archive       Search
CS92PROD
The Power and the Mask: Unveiling the Renaissance Italian Court
ITAL 236
Fall 2011 not offered

A great deal of recent critical attention has focused on the performative aspects of Renaissance courtly culture as represented through both textual and visual means. This course will examine enactments of power games in the courts of 16th-century Italy and, in particular, the papal courts of Julius II and Leo X, through reading texts written about or dealing with courts: Ariosto's Cassaria, Machiavelli's Mandragola, Bibbiena's Calandria, Aretino's Cortigiana that were actually written for and performed in them. We will study the ways in which public spectacles and processions both enacted and affected the ideological programs of their authors/performers. All texts will be read in Italian. We will also screen the movie "Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa," directed by Ettore Scola.

Essential Capabilities: Interpretation, Speaking
As they engage in understanding various cultural works (plays, essays, film), students sharpen their hermeneutic skills and oral ability, since they are expected to recite some of the required texts in preparation of a performance to be held at the end of the semester.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: ITAL221 OR ITAL222
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ITST)(RMST)

Last Updated on APR-23-2024
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email ? Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459