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CS92PROD
Europe Reads America: The Rhetoric of Exploration, Conquest, and Travel From 1492 to the Present
COL 102
Fall 2008
Section: 01  

This first-year seminar looks at a wide variety of texts depicting European encounters with the "New World" of North and South America. Beginning with the premise that the experiences of Europeans in the Americas are shaped by previous accounts of unknown lands and unknown peoples, we will study the language, metaphors, and motifs that early explorers, conquistadores, and scientists use to depict their travels in the new world: themes will include first contact, fear of cannibalism, Christianity and conversion, the "master/slave dialectic," and discourses of imperialism. In the second part of the course, we will turn to seminal works of imaginative literature--including THE TEMPEST, ROBINSON CRUSOE, and LOLITA--to examine how the dynamics of encounter shape the art of storytelling across genres ranging from Shakespearean drama and the novel to modern opera and film. Throughout the semester, we will explore the tension between America as trope or idea and the representation of material and social conditions in real or imagined places by various European writers who read America in their own light.

Essential Capabilities: None
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA COL
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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