HUMANITIES 108:
THE ROOTS OF HELL
Diablo
Valley College / Fall 2006
Section 2229, MWF 1:00-1:50 p.m., Rm. H-107
Instructor:
Mark Eades, DVC Tel. Ext.: #1515, e-mail: meades@dvc.edu
Office hours: TBA
COURSE DESCRIPTION / SYLLABUS
Introduction
As
described in the DVC catalog, Humanities 108 is an introductory course organized historically
around the theme of hell: a historical and cross-cultural analysis of how
poets, philosophers and artists have dealt with the dark side of human nature
and represented life after death, guilt and responsibility, trial and
redemption, and personal growth and enlightenment, offering literature,
philosophy, art, architecture, sculpture, music and film from international
sources.
Required
Texts
Flowers from Hell (Nikolas Schreck, ed.). London: Creation Books,
2001.
Inferno, by Dante Alighieri (John
Ciardi, tr.). New York:
Modern Library, 1996.
No Exit and Three Other
Plays, by
Jean-Paul Sartre. New York:
Vintage, 1998.
Reader for Humanities 108,
Section 2299 (Eades).
Course Requirements
and Grading Criteria
Requirements
for the course include regular attendance and participation in class
discussions, completion of assigned readings, the mid-term exam, the final
exam, and completion of a semester research project on a topic of the student’s
choice related to the material covered in the course. Excessive unexcused
absences (i.e., more than three) will result in a loss of grade points, as will
non-participation in class discussions. Exams will be based on readings,
lectures, and class discussions; and each will include only that material
covered since the preceding exam. Exams will offer the student a selection of
essay questions from which to choose. The semester project, as stated above,
will be a research project on a topic of the student’s choice; and will include
a topic proposal as preparatory assignment. Beyond its role in grading for this
course, the purpose of the semester project is to help prepare the student for
meeting the research and writing requirements of further study at the four-year
undergraduate level.
The
mid-term exam, final exam, semester project, and attendance and participation
will each contribute equally to the student’s final grade, as follows:
Mid-term Exam: 30%
Final Exam: 30%
Semester Project: 30%
Attendance: 10%
For
those in need, optional projects for extra credit will be available.
Syllabus
(subject to revision)
Readings: Introduction to Flowers from Hell, pp.
7-35.
Week
2: Aug. 21-25: The Ancient World.
Art and the afterlife in ancient Egypt.
Readings: from Inanna’s Journey
to Hell in Reader.
Week
3: Aug. 28-Sept. 1: The Ancient World, cont’d.
Art and the Underworld in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Readings: from The Odyssey in
Reader.
Week
4: Sept. 4-8: The Ancient World, cont’d (Labor Day holiday, Mon. 9/4: No
class).
Art and the Underworld in Ancient Greece and Rome, cont’d.
Readings: Readings: from The Aeneid in Reader.
Selections from Medieval religious art.
Readings: Introduction to Inferno,
pp. v-xxiv.
The Gothic cathedral.
Readings: Inferno, Cantos
I-VIII.
Week
7: Sept. 25-Sept. 29: The Middle Ages, cont’d.
Hell in art: Hieronymous Bosch.
Readings: Inferno, Cantos IX-XVI.
Week
8: Oct. 2-6: The Middle Ages, cont’d.
Hell in art: Pieter Breughel.
Readings: Inferno, Cantos
XVII-XXIV.
Week
9: Oct. 9-13: The Middle Ages, cont’d.
Readings: Inferno, Cantos
XXV-XXXII.
Week
10: Oct. 16-20: The Middle Ages, cont’d.
Readings: Inferno, Cantos
XXXIII-XXXIV.
Review for mid-term exam.
Mid-term exam: Fri. 10/20 – Semester project
proposals due.
Week
11: Oct. 23-27: The Age of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Religious themes in Renaissance art.
Readings: from Christopher Marlowe
and John Milton in Flowers from Hell, pp. 43-65.
Week
12: Oct. 30-Nov. 3: The Age of the Renaissance and Reformation, cont’d.
Religious themes in Renaissance art, cont’d.
Readings: from Christopher Marlowe
and John Milton in Flowers from Hell, pp. 43-65, cont’d.
Week
13: Nov. 6-10: The Enlightenment and Romanticism (Veteran’s Day, Fri. 11/10: No
class).
Gothicism in Romantic art.
Readings: Goethe, Beckford, Lewis,
and Maturin in Flowers
from Hell, pp. 67-103.
Week
14: Nov. 13-17: The Enlightenment and Romanticism, cont’d.
Music of the Romantic era.
Readings: Irving and Poe in Flowers
from Hell, pp. 105-143.
Week
15: Nov. 20-24 The Decadents (Thanksgiving holiday, Thu. 11/23 & Fri.
11/24: No class).
Decadence and Symbolism in art.
Readings: Baudelaire and Huysmans in
Flowers from Hell, pp. 149-161.
Week
16: Nov. 27-Dec. 1: The Twentieth Century.
American Faust: Robert Johnson and “The Crossroads.”
Readings: Mark Twain in Flowers
from Hell, pp. 163-231.
Week
17: Dec. 4-8: Rome,
cont’d.
Readings: Sartre, No Exit;
Ginsberg, “Howl” in Reader.
Review for Final Exam.
Week
18: Dec. 11-15
Final Exam: Fri., Dec. 15, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Semester projects due at final exam.
[back to TEACHING] [Next Course: