Description:
A recent series of articles by contemporary novelists in the New
York Times Book Review on the deadly sins and an hour-long special
devoted to the same topic on MTV demonstrate the lasting impact
of this systematization of morality on western thought, within
both elite and popular culture, for the last millennium and a
half. This interdisciplinary seminar will investigate the origins
of the idea of a systematized list of chief vices which emerged
in the ethical writings of monks in the Egyptian desert in the
fourth century; the medieval developments of this idea in literature
and the arts in monastic, courtly, and university environments;
its transmission in late-medieval popular and vernacular forms,
especially in England, and in the literature of the English Renaissance;
and its adaptations in modern literature, art, and music.
Requirements:
Students will be responsible for the content not only of the reading
assignments, but also of our discussions in class. Regular attendance
and participation in the discussions of all texts are prerequisites
for passing the course. You may also expect brief quizzes on all
reading assignments. Three unexcused absences will adversely affect
the final grade for the course. The final grades for the course
will be composed of individual performance in four areas:
1) An oral presentation (ca. 20 minutes) representing the fruits of your initial research on a topic which will either be assigned to you or which you will choose yourself after consultation with me. Two or three students may wish to work together on a series of oral presentations of related topics or literary texts and/or intellectual documents to be held at successive class meetings. The presentation should be open-ended and should encourage questions from the rest of the class. The grade on the presentation will account for about 20 percent of the final grade.
2) A brief synopsis (2-3 pages; typewritten; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) of one or two major studies of the topic or text on which your report is based, due on the date of the oral report. The grade on the synopsis will account for about 10 percent of the final grade.
3) A short paper (5-10 pages; typewritten; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) to be handed in one week before the oral presentation. The paper will include an annotated bibliography of 5-10 items which you will have read in preparation for giving the report and writing the paper. The short paper for all reports to be held after March 22nd will be due on March 5th. The short paper will serve as the basis for your term paper. The grade on the short paper will account for about 20 percent of the final grade.
4) A term paper (15-20 pages; typewritten; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) in which all of your research on the topic, and all of your own brilliance, are formulated carefully and in the scope which the subject demands. Term papers must be turned in to me in class at the latest on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21st. The grade on the term paper will account for about 50 percent of the final grade.
Required Texts:
Aquinas, Thomas. Treatise on the Virtues. Trans.
John A. Oesterle. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press,
1984. ISBN: 0-268-01855-3
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans.
D. Wright. Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-19-281597-0
Katzenellenbogen, Adolf. Allegories of the Virtues and Vices
in Medieval Art. Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching,
vol. 24. Toronto, Buffalo, London: The University of Toronto Press,
1989. ISBN: 0-8020-6706-9
Newhauser, Richard. The Treatise on Vices and Virtues in
Latin and the Vernacular. Typologie des sources du moyen
âge occidental, vol. 68. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1993.
ISBN: 2-503-36068-8
Prudentius Clemens, Aurelius. Psychomachia. In Works.
Ed. and trans. H.J. Thomson. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, vol.
387. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949; repr. 1969.
ISBN: 0-674-99426-4
1. (1/13) Introduction: Vice, Sin, Virtue, Remedy
2. (1/15) MTV and the Contemporaneity of the Seven Deadly Sins
(Aquinas, Treatise on the Virtues, q. 55, 58, 61,
62)
3. (1/18) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Origins (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 98-108)
4. (1/20) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Origins (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 98-108)
5. (1/22) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Origins (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 98-108)
6. (1/25) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Transformations (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 108-24)
7. (1/27) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Transformations (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 108-24)
8. (1/29) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Transformations (Newhauser,
The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp. 108-24)
9. (2/1) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Diversity and Decline
(Newhauser, The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp.
124-52)
10. (2/3) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Diversity and Decline
(Newhauser, The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp.
124-52)
11. (2/5) History of the Seven Deadly Sins: Diversity and Decline
(Newhauser, The Treatise on Vices and Virtues, pp.
124-52)
12. (2/8) S uperbia (Pride): Prudentius,
Psychomachia; report: ___________________ (Katzenellenbogen,
Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art,
part 1)
13. (2/10) S uperbia (Pride): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 132, 162,
167; report: ___________________
(2/12/99 – NO CLASS)
14. (2/15) S uperbia (Pride): "Cetera
cum supero..."
15. (2/17) A ccidia (Sloth): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 35; report:
___________________
16. (2/19) A ccidia (Sloth): Conflictus
"In campo mundi"; report: ___________________
17. (2/22) A ccidia (Sloth): Geoffrey
Chaucer, The Parson's Tale
18. (2/24) L uxuria (Lust): Prudentius,
Psychomachia; report: ___________________
19. (2/26) L uxuria (Lust): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 153-154;
report: ___________________
20. (3/1) L uxuria (Lust): Geoffrey
Chaucer, The Parson's Tale
21. (3/3) I ra (Wrath): Prudentius,
Psychomachia
22. (3/5) I ra (Wrath): Fasciculus
morum, part 2; report: ___________________
(3/8/99 – 3/12/99 – SPRING BREAK, NO CLASS)
23. (3/15) G ula (Gluttony): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 148-150;
report: ___________________
24. (3/17) G ula (Gluttony): William
Langland, Piers Plowman, B version, passus 5
(3/19/99 – NO CLASS)
25. (3/22) I nvidia (Envy): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 35; report:
___________________
26. (3/24) I nvidia (Envy): John
Gower, Confessio Amantis, book 2
27. (3/26) A varitia (Greed): Prudentius,
Psychomachia; report: ___________________
28. (3/29) A varitia (Greed): Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 117-119;
report: ___________________
29. (3/31) A varitia (Greed): Poggio
Bracciolini, Dialogue on Avarice
(4/2/99 – PASSOVER/GOOD FRIDAY, NO CLASS)
30. (4/5) Beyond the Middle Ages: Edmund Spenser, The Faerie
Queene, book 1, canto 4; report: ___________________
31. (4/7) Beyond the Middle Ages: Christopher Marlowe, The
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; report: ___________________
32. (4/9) Hieronymus Bosch, Tabletop of the Vices;
report: ___________________ (Katzenellenbogen, Allegories
of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art, part 2)
33. (4/12) Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Allegories of the
vices and virtues; report: ___________________
34. (4/14) Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, Die Sieben Todsünden
der Kleinbürger, trans. W.H. Auden and C. Kallman;
report: ___________________
35. (4/16) Thomas Pynchon, et al., "The Seven Deadly Sins:
A Special Series," The New York Times, Book Review
June 6-July 25, 1993; report: ___________________
36. (4/19) Thomas Pynchon, et al., "The Seven Deadly Sins:
A Special Series," The New York Times, Book Review
June 6-July 25, 1993; report: ___________________
37. (4/21) TERM PAPERS DUE
38. (4/23) evaluations
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