The
A general survey to
help you understand the relevance of the humanities, this course is a guided
study exploring a vast period of time and activity from the Renaissance through
the present. We will cover a broad range of topics and, at the same time,
engage in deeper explorations of areas of particular value to you as a student
and as a human being.
After completing this course, you will:
1.
Better
understand the impact that the humanities have had on different societies
through time.
2.
Review the
pertinent definitions of and terminology for the different areas of the
humanities.
3.
Gain a
historical framework for understanding the humanities from the Renaissance
through the modern age.
4.
Be able to
accomplish an in-depth comparative analysis of the humanities across cultures
and time periods.
5.
Understand how
the various areas within the humanities interrelate.
6.
Have an
opportunity to formulate and express your own ideas about how social values are
experienced through the humanities.
The following texts
have been selected to provide you with a broad view of this complex subject. In
addition to reading about art, music, architecture, history, and philosophy,
you will be reading two major works of literature, works which I hope will stay
with you for many years to come.
1.
Dennis J.
Sporre, The Creative Impulse: An
Introduction to the Arts, 7th edition.
2.
William
Shakespeare, Hamlet.
3.
T. S. Eliot, The
For additional help
with your writing, the
This course will meet
seven Thursday evenings in the spring 2007 semester. There are four units of
study to be completed for the course.
Yes, you do have a life outside the classroom. On Thursdays, before our class meetings, you probably have worked a full day. Because of this, you may be tired and not particularly excited about exploring literary, religious, historical, artistic, musical, or philosophical ideas and texts. I hope to enliven these class sessions with movies, recordings, slides, and other media. We will have some discussion or other response to these media presentations—and I will present some information via lecture. We may take a field trip to a local museum or exhibition. We of course will take breaks throughout the evening. At the end of each unit, you will take a quiz. The goal is to cover this extremely broad topic as effectively as possible—and to have a good time while we’re doing it!
I regard writing as important and, as course time
allows, will present concepts and approaches to help you improve your writing.
In terms of writing for this class, you will write two 2-3-page response papers
(see details below). I also propose that you keep a journal for this class to
record your reaction to Hamlet and his alleged “inaction” or something you’ve
noticed in one of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings or Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”
This journal is not required and will not be collected or viewed by me.
But it would be a way to practice your writing skills. You improve your writing
by writing.
The point: After this class, you may never again be called upon to
write about literature or any other art form. That’s not the point. In life
your opinion will be sought. You will write letters or email messages or give
presentations that convey thoughts, both deep and shallow. You will expect your
audience(s) to understand clearly what you are talking about. I know of no
better way to learn how to organize your thoughts and communicate than to learn
and practice the fine art of writing. In business and in personal interactions
with others, you will draw upon this skill for the rest of your life—and it
will make a difference in the quality
of your life.
Hamlet (You need only read the play; however, I commend to you
Maynard Mack’s fine essay, “The World of Hamlet,” pp. 191-213, included in this
edition.)
The Creative Impulse
readings:
Throughout the Middle
Ages people looked to the church and to the clergy to provide answers to the
major questions in their lives. The Enlightenment ushered in a new faith, one
based on human reasoning and intellect. This movement was reflected not only in
works of art, music, and literature but in new developments in government and
society.
The Creative Impulse
readings:
Chapter Fourteen: The
Enlightenment
Calling something
“romantic” usually conjures images of hearts and flowers and other Valentine’s
Day clichés. But
Romanticism is a formal philosophical perspective and artistic movement. We
will consider primarily the artistic and musical tradition.
Part III Reading (to be read before
class)
The Creative Impulse
readings:
Chapter Fifteen: The
Romantic Age
What are recent examples of how the humanities have
turned up in our lives and helped shape us? T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land will be our starting point for understanding
modernism and postmodernism, buzzwords of our present day. (Don’t fret about
this poem. I will give you some helpful guideposts; we will not be analyzing it
in detail. Rather, we will look at it as a kind of lighthouse to ships on the
raging sea of modernism. That’s a metaphor!) We will listen to music, view
films and art, and discuss some of the historical/cultural aspects of life in
the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Part IV Reading (to be read before
class)
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (pp. 32-59 of The Waste Land and Other Poems; it is
highly recommended that you also look at the annotations to the poem on pp.
85-93)
The Creative Impulse
readings:
Chapter Seventeen: Modernism
Chapter Eighteen:
From a Modern to a Postmodern World
You will write two
2-3-page response papers on the following topics:
Topic for response
paper #1: Hamlet is one of the
most complex, and controversial figures in all literature. Was he wise, shrewd,
and calculating or a fool who could not make up his mind and then take proper
action? Put Hamlet behind a corporate desk and use your paper to describe the
kind of leader he would be. Use specific examples from the play to support your
view. This paper is due: April 5.
Topic for response
paper #2: Choose one
modernist work of art (painting, sculpture, music) and discuss what makes it
“modern” OR: choose a postmodern work (painting, sculpture, music) and discuss
what makes it “postmodern.” You will need to describe the work, but most of
your paper will be a.) your discussion of modernism or postmodernism and b.)
your response to this particular work. This paper is due: April 26.
Your response papers
should be typewritten, double-spaced, properly punctuated, and correctly
spelled. Draw your own conclusions and observations and don’t just recite what
someone else has written about your topic. I am looking for thoughtfulness,
originality, clarity, and general writing effectiveness. These papers should be
opportunities to react thoughtfully to material we have read, looked at, or
listened to. No library research is necessary for these papers, though you may
choose to do some Internet research or you may need to view a film. Other than
Internet, any citations (use Chicago
Manual of Style, MLA, or APA style guidelines as your prefer but be
consistent) should be to the works we use in class. Also, make sure your paper
has a TITLE.
It is unpleasant to deal with this topic because many
students automatically assume that if I bring it up I do not trust them. That
is not the case. I assume every student in my class is a trustworthy person of
integrity. We will devote some time to properly citing information in papers
from other sources. My policy is, simply, any paper discovered to be bought or
which includes unattributed material from others will automatically receive an
“F.”
4/5/07 Response
paper #1 (2-3 pages) due
4/26/07 Response
paper #2 (2-3 pages) due
5/3/07 30-minute
group presentation delivered in class
You will receive a
letter grade for this class. Grading for this class is based on:
1.
four quizzes
(40% of grade)
2.
two response
papers (30%)
3.
one group
presentation (30%)
I do not award credit
simply for being in class. I assume, barring some emergency, that you will
attend class. It is not my intention or wish to “flunk” students. However,
grades are required to measure your course progress, and I will issue grades
based on my assessment of your course accomplishments. I do not give “A”s for
effort.
You may appeal to me
any grade you feel is unfair or undeserved. A proper grade appeal will come in
the form of a typewritten request. In this request, you must explain why you
believe the grade is an inaccurate reflection of your abilities and should be
changed. Grade appeals via phone or in person will not be considered. After
receiving your grade appeal, I will make a judgment objectively based on the
merits of your case. If I decline to change the grade, your next step will be
to initiate a formal grade appeal through the Dean of the College.
There is only one
graded team assignment in this course: the group presentation. Everyone in your
group should be in accord about the topic choice. All should be involved in
researching/preparing for/presenting the topic. As mentioned above, I am open
to all forms of presentations—PowerPoint, overheads, videos, etc.—as long as
your technologies are compatible with those available on the
Part of the purpose of
this team assignment is to create opportunities for you to learn and sharpen
your teambuilding and team participation skills. Also, this is an opportunity
for you to build confidence in your writing and presentation skills.
Academic Misconduct:
Any act
which improperly affects the evaluation of a student's academic performance or
achievement, including but not limited to the following:
(a)
Cheating:
the use of unauthorized materials, methods, or information in any academic
exercise, including improper collaboration;
(b)
Plagiarism:
the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own, including:
(1) direct quotation without both attribution and indication
that the material is being directly quoted, e.g. quotation marks;
(2) paraphrase without attribution;
(3) paraphrase with or without attribution where the wording
of the original remains substantially intact and is represented as the author's
own;
(4) expression in one's own words, but without attribution,
of ideas, arguments, lines of reasoning, facts, processes, or other products of
the intellect where such material is learned from the work of another and is
not part of the general fund of common academic knowledge;
(c)
Fabrication:
the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic
exercise;
(d)
Fraud: the
falsification, forgery, or misrepresentation of academic work, including the
resubmission of work performed for one class for credit in another class
without the informed permission of the second instructor; or the falsification,
forgery or misrepresentation of other academic records or documents, including
admissions materials and transcripts; or the communication of false or
misleading statements to obtain academic advantage or to avoid academic penalty;
(e)
Destruction,
misappropriation or unauthorized possession of University property or the
property of another;
(f)
Bribery
or intimidation;
(g)
Assisting
others in any act proscribed by this Code; or
(h)
Attempting
to engage in such acts.
Penalties
are listed in the Academic Code. For further information on academic misconduct
please refer to the following link: http://www.ou.edu/provost/integrity/
Disability
Issues: Any student in this course who has a disability
that may prevent her or him from fully demonstrating his or her academic
abilities should contact Frank Rodriquez (405-325-1061) as soon as possible to
discuss the accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and to
facilitate your educational opportunities.
For further information on disability issues please refer to the
following link: http://ods.ou.edu/
Each college
instructor you encounter has different strengths and interests. My own
background falls in literature rather than other areas of the humanities,
though I have some experience with art, film, religion, and history. If you are
curious about my preferences, the following list of literary, historical,
musical, and filmed works have particular meaning for me.
Martin
Amis, Time’s Arrow
Karen
Armstrong, A History of God
Johann
Sebastian Bach, The Goldberg Variations
James
Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name
The
Bible
Daniel
J. Boorstin, The Creators
Dee
Brown, Bury My Heart at
Joseph
Campbell (with Bill Moyers), The Power of
Myth
Aaron
Copland, “Fanfare for the Common Man”
E.
L. Doctorow, Lives of the Poets
Peter
Gabriel, Passion
Werner Herzog (dir.), Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Hermann
Hesse, Siddhartha
Alfred
Hitchcock (dir.), Rear Window
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are
Jerzy Kosinski, Steps
Malcolm X (with Alex Haley), The
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Joyce
Carol Oates, many of her short stories
Georgia
O’Keefe, any of her
Roman
Polanski (dir.),
Popular music by Steely Dan, Rolling Stones, Talking Heads,
and Frank Sinatra
Daniel
Quinn, Ishmael
Philip
Roth, The Breast
Leonard
Schlain, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
Ben
Shahn, many of his paintings of social commentary
Jim
Thompson, Pop. 1280
Orson
Welles (dir.), Touch of Evil
For me, the great
mystery of life—and its humor—is aptly captured in this remark from author Saul
Bellow:
There are many skeptical, rebellious, or simply nervous writers all around us, who, having existed a full twenty or thirty years in this universe, denounce or reject life because it fails to meet their standards as philosophical intellectuals. It seems to me that they can’t know enough about it for confident denial. The mystery is too great. So when they knock at the door of mystery with the knuckles of cognition it is quite right that the door should open and some mysterious power should squirt them in the eye.