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Spring 2026 Syllabus

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

Through the critical study and analysis of a selection of literary, artistic, religious, philosophical, and
scientific works from a period of intense social, political, and cultural change, students will become
familiar with the ways early modern Europeans constructed and confronted:

• issues of political and religious authority
• social and gender hierarchies
• conceptions of the self and its ability to comprehend the world
• the nature of artistic, literary, and musical expression
• interactions with non-European societies and civilizations 

After successfully completing the course, students will demonstrate their understanding of particular
texts and other sources, as well as their command of the reading, writing, and analytical skills key
humanistic disciplines (i.e. art, history, literature, philosophy) use to study them. In addition,
students will be able to undertake sustained critical evaluations of the period’s central cultural and
historical dynamics through extended writing and research projects.

To allow conversations in class, it is important that everyone in conference read the same
edition of the course texts. The editions listed at the end of this syllabus (and available in the
bookstore) have been chosen with an eye to keeping costs low and scholarly standards high.
Recommended readings are on reserve in the Library; required books are on two-hour desk reserve.

Recorded Lectures, along with handouts and other supporting materials, are posted to the course Moodle before each week. You should watch them prior to your first conference for the week.
Please note: Because of potential copyright issues, all lectures, handouts, images, and other
supporting materials should not be circulated outside the course. You are encouraged to refer to
lectures and supporting materials in conference and papers, but do not quote, cite, or circulate
them outside the scope of HUM 212 without permission from the lecturer.

E-Reserves: Can be obtained through the “HUM 212 E-reserves” link in the top section of the “All Conferences” Moodle page or the links on the electronic version of the syllabus posted on the HUM 211-212 webpage. 

Books for Purchase

• Cervantes, Miguel de, Don Quixote (trans. Edith Grossman). Ecco.
• Dear, Peter. Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500–1700. 3 rd ed. Princeton.
• Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations (trans. Donald Cress). Hackett.
• Galilei, Galileo. Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo (trans. Stillman Drake). Anchor.
• Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan (ed. Richard Tuck). Cambridge.
• Lafayette, Marie Madeleine de. The Princess of Clèves. (trans. John D. Lyons). Norton.
• Milton, John. Paradise Lost (ed. John Leonard). Penguin.
• Molière, The Misanthrope and Other Plays (trans. John Wood and David Coward). Penguin.
• Shakespeare, William. Othello (ed. E. A. J. Honigman). Arden.

• Bossy, John. Christianity in the West. Oxford. 

SCHEDULE OF READINGS & LECTURES

* = accessible online through e-reserves on the Hum 212 All Conferences Moodle

WEEK I (January 26– February 1)

Giorgio Vasari, "," in Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol. I, 856-60*

Linda Nochlin, “”*

Mary D. Garrard, “"*

Elizabeth Cropper, “”*

Fredrika H. Jacobs, “”*

Lecture: Canonicity and the Woman Artist (Katz)

WEEK II (February 2–8)

.

H. K. Andrews, “”*

“”* 

*

Musical selections*

1. Guillaume de Machaut, ""
2. Martin Luther, ""
3. Sternhold & Hopkins, “”
4. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Missa Ave regina coelorum: ""
5. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli: "," "," "," ""
6. Thomas Tallis, ""

Suggested Reading: John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 89-152

Lecture: Musical Reformations (Martínez Valdivia)

WEEK III (February 9–15)

Selections from St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, *

Selections from The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself, *

Selected Canons from the Council of Trent, “” from the Twenty-Fifth Session 

Andrea Bolland, “”*

Lecture: Bernini and the Counter Reformation (Katz)

WEEK IV (February 16–22)

Garcilaso de la Vega, el Inca,

Table of Contents, Prefaces, pp. xxxiii-7
Bk 1: Chapters 8-23, pp. 26-62
Bk 2: Chapters 1-10, pp. 65-93
Bk 8: Chapter 6, pp. 495-496
Bk 9: Chapter 10, pp. 564-565
Bk 9: Chapter 12, pp. 567-569
Bk 9: Chapters 14-15, pp. 572-578
Bk 9: Chapters 32-37, pp. 608-619
Bk 9: Chapter 40, pp. 625-627

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala,

Lecture: The Politics of Peruvian History in the Early 17th Century (Garrett)

WEEK V (February 23–March 1)

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote 

PART I: Prologue, pp. 3-9
Chapters I-IV, pp. 19-41
Chapters VIII-IX, pp. 58-70
Chapters XXIII-XXX, pp. 173-258
PART II: Prologue, pp. 455-58
Chapters XXII-XXIV, pp. 597-619
Chapter LXXIV, pp. 934-40

Lecture: The Birth of the Modern Author (Garcia-Bryce)

WEEK VI (March 2–8)

William Shakespeare, Othello

Holger Schott Syme, “”*

Lecture: The Tragedy of the Handkerchief (Martínez Valdivia) 

WEEK VII (March 9–15)

Galileo Galilei, The Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, 23-58, 175-216

Sir Francis Bacon, "" & ""*

Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences, European Knowledge & its Ambitions, 1500-1700, 10-80, 102-50

Lecture: The "New Science" & Early Modern Society (Breen) 

WEEK VIII (March 16–March 22)

René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy. 

Blaise Pascal, , 35-60, 62-71, 74-75, 82, 95, 149-55, 309-10*

Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences, 81-101, 151-72.

Lecture: The Cartesian Revolution (Bedau)

SPRING BREAK (March 23–29)

WEEK IX (March 30–April 5)

Molière, The Would-Be Gentleman

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, , 57-65, 81-92, 103-106, 160-162* 

Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvray, , 40-44, 97-100, 137-150, 160-166, 185-90*

Giora Sternberg, “”*

Lecture: Absolutism: What's in a Name? (Breen)

WEEK X (April 6–12)

Mustafa Ali, , Preface, 17-40*

Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, , Vol. 1, Letter I, 86-126, 151-163*

Robert Dankoff, ed., , 3-17*

Gulru Necipoglu, ""*

Suggested Reading: Molly Greene, "."*

Please watch this short video before watching the lecture: . 

Lecture: The Ottoman Empire in/and Early Modern Europe (Smiley)

WEEK XI (April 13–19)

Madame de Lafayette, The Princess of Clèves

Suggested Reading: Tracy Adams and Christine Adams, "."*

Lecture: The Subject of Power (Steinman)

WEEK XII (April 20–26)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

Book I: Introduction and chapters 1-6, 10, 12-16
Book II: Chapters 17-22, 24, 26, 29-31
Book III: Chapters 32, 43
Review and Conclusion.

Lecture: Skepticism and Authority in Thomas Hobbes (Breen)

WEEK XIII (April 27–May 1)

Milton, Paradise Lost

Lecture: Reading Satan (Faletra)