World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

March 13, 2012

We have not had a presentation since

February 2, when we were reading Othello.Let’s catch up on some of the social, cultural, and historical background of Europe since

the time of Shakespeare.

Course Objectives

• By the end of this course, students should be able to– Identify major authors and texts from the

Renaissance to the present– Explain how literary texts relate to their

social, cultural, and historical contexts– Apply factual and conceptual knowledge to

the analysis of literary texts– Assess how knowledge of European

literature is valuable in your own life

Authors and Texts

• Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian, 1313-1375), The Decameron• François Rabelais (French, 1494-1553), Gargantua and

Pantagruel • William Shakespeare (British, 1564-1616), Othello • Molière (French, 1622-1673), Tartuffe• Denis Diderot (French, 1713-1784), Jacques The Fatalist• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German, 1749-1832),

The Sorrows Of Young Werther • Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian, 1821-1881),

Notes From Underground• Virginia Woolf (British, 1882-1941), Mrs. Dalloway • Wisława Szymborska (Polish, b. 1923), Miracle Fair• Tomas Tranströmer (Swedish, b. 1931), Half-finished

Heaven

Periods of Anglo-European History

• Classical antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE)

• Middle Ages (500–1400)• Renaissance (1300–1600)• Reformation (1500–1700)• Enlightenment (1700–1800)• Industrial Revolution (1800–1900)• Modernity (1900–?)• Postmodernity (?)

Periods of Anglo-European History

• Classical antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE)

• Middle Ages (500–1400)• Renaissance (1300–1600)• Reformation (1500–1700)• Enlightenment (1700–1800)• Industrial Revolution (1800–1900)• Modernity (1900–?)• Postmodernity (?)

Jacques

DecameronPantagruelTartuff

eOthello

Werther

Tartuffe: Identification

• Author = Molière– Stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin– Nationality: French– Dates: (1622–1673)

• Title = Tartuffe• Genre = Play, drama, comedy

Jacques: Identification

• Author = Denis Diderot– Nationality: French– Dates: (1713–1784)

• Title = Jacques the Fatalist and His Master

• Genre = Novel

Werther: Identification

• Author = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe– Nationality: German– Dates: (1749–1832)

• Title = The Sorrows of Young Werther

• Genre = Novel

The Renaissance begins in Florence, Italy…

• …with the work of three major writers– Dante (1265–1321)– Petrarch (1304–1374)– Boccaccio (1313–1375)

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Rebirth of Classical Humanism

• Knowledge of Latin continued in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire

• European scholars, however, focused on the study of Greek and Arabic works of science, philosophy and mathematics (in Latin translations)

• 14th-century Italian scholars revived the study of Latin poetry, history, and oratory

Rebirth of Classical Humanism

What is humanism, anyway?

Humanism

• The study of humanity, the human condition, human history, and human values

• While humanism is not irreligious or anti-religious, its central focus is the human rather than the divine

Humanism

• The study of humanity, the human condition, human history, and human values

• While humanism is not irreligious or anti-religious, its central focus is the human rather than the divine

What does the term “human condition”

mean?

The Human Condition

• Originally after the French phrase “condition humaine” (= human condition)

• “Let us learn, by the great miseries and afflictions that God hath sent us, the great fragility and misery of our human condition”

Pierre Boaistuau (c. 1517–1566)French humanist

The Human Condition

• The state or condition of being human, especially regarded as being inherently problematic or flawed

• The condition of human beings collectively– Oxford English Dictionary

How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human condition?

The Human Condition

• The positive and negative aspects of existence as a human being, especially the inevitable events such as birth, childhood, adolescence, love, sex, reproduction, aging, and death

– Dictionary.com

How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human condition?

The Human Condition

• The unique and inescapable features of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context

• It includes concerns such as a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, or the fear of death

– Wikipedia

How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human condition?

Rediscovery of Ancient Greek

• While ancient Greek was studied in the Byzantine Empire, study of ancient Greek was very limited in Western Europe

• In 1396, Coluccio Salutati, the chancellor of the University of Florence, hired Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek

• Italian scholars became reacquainted with ancient Greek poetry, drama, history, oratory, and philosophy

The Literary Renaissance Spreads Beyond Italy

• Spain: Miguel de Cervantes (1548–1616) wrote Don Quixote

• France: François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553), Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522–1560), and Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

• England: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599), Sir Thomas More (1478–1535), Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), and John Milton (1608–1674)

The Church Was a Major Force in European…

• Politics• Government• Criminal and civil

law• Education• Inheritance• Marriage• Health, hospitals• Assistance to the

poor

How do we see the influence of the Church as a topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

Carnival:The Church’s Playful

Side• Twelfth Night (January 5)

– Lord of Misrule– World turned upside down

• Mardi Gras– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days

before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventions,

dancing, sports competitions, parades

• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday– Masques and plays– Games and sport– Final celebrations before Lent

Carnival Laugher Is More Than Just Sexual & Scatological Humor

• Twelfth Night (January 5)– Lord of MisruleLord of Misrule– World turned upside downWorld turned upside down

• Mardi Gras– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days

before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventionsoverturning social conventions,

dancing, sports competitions, parades

• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday– MasquesMasques and playsplays– GamesGames and sportsport– Final celebrationscelebrations before Lent

Carnival & Carnival Laugher

• Twelfth Night (January 5)– Lord of MisruleLord of Misrule– World turned upside downWorld turned upside down

• Mardi Gras– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days

before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventionsoverturning social conventions,

dancing, sports competitions, parades

• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday– MasquesMasques and playsplays– GamesGames and sportsport– Final celebrationscelebrations before Lent

How do we see Carnival as a topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

Erosion of Church Authority

• The Church struggled to offer meaningful support to its members during the Black Death (1348-1350)

• The Church lost respect, influence, and authority

• Some traditional social roles of the Church were taken over by secular groups

• Peasant uprisings occurred in parts of Europe– Northern France, 1358 (Jacquerie Rebellion)– Florence, Italy, 1378 (Ciompi Rebellion)– England, 1381 (Peasant’s Revolt)

How do we see the erosion of Church authority as a topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

The Western (Papal) Schism

• Split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417

• The cardinals elected a new pope in 1378, but then had “buyer’s remorse” and elected another pope

• Both men claimed the right to hold the office• Conflict was more political than theological in

nature• Ended by the Council of Constance (1414–1418),

who fired the successors of both popes and started fresh with Pope Martin V

• The schism hurt the reputation of the papacy and diminished the respect and authority of the Church How do we see the erosion of Church authority

as a topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

Renaissance & Reformation

• Renaissance Catholic priests such such as ErasmusErasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536) and Martin Martin LutherLuther (1483–1546) proposed reform to the Church, often based on classical humanist principles

• The Ninety-Five Theses, published by Luther in 1517, condemned the corruption of the papacy and challenged the authority of the Pope, leading to the Protestant Reformation

• Northern Europe, with the exception of Ireland and parts of Britain, turned Protestant, while Southern Europe remained Roman CatholicHow do we see the Reformation as a topic

or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

• Black Death (1348-1350)• Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353)• Coluccio Salutati comes to Florence (1396)• Western Schism (1378)• Council of Constance (1417)• Thomas More’s Utopia (1516)• Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses (1517)• Erasmus & Christian Humanism (1466–1536)• Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564)• Shakespeare’s Othello (1603)• Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1615)• Molière’s Tartuffe (1664)• Diderot’s Jacques the Fatalist and His Master (1765-

1780/1796)• Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)

A World of Rapid and Radical Change

How do we see social, cultural, political, or historical change as a topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?

Changing Economic Systems

• Feudalism (9th – 15th centuries)– Lords own the land– Vassals manage the land– Serfs work the land

• Mercantilism (16th – 18th centuries)– Government regulation of the economy to

support a favorable balance of trade

• Industrialism (18th – 20th centuries)– Manufacturing became mechanized (steam

engine)– Private enterprise replaced government control– Labor moved from the land to the factories

Changing Economic Systems

• Feudalism (9th – 15th centuries)– Lords own the land– Vassals manage the land– Serfs work the land

• Mercantilism (16th – 18th centuries)– Government regulation of the

economy to support a favorable balance of trade

• Industrialism (18th – 20th centuries)– Manufacturing became

mechanized (steam engine)– Private enterprise replaced

government control– Labor moved from the land to

the factories

Where do the the texts we have read fit into the changing economic landscape?DecameronPantagruelOthelloTartuffeJacquesWerther

Changing Intellectual Systems

• Renaissance (14th – 16th centuries)– Humanism (Classical, Christian)

• Age of Reason (17th century)– Rationalism: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz– Empiricism: Hobbes, Locke– Isaac Newton (gravity, laws of motion)

• Age of Enlightenment (18th century)– Voltaire (1694–1778)– Rousseau (1712–1778)– Diderot (1713–1784)– Montesquieu (1689–1755)– Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) (reason + experience)

DecameronPantagruelOthelloTartuffeJacquesWerther

Changing Intellectual Systems

• Renaissance (14th – 16th centuries)– Humanism (Classical, Christian)

• Age of Reason (17th century)– Rationalism: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz– Empiricism: Hobbes, Locke– Isaac Newton (gravity, laws of motion)

• Age of Enlightenment (18th century)– Voltaire (1694–1778)– Rousseau (1712–1778)– Diderot (1713–1784)– Montesquieu (1689–1755)– Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) (reason + experience)

German Literary Movements in the 18th

Century• Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress)

– Free expression of individual subjectivity and extremes of emotion (1760s–1780s)

• Weimar Classicism (1772–1805)– Sought to balance formal and sentimental

tendencies in 18th-century literature

• German Romanticism (1795–1830)– Emphasized intuition, imagination, and

feeling– Valued nature as a place free from societal

judgment and restrictions

German Literary Movements in the 18th

Century• Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress)

– Free expression of individual subjectivity and extremes of emotion (1760s–1780s)

• Weimar Classicism (1772–1805)– Sought to balance formal and sentimental

tendencies in 18th-century literature

• German Romanticism (1795–1830)– Emphasized intuition, imagination, and

feeling– Valued nature as a place free from societal

judgment and restrictionsGoethe was an important figure in each of these movements. Can we see this in Werther?

Upcoming Assignments

• 3/13 Goethe, Werther, pp. 1-50• 3/15 Goethe, Werther, pp. 51-100• 3/20 Goethe, Werther, pp. 101-149• 3/22 Dostoyevsky, Underground,

pp. 3-41• 3/27 Dostoyevsky, Underground,

pp. 42-82• 3/29 Dostoyevsky, Underground,

pp. 82-130

World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

March 13, 2012