Spring 2006

History of Western Civilization II

Honors Western Civilization: “The Arts of the West.”

(In Conjunction with Herron H102, History of Art II, Honors, Dr. Stephanie Dickey.)

Hist. H114 Section 8557/Section 10731 (Honors College)

Herron H102 Section 10812

Western Civilization II

Time: T/Th 9:30-10:45 a.m. Dr. Kevin C. Robbins

Place: CA 225 Associate Professor of History

Office: CA 503Q

Office Phone: 317-274-5819

E-Mail: krobbin1@iupui.edu FAX: 317-278-7800

Office Hours: T/Th: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

(and by Appointment).

Herron H102, History of Art (Honors)

Time: T/Th 1:45-3:00 p.m. Dr. Stephanie Dickey

Place: Herron School of Art, HR 101 Associate Professor of Art History

(Auditorium, Eskanazi Hall) Office: HR 170

Office Phone: 317-278-9451

E-Mail: sdickey@iupui.edu

"A student from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he

can." J.S. Mill, 1806-1873.

Course Objectives: A course in the grand history of early modern and modern Western Civilization is an excellent and rigorous means by which students can gain, practice, and master critical reading, critical writing, critical thinking, and critical, analytical study skills useful for a lifetime. Among the vital skills to be developed by all students in the context of this history course are: 1) ease and confidence in oral and written expression; 2) careful and analytical reading habits developed through contact with original sources and written masterworks of the eras surveyed; 3) the ability to read maps, paintings, and other visual media for meaning to develop a clearer and more well-rounded understanding of our Western Civilization; and 4) effective critical reasoning abilities. This is not simply a history course, it is a critical skills course as well. Commit yourself now to mastering and practicing the skills necessary to succeed in this class.

Diligent students can expect to leave this course with not only a better knowledge of important historical civilizations and events still powerfully shaping the world in which they live right now, but also a greater knowledge of the fundamental skills of critical study and argument essential for them to do well in all future university courses and in all future working environments. The ethical standards and moral issues raised by each of the masterwork readings should also aid students to fashion a strong and personal set of civil values, principles by which to think and to live better.

Progress toward these course objectives fulfills the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning, especially enhancement of Core Communication Skills, Critical Thinking, Integration and Application of Knowledge, Intellectual Depth and Breadth, Understanding Society and Culture, and High Ethical Behavior.

Always keep in mind that the aim of this course is not to fill the student's mind with a mass of useless, memorized, and quickly forgotten "facts." History is definitely not the mere accumulation of uncontested "facts" about prior times and peoples. It is not (and never has been) an "objective" or un-biased mode of inquiry. History (or art history) can be understood as an interpretation of the past based upon scholars' highly idiosyncratic, inherently contentious research and analysis of selected surviving evidence about past, highly complex human beings, human communities, and cultures. Historians regularly disagree and loudly argue over what interpretations of the past are best and give history the richest meaning and value today. Such investigators, like good detectives, commonly reflect over, question, and argue about the meaning and implications of all evidence they can gather about their human subjects. Crucial pieces of historical evidence for early modern and modern Europe include sermons, religious and political manifestos, poems, short stories, novels, scientific papers and reports, maps, graphs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, musical works, and photographs. All of these are valid historic sources and students will consult some of each during this course. Professional historians regularly call upon a wide array of sources in different media to craft their interpretations of the past and you, too, will be expected to try this out. In these investigations argument and well-founded, cleverly asserted opinions matter. All students must be ready to question and to disagree over the meanings, significations, and implications of the readings assigned and the civilizations they imperfectly communicate to us. All students must therefore prepare themselves to express their opinions about course readings and subjects as clearly, directly, and elegantly as possible. In history, opinions--crafted as interpretations based upon careful analysis of various types of evidence--matter a great deal. Your opinions about what we study are thus also important and you should be ready to share them in a civil, intelligent, and determined manner orally and in writing with your instructor and with your classmates. Following this path, we will work to break common and pitiful misconceptions held by many about the nature of history and the value of historical study. Students should thus always expect to have their opinions challenged and to be pressed in consideration of how history, even ancient history, continues to shape powerfully their own lives and values today. And, finally, remember that history is an artful, creative, and imaginative endeavor inviting you to compare sources critically, identify with ancestors, and place yourself in time. If you have always thought of history as dull and boring, it’s probably only because your prior teachers of history were dull and boring!

Honors Students/Arts of the West: This newly developed, team-taught endeavor will enable honors students to confront simultaneously the textual and visual art forms expressing the development of Western Civilization in early modern and modern times. Emphasis here will fall on deeper appreciation of the socio-historical contexts in which texts and images combined to articulate the values, tensions, and obsessions of European populations in the eras covered. Several new course readings will expressly address artistic movements and controversies in the periods under study.

Required Course Readings: This course will address the institutional, political, social, and cultural history of human communities in the West (i.e. Europe) from circa 1400 CE to circa 1900 CE. While textbooks will be part of the required assigned readings, students will also read a number of beautiful, challenging, provocative, and memorable original works written by authors living during the time periods covered in the class. Remember! Each of these masterworks is far better reading than any textbook. For quality of instruction about past human communities, their values, preoccupations, arts, and obsessions, there can be no better sources than such original texts. That is why we will read them, discuss them, and pay very careful attention to them in class and in writing. These original works by great authors, "great books," demand interpretation so that we may come to see how they represent or communicate to us information about the societies in which they were written. Be prepared.

The main textbook for this course is Brian Levack, et. al., The West: Encounters and Transformations, (preferably Vol. B, 1300 to 1815 or get the Complete Edition also on sale at the bookstore). This work is abbreviated as Levack in the assignments listed below. This textbook will be supplemented in the latter part of the class by T.C.W. Blanning’s The Nineteenth Century in the series The Short Oxford History of Europe, listed below as Blanning. Both of these survey texts are required. These textbooks will provide a basic narrative of important events during the periods of history covered. Each assigned chapter or chapter section must be read by the date listed below. These required textbooks will be supplemented by more required readings taken from great masterworks by famous early modern and modern authors. Additional required reading materials will be distributed in class. The required class readings available for purchase by every student are (in order of use):

Bondanella, J.C. and M. Musa, The Italian Renaissance Reader. Meridian/Penguin

Group. New York: 1987.

Galileo, Galilei. Sidereus Nuncius or the Sidereal Messenger. (A.Van Helden, trans.),

University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1989.

Redman, Ben R. (ed.), The Portable Voltaire. Penguin Books, New York: 1977.

Wordsworth, William, The Major Works. (Stephen Gill, ed.), Oxford World’s

Classics, 2000.

Zola, Emile, The Masterpiece, (T. Walton, trans.), Oxford World's Classics.

Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford: 1993.

(NOTE: ALL STUDENTS SHOULD BEGIN READING ZOLA NOVEL AT ONCE AT THE RATE OF APPROX. 30 PAGES PER WEEK. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL WEEKS OF CLASS USE TO READ. THIS IS A GREAT NOVEL. START NOW. YOU'LL LOVE IT, YOUR ANCESTORS--NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPEAN BOOK AND ART-LOVERS-- DID!)

All required texts for this course are for sale in the IUPUI Bookstore, Cavanaugh Hall, Basement, History Section, H114 Shelves--look for the shelf cards with the instructor's name (Robbins) on them. All texts should also be available at Indy’s College Bookstore, 601 West 11^th Street. New and used copies of these texts may also be acquired at excellent, cheap prices from many online booksellers such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. Students should make certain to get the exact editions of these texts as listed above. All students must purchase and read their own copies of the required texts. Buy them all.

Since all students enrolled in both sections of this course will be expected to prepare several written essays on course themes, they should all be aware of the existence of numerous Online Writing Centers and Workshops. One of the best such online writing centers, providing many screens of information on all aspects of paper organization and standards of university-level composition, can be found through Purdue University. Visit OWL, Purdue's Online Writing Lab, at:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Book mark this site and consult it regularly as you prepare your required class essays. The instructor will also circulate in class detailed style sheets on the do’s and don’ts of effective, college-level writing. Read these handouts carefully.

Course Requirements (Section 8557): 1) Regular class attendance (one unexcused absence will lower your final grade for course participation). If you cannot commit to regular class attendance and always come to class with the book or books under discussion and the assigned readings done, then you should not be in college. Class rosters for student signature will be circulated at all class sessions. Make certain that your name is on them. Students missing class will be penalized accordingly. Students who cannot assure consistent attendance at all class meetings should drop this class at once; 2) completion of all assigned readings by the dates listed below; 3) completion on time of all assigned supplementary text media interpretation projects; 4) completion of a take-home Mid-Term examination comprised of essay questions; 5) completion of a non-comprehensive Final examination comprised of essay questions; 6) completion on time of two research papers, one on a topic assigned by the instructor and one on a topic chosen by the student with the instructor's expressed approval; and 7) informed participation in all class discussions. All written assignments must be handed in exactly on the date that they are due. No exceptions. LATE PAPERS FAIL.

Additional Requirements for Honors College Students (Section 10731): Honors College students will be expected to meet all the requirements above except point 6) on papers. Honors students instead will write a total of six essays, one paper as assigned on the major primary readings (masterworks) listed in the readings below, addressing analytical topics relevant to each reading given by the instructor. Length and format of essays will be explained in class handouts. As will be explained, Honors students will have the possibility of twice rewriting for improved credit those essays first graded poorly by the instructor. All Honors Essays must be turned in on time. Late papers may not be re-written. Late papers will be graded down. Additionally, Honors College students will arrange to attend an extra six special required class sessions devoted to intensive discussion of the assigned masterwork readings. These required extra honors sessions will be held on Tuesday mornings from 7:45 until 9:00 a.m. on the following dates: Jan. 24, Feb. 7, Feb. 21, March 21, April 11, and April 25. These sessions will be led personally by the team instructors (Dickey and Robbins) and will meet in Herron School of Art, Eskanazi Hall, Room TBA.

Course Grading: (8557): Mid-Term 10% of final grade; Final 20% of final grade; Media Projects 10%; Papers (2) 45% of final grade; and Class Participation 15% of final grade.

(Honors: 10731): Mid-Term 5% of final grade; Final 10% of final grade; Media Projects 10%; Papers (6) 60% of final grade; and Class Participation15% of final grade.

COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS

(All Readings to be Completed by the Date They Are Listed)

Tue. 1/10 Course Introduction. Distribution of Syllabus. Explanation of Course

Organization and Requirements. Remarks on Western Civilization as a

"Great Books" course. First Map Project Distributed in Class.

Th. 1/12 Lecture/Discussion: The Dimensions and Characteristics of the European

Renaissances. Readings: Levack: Chapts. 10-11, pp. 325-391. Begin Renaissance

Reader, Petrarca, pp. 1-11 and Mirandola, pp. 178-183.

First Map Project Due in Class.

(START ZOLA READING FOR FUN. THIRTY PAGES A WEEK OF A REAL FRENCH NOVEL IS MUCH BETTER FOR YOU THAN TELEVISION JUNK OR TRASH ON THE WEB OR SPORTS! SO DO IT!)

Tue. 1/17 Discussion: The Agents and Aspects of "Renaissance."

Readings: Renaissance Reader, Alberti, pp. 164-177 and Da Vinci, pp. 185-195.

First Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class

First Text Media Project Distributed in Class.

Th. 1/19 Discussion: Renaissance Arts and Artists.

Readings: Renaissance Reader, Cellini, pp. 306-351 and Michelangelo, pp. 375-

381.

First “Normal” Essay Topics (Section 8557) Distributed in Class.

Tue. 1/24 Discussion: The Renaissance Fashioning and Refashioning of the Self:

The Perfect Courtier--to What Purpose?

Readings: Renaissance Reader, Castiglione, pp. 197-257.

(First Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m, Eskanazi Hall, Da Vinci and

Michelangelo.)

First Text Media Project Due in Class.

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIRED REFORMATION READINGS (**)

DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS.

Th. 1/26 Lecture/Discussion: What are the documents, images, and issues of Europe's

Reformations? What is a religious "Reformation?"

Readings: Levack: Chapt. 13, pp. 425-455. Begin: Martin Luther**, Ninety-

Five Theses, What to Look for in the Gospels, and Prefaces to New Testament.

Tue. 1/31 Lecture/Discussion: The Culture and Politics of the Reformations.

Readings: Martin Luther**, The Freedom of a Christian.

First Honors Essay Due in Class. No Exceptions!

Second Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class.

Th. 2/2 Lecture/Discussion: The Instruments of Protestantism and Reform.

Readings: Martin Luther**, The Small Catechism and Christian Assembly.

Tue. 2/7 Lecture/Discussion: The Visual Politics of Reform: Controversial Images

and Protestant Dissent.

Readings: Bodenstein/Karlstadt**, On the Removal of Images; Martin

Luther**, Against the Heavenly Prophets.

(Second Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m., Karlstadt and

Luther, Against the Prophets.)

First Normal Essays Due in Class. No Exceptions!

Th. 2/9 Lecture/Discussion: Reformation Forces of Control and Conflict.

Readings, Bodenstein/Karlstadt, Luther, and “The Beggarly Poor” from

Brandt**, History of the Reformation.

Tue. 2/14 Lecture: Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe: New Horizons, New

Imagery, New Problems. Readings: Levack, Chapt. 12, pp. 393-422.

Second Honors Essay Due in Class. No Exceptions!

Third Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class.

Th. 2/16 Lecture: The European Scientific Revolution: New Tools of Scientific Analysis

and New Ways of Conceiving the Cosmos.

Readings Levack, Chapt. 16, pp. 532-551. Begin Galileo, Siderius Nuncius,

Introduction, pp. 1-24.

Second Text Media Project Distributed in Class.

Tue. 2/21 Discussion: The Documents and Methods of the European Scientific

Revolution. Readings: Galileo, Siderius Nuncius, pp. 25-57.

(Third Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m., Galileo.)

Th. 2/23 Discussion: Making and Recording a Scientific Revolution.

Readings: Galileo, Siderius Nuncius, pp. 57-86.

Tue. 2/28 Lecture: The Nature of the European Enlightenments.

Readings: Levack, Chapt. 17, pp.553-582.

Third Honors Essay Due in Class. No Exceptions!

Th. 3/2 Lecture/Discussion: Voltaire as the Perfect Enlightened European.

Readings: Redman, Portable Voltaire, Selections from "English Letters,"

pp. 512-530.

Second Text Media Project Due in Class.

Distribution in Class of Take-Home Mid-Term Exam.

Tue. 3/7 Discussion: The Contents and Challenges of Voltaire's Enlightened Literature.

Readings: Redman, Portable Voltaire, "Micromegas," pp. 413-435; and

"Philosophical Dictionary," pp. 58-65, 77-80, 85-87, 90-92, 102-103, 109-116,

131-132, 134-141,152-158, 161-163, 169-172.

Fourth Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class.

Th. 3/9 Discussion: Voltaire's Reflections on Man and Nature.

Readings: Redman, Portable Voltaire, "Lisbon Earthquake," pp. 556-569.

Begin "Candide," in Redman, pp. 229-328.

Distribution in Class of Additional Required Enlightenment Readings:

Diderot, Salon of 1765.

Take-Home Mid-Term Exam Due in Class. No Exceptions!

SPRING BREAK, SPRING BREAK: NO CLASSES 3/13-3/19

Tue. 3/21 Lecture/Discussion: The Notable Enlightened Tale of Candide.

Readings: "Candide," in Redman, Portable Voltaire, pp. 229-328 and

Diderot**, Salon of 1765 (excerpts with paintings).

(Fourth Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m., Candide and

Diderot.)

Th. 3/23 Discussion: The Critical and Subversive Aspects of "Candide” and the

Nature of “Enlightened” Art Criticism Itself.

Readings: Diderot**, The Salon of 1765, (excerpts).

Tue. 3/28 Lecture: Revolution and Romanticism.

Readings: Levack, Chapt. 18, pp. 585-618.

Fourth Honors Essay Due in Class. No Exceptions!

Fifth Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class.

All Normal Students (Section 8557) to Have Final Paper Topics

Confirmed by This Date. No Exceptions!

Th. 3/30 Lecture/Discussion: English Romantic Poetry: Themes, Problems, and Protests.

Readings: Wordsworth, The Major Works: pp. 29, 80-82, 85-91, 131-135, 151-152,

237-239, 270, 274-275, 282, 285, 311, 319, 334, 353-54, 358-365.

Tue. 4/4 Lecture/Discussion: English Romantic Poets: Lyrical Voices for the

Dispossessed. Readings: Wordsworth, The Major Works: pp. 31-44, 45-54, 83-84,

207, 239-244, 350.

Th. 4/6 Discussion: Romanticism and European Culture in the Nineteenth Century.

Readings: Blanning, The Nineteenth Century, Chapt. 4, “Culture,” pp. 126-157.

Tue. 4/11 Lecture: European Industrial Revolutions: Rise of Factories, Fall of Workers.

Readings: Blanning, The Nineteenth Century, Chapt. 3, “The European

Economy,” pp. 78-125.

(Fifth Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m., Wordsworth and

Romanticism in the Arts.)

Th. 4/13 Lecture: European Urban and Mass Society of the Nineteenth Century.

Readings: Blanning, Nineteenth Century, Chapt. 2, “Society,” pp. 47-77.

Tue. 4/18 Lecture/Discussion: The Nineteenth-Century Great European Novel as a

Historical Source. Readings: Zola, The Masterpiece.

Fifth Honors Essay Due in Class.

Sixth Honors Essay Topics Distributed in Class.

In Class Distribution of Final Honors Supplementary Reading:

Walter Benjamin: “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”

Th. 4/20 Lecture/Discussion: Main Themes in the Literary History of Great European

Cities. Art and the Conditions of Urban Life Readings: Zola, Masterpiece.

Tue. 4/25 Lecture/Discussion: The Human Impact of the European Metropolis: Urban

Existence and Expressive Opportunities for Modern Men and Women. Readings: Zola, Masterpiece.

(Sixth Honors Discussion Session, 7:45 a.m., Zola and

Benjamin.)

Th. 4/27 Lecture/Discussion: Course Summation and Conclusion. The Challenges of

Modernity in Western Arts and Letters. What are the Arts of the West?

MONDAY, May 1, Final Essays Due from All Students to Instructor’s Mailbox, CA 504M by 5:00 p.m. NO EXCEPTIONS!

FINAL EXAM: TUESDAY, MAY 2, 10:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m., CA 225.