TuTh 1:00-2:15pm

Some contemporary scholars argue that an economic Arebirth@ occurred
during the medieval period, claiming that the Renaissance was an
extension of the medieval world. Yet the Renaissance marked the time
of a conscious and deliberate attempt to change the way people
thought and acted in the world.  This revolution grew out of a
particularly Italian view of the past and present, and Italy served
as the crucible for the formation of new ideals and values as well
as a new understanding of how human life could be lived.  The
writers and thinkers of the Renaissance in Italy saw themselves as
sharing an outlook with classical antiquity:  they thought of
themselves as different and special. Florentines took the lead in
creating this new age, and one of them, Giorgio Vasari, an artist
and biographer, coined the term rinascità (rebirth).

Home to some of the most outstanding artists and writers the world
has known, Renaissance Italy, with its energizing memories of Roman
greatness, gave birth to one of the world=s vital cultural
revolutions.  This course will introduce you to some of Renaissance
Italy=s most famous citizens:  find out why Vasari called this
period the Arebirth@; why Boccaccio=s Decameron was kept locked up
in some libraries even in the mid twentieth century; why
Michaelangelo wore dogskin boots; why Machiavelli is sometimes
called the first political scientist; why Renaissance historians
avoided beginning their histories with the story of creation; why
Petrarch=s love of gardening and mountain climbing was controversial
in his times; why modern songwriters still depict love as Afire@ and
Aburning@; why Boccaccio put a story about Giotto in his Decameron;
why an architect wrote a book on the family; why Cellini claims the
Pope said that artists were Aabove the law@; why they painted fig
leaves on nudes in Michaelangelo=s Last Judgment; how Italy
>civilized= Europe; who invented the fork; who inspired
Shakespeare=s All=s Well That Ends Well; and so on.  The emphasis
will focus upon epoch-making writers and artists, including Alberti,
Boccaccio, Castiglione, Cellini, Galileo, Giotto, Guicciardini,
Leonardo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Petrarch.  Topics to be
explored will include the economic basis of the Renaissance, the
rise of naturalism, the rebirth of classical antiquity, the role of
power, authority and religion in Renaissance life, new theories of
politics and statecraft, family and society, the art of love, a
sexual revolution, the invention of new art, the changing concept of
the artist, a new way of writing history.

This is an INTENSIVE WRITING COURSE, and 3-4 short essays will be
assigned along with some in-class writing.  Rewriting essays is
encouraged.  The course will be devoted to reading and discussing
the assigned texts.  Attendance is expected. For more information,
contact the instructor:  Julia Bondanella (bondane@indiana.edu).