Winter 2008 Advance Course Information

This information effective for winter 2008. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Pre and Early Modern Literature

[LTPR-144D] [LTPR 183]

144D Translation/Midrash/Interpretation

Instructor: Murray Baumgarten
Office: Humanities 1 335
Phone: 459-2566(office); 459-1924 (message)
E-mail:  dickens@ucsc.edu

Course Description

Translation as a cultural and linguistic practice has a long history in western culture. It intersects with and shapes interpretive habits. Consider, for example, the famous exclamation of Aeneas in his account of the fall of Troy in the Aeneid I, 462: Sunt lachrimae rerum. Literally translated it means "There are tears for things." (The passage continues: Et mentem mortalia tangunt— and mortal affairs — touch the mind/heart/spirit.) Wordsworth's famous line, "Thoughts that lie too deep for tears," from the ending of his Intimations ode, has justly been claimed as a translation of this line and a gloss on the passage.

The Wordsworth example adds to the Latin, and propels it, we might say, into modern culture. In Wordsworth's line, "Thoughts that lie too deep for tears," a modern understanding of personality, identity, emotion, all lurk. Who is to say they are not in Virgil's line and in Wordworth's version only now revealed.

Jewish interpretation of traditional texts, called Midrash, has been part of this history of the theory and practice of translation, The word Midrash means to investigate, examine, and interrogate the text. In Wordsworth's case, as well as that of traditional Jewish exegetes, the text is one that is known by heart, and the translation and/or midrash is the result of an intense knowledge and continuing interrogation of the given passage.

The course focuses on theory and practice of translation, and on Midrash, their interrelation, and the ways in which they inflect our understanding of literary and cultural interpretation.

Requirements

A translation of a substantial text, a discussion of midrashic possibilities in relation to that text, and an expository essay reflecting on translation and midrash.

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183 Dante's Divine Comedy in Translation

Instructor: Professor Margaret Brose
Office:227 Cowell
Phone: 459-4575
E-mail: mbrose@ucsc.edu

Italian Literature 130, Dante's Divine Comedy
Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday
12:00 -1:45 p.m.
Stevenson 150

Held in conjunction with LPIT 130, Dante's Divine Comedy

Students who want credit in Italian Literature, Italian Studies, or Language Studies should enroll in LTIT 130.

Discussion Sections: Required; TBA. There will be six discussion sections, all scheduled on Thursday afternoon, after 2:00 p.m. through Friday afternoon.

LTPR 183 satisfies the “Pre-1750” and the “Poetry” Literature Major requirements.

This course is required for Italian Studies and Language Studies students.

Lasciate Ogne Speranze Voi Ch' Intrate!

Leave Behind All Hope, Ye Who Enter!

LITPR 183 will offer a close reading of the great Medieval literary work, the Divine Comedy, by the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri  (1265-1321). The Divine Comedy consists of three poetic books (each one called a “cantica”); one each devoted to the three great realms of the after-life: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante’s journey into the Inferno and Purgatory is guided by the Latin poet Virgil (author of the Aeneid); Beatrice, his beloved, will guide him through Paradise. We will focus on Dante as a love poet, a political poet, a poet writing in exile; we will examine thematic, generic, symbolic, and gender aspects of his work, within its literary and cultural context.

Dante (and we, his readers) awaken in the dark wood of Inferno. We know that we are lost, that we cannot ignore the "beasts" we encounter, but must acknowledge hopelessness, alienation, deceit, and betrayal within ourselves. We are overcome by suffering and a fear “so bitter it is close to death” (“Tant’è amara che poco è più morte.”). We will journey with Dante, struggling to understand the contemporary meaning his journey holds for us, as well as his journey’s significance within the Medieval political and religious context.

Above the gates of Hell is written:  “Leave behind all hope, ye who enter!” (“Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’ Intrate”). Read this Medieval classic epic and discover everything you ever wanted to know about sin and its punishments! Follow Dante as he is led by Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, and learn about lust, gluttony, anger, betrayal, sodomy, and things unspeakable. Ascend into Paradise and behold the rewards of the virtuous. Experience first hand this master of poetic imagery and verse; learn why Dante continues to influence so many writers and thinkers. Why does Dante put his mentors and teachers into Hell and Purgatory? Learn why we use the term “poetic justice” to describe Dante’s vivid representation of how the punishment fits the crime in a Hell which is always of our own making.

LTPR 183 requires no knowledge of Italian.
We use bilingual texts; course taught in English.
 
Recommended for upper-division students having completed Lit 1.

Readings:

Selections from Medieval Love Lyrics (Provençal, Old French, Italian);
The Vita Nuova, Dante’s youthful autobiography about his love for Beatrice;
Dante’s youthful erotic poems:
 “The Stony-poems” (not written for Beatrice!);
Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and selections from Paradiso;
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1-6;
St. Augustine, Confessions, selections;
Ovid, Metamorphoses, selected myths;
Selected critical essays

There will be several quest lecturers and presentations, slides and films.

Class requirements:

1. Faithful attendance at all lectures, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at the weekly discussion section meetings.  More than 2 unexcused absences will lower your grade.
2. Two papers: one short (4-5 pages); and one longer (8-10) pages, with a research component (consultation and discussion of at least one critical essay).
3. Final examination, written.

For further information, contact Professor Margaret Brose
227 Cowell
Phone: 459-4575
E-mail: mbrose@ucsc.edu

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