Tentative Syllabus for Survey of Western Art and Cultural History (Fall) Lecturer: Francis Yu-fen Kuo Notice: These are general guidelines to the course. Students will be informed of any modification.
Duration of the Course: Sep. 17, 2007- Jan. 17, 2008
Email (for students): guoyufen@yahoo.com (Junk emails are not allowed!!) Course Description:
In view of a lack of a coherent understanding of the Western cultural tradition among our students, this course is intended for establishing our English majors a more comprehensive study of the western cultural background via the portal of its art history with a survey on all the major periods marked by genres of paintings, sculptures and architecture which coincide with the vein of literary history in many aspects such as the Middle Age, Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, etc.
Do you like illustrations in children’s literature? Do you know the trend of
illustrations arose in the Victorian Period at which time the fairy tales such as those by Brothers Grimm inspired a lot of illustrators? Do you know the Impressionist painters’ fascination by the experiments of light on their canvas had something to do with the invention of photography in the Nineteenth Century? Are you interested in what is called the Victorian House Living or the Victorian or Gothic Fashion Design?
Would you like to know a bit more about the Victorian culture which still fascinates and inspires today’s fashion and interior designer? You might be also interested in being able to tell the different architectural forms if you should be able to visit all those grand Gothic cathedrals, Romanesque churches or Greek temples?
To learn a language, one needs to learn the culture and humanistic tradition behind it so that the study of that language can be more complete. This survey course intends to cover major cultural trends and eras ranging from the ancient Greek and Roman times till modern era. Ultimately, this course intends to guide our students to appreciate the depth and beauty of western cultural heritages and to discover its influences in everyday lives of the modern world.
Appointed Text：
Handouts
Scoring Policy： 15% Midterm（written test）; 15% Final(written test); 25% Oral report; 25% Term paper of 3-5 well-written typed individual report; 20 % In-class participation including attendance records
1
On Attendance: You are allowed 2 unexcused absences and one excused absence.
However, you’ll risk the possibility of retaking the class under the following circumstances:
(1) if you miss too much in-class discussion (2) if you miss more than 3 classes.
(3) if you are chronically late Tentative Schedule:
week dates Course contents notes
1 9.19 Introduction: prehistory and the birth of civilization
2 9.26 (Continued)
3 10.4 Film
4 10.10 Holiday
5 10.17 The first civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia, the East
6 10.24 (Continued)
7 10.31 The Classical Legacy—
(1) Greece (4th century B. C. to 1st century A.D.)
—The Bronze Age, The Heroic Age, The Hellenistic Age
(2) Romans (Rome and Byzantium), Buddhist, Jews and Christians (1st – 4th century A. D.) and Islam
8 11.7 (Continued)
9 11.14 Mid-term Exam Mid-term exam
week 10 11.21 Europe—sixth-eleventh century—The Dark Ages 11 11.28 Twelfth century—The Church Militant
12 12.5 Thirteenth century—The Church Triumphant 13 12.12 Fourteenth century—The Age of Renaissance 14 12.19 Early fifteenth century
15 12.26 Late fifteenth century
16 1.4 The fifteenth century in the north 17 1.9 The sixteenth century
18 1.16 Final Exam Final exam
week
2
Next semester—High Renaissance—Modern/ Experimental Art
3
