LIT 253Literature and History I

Catalog

Literature and History I: Antiquity to the Renaissance (3) Surveys masterpieces from Western European literature within a socio-historical context. Students learn how the socio-historical legacies of pagan antiquity and the influence of Judeo-Christian traditions come together to frame literary representations of ideas, problems, policies, and institutions. The course addresses problems of war, just governance, migration and policies of imperial expansion, as well as socio-historical attitudes to sacrifice and salvation, love and desire, gender, ethnicity, and the pursuit of knowledge. The texts have shaped the origin myths of peoples and nations, notions of citizenship, and models of kinship, social hierarchy, and economic value. They are foundational for Western history and hence pivotal to understanding how we have arrived at today's socio-historical conditions and arrangements. The course encompasses a broad global or transnational range while maintaining overall coherence in the socio-historical focus. AU Core Habits of Mind: Socio-Historical Inquiry.