MDVL 350Rhetorical Foundations

Catalog

MDVL 350/02 Rhetorical Foundations Critical Theory and Rhetoric from Plato to the Renaissance This course will survey major historical works both about literary and artistic representation (i.e., works of criticism) and how-to tracts purporting to teach the art of persuasive speech and writing (i.e., rhetoric) from ancient Greece to early modern England, with special concentration on medieval and Renaissance Italy. Among the questions to be considered will be how definitions of the purpose and value of figurative language and of representation in general seem to change from period to period and place to place. Over the centuries, some critics have considered artistic imitations to be merely dim reflections of the truths underlying appearances, and thus dangerous seductions, whereas others have seen them as valuable means for conveying the essential nature of reality or as tools for teaching ethics. Authors will include Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Horace, St. Augustine, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Sidney, and Shakespeare.