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HUM 340-4: Great Cities in Their Time:

Venice

Department of Humanities, AQ 5115, 778-782-3689

Semester: Summer 2009 (1094), J1, Harbour Centre – NOW Program

Instructor: Dr. Brook W.R. Pearson, brook_pearson@sfu.ca

Prerequisite: 45 units

Course Description:

This course will be an exploration of the cultural and intellectual accomplishments and significance of the Italian city of Venice—a city whose contributions to human civilization have been substantial, and not limited to a single period. We will focus upon the emergence of Venice as a power in the Middle Ages and Renaissance until its decline in the 17th century, as well as the on-going contributions of the ‘Serenissima Republica’ to both European and global culture, always remaining aware of the status of Venice as icon, and our possible fetishization of its identity.

With its unique structure—a city cobbled together from at least 118 tiny islets into larger ‘islands’—Venice has played a major role in the region, the wider Mediterranean, and, through its more intrepid explorers, thinkers and artists, the entire world. We will examine political, social, religious, and cultural factors in an attempt to explain Venice’s enigmatic significance, and the romantic pull of a city that is slowly sinking beneath the waters of its lagoon (Venice’s knife-edge existence in light of its problems with ‘acqua alta’ [high water] and the on-going attempts to secure its future, will form a discrete segment of the course).

Required Texts (in addition to WebCT materials):

Giacomo Casanova, Story of my Life

Thomas Mann, Death in Venice

Regis Debray, Against Venice

Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Laura Gianetti and Guido Rugierro (eds.), Five Comedies from the Italian Renaissance

Recommended Text: John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice

Course Requirements:

Each week of this course consists of approximately 2.5 hrs of lecture/discussion and 1.5 hr seminar discussion of texts. In addition, you will complete:

Term project: In a 10-15 minute presentation, students will outline and discuss the archaeology, history and preservation issues connected with a particular site in Venice and the Veneto. Presentations will be made as and when students are ready, with a cut off date towards the end of the semester. A written outline will be submitted with the presentation.	25%
Group project: In small groups during an end-of-semester class conference, students will develop a creative mixed-media presentation concerning one of a series of cultural issues or instituations associated with Venice (e.g. the Venice Biennale, Comedia dell’Arte, Carnevale, etc.). Assessment will be individualized, and student work will be carefully monitored throughout the semester.	25%
Weekly on-line reading journal: For each week in which a reading is due, students will briefly respond on WebCT either from a set of questions and discussion points that have been posted, or to something the student has determined on their own concerning that reading.	20%
Attendance and participation	10%
Final take-home examination	20%