Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

Students will consider what the Renaissance was and examine different aspects of the important social, cultural and cultural changes that occurred in Italy from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The approach is interdisciplinary and students will engage in critical discussion of literary, visual and other texts to learn about the relationship between the urban context of early modern Italy and cultural production, especially works of literature. There will be an emphasis on the representations of gender in the prescribed texts and on its relation to the socio-political status of women and men in the period.

Objectives

On successfully completing this unit students will be expected to have developed:

1. A knowledge of the philosophical, religious, political and social context of Renaissance Italy.
2. An understanding of the tensions between prescriptive gender norms and literary or social challenges to convention.
3. The ability to respond imaginatively and critically to texts whose conventions and traditions may be very different from modern genres of writing.
4. The ability to apply different critical approaches to Renaissance texts
5. The ability to argue, interpret and analyse coherently both in written work and orally in seminar discussion.
6. The ability to formulate a research topic and critically assess relevant bibliography.

Assessment

Written work: 50%
Class participation: 20%
Test: 30%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Carolyn James

Contact hours

One x 1 hr lecture/week

One x 2 hr seminar/week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Italian studies

Prerequisites

First year sequence

Prohibitions

ITA2240 or HSY2025/3025 or HSY2630/3630