ENGL 303 - Wonder and Invention in the Renaissance

FC ARHU WADV

4 credits
This class offers a deep dive into the experience of awe, wonder, admiration, and curiosity in the Renaissance. As we will see, these affective states were enabled by the manifold inventions and ingenious technologies of the early modern era: the telescope, microscope, printing press, curiosity cabinet, vanishing point perspective, compass, automatons, perspective boxes, camera obscura, and engineered forms of stage magic. Wonder was stoked by the various discoveries of the period: from the supposed “New World” to pagan works of art and literature from the distant past. Grimoires and travelers’ tales related encounters with supernatural and foreign realms, while the anatomized and eroticized human body also yielded astonishing new knowledge. In other words, wonder was spurred by magic as well as science, imagination as well as technology, art as well as engineering. This class will introduce students to some of literary works, ingenious machines, and cultural practices involved in the production of wonder.

Prerequisites: At least two prior 200-level courses in ENGL, ARTH, or CMPL.

Undergraduate Research Intensive