HUM 2052: CIVILIZATION II
European Renaissance to the Modern World
Spring 2009
Dr. Perdigao
class time: M W F 12:00 pm
office hours: M W F 2:00-2:50pm
M 4:00-5:00 pm
office: 626 Crawford
phone: 321-674-8370
email:
website: my.fit.edu/~lperdiga
Required Texts:
The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volumes 1 & 2
The Making of the West, Volume II, Since 1500
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Course Objectives:
The course presents a historical and literary survey of the career of western civilization from the European Renaissance and Reformation to the 20th century and the modern world. Emphasis is given to the close reading and interpretation of primary sources that reflect the intellectual and historical changes in society while giving the student the academic tools to understand the western world and their place in it.
Policies and Procedures
Grading:
Quizzes20%
Responses20%
Presentation20%
Final Exam20%
Final Essay20%
A quiz will focus on the day’s assigned reading(s). The quiz may be announced the day before class or be a “pop quiz.” As a result, regular attendance is mandatory; make-up quizzes are unlikely.
A response consists of a 1-2 page reflection on a section of the course. While the responses are not formal essays, you must demonstrate knowledge of the readings and the relationships between the texts we are discussing. There will be four responses throughout the semester; only the three highest grades will count toward your final grade.
For the presentation you will select a text that complements the work(s) we are discussing. You will have 10-20 minutes (for an individual or a pair) to present your text, your way of reading it/offering connections to other texts, to the class. If you select a scene from a film, keep the scene to about 5 minutes so that you have time to discuss your close reading. You are, in essence, performing a close reading to us, offering a way of seeing another (whether it is familiar or new to us) text in conversation with the work we have been doing all along.
The final essay consists of at least 4 pages written in MLA format and includes a works cited page. The essay must be typed; use a standard 12-point font with margins of approximately 1¼ inches (about 250-300 words per page).
For responses and the final essay, students are required to submit their papers to on the assigned date; failure to submit the paper to turnitin.com and/or to turn in the hard copy in class on the due date will lead to a failure of the assignment. Our class ID is2566116and the password is Angel.
Academic Dishonesty will be handled in accordance with Humanities and Communication Department policy. Cheating and plagiarism will result in failure of assignment and/or failure of course and will be reported to the Dean of Students and recorded in your permanent student file. Dishonest conduct may lead to formal disciplinary proceedings. Be certain that you are familiar with Florida Tech’s academic dishonesty policy (
Cell phone policy: If your phone rings, if you try to make an outgoing call or text messages are sent or received (translation: basically any variation of playing with your phone when you should be paying attention) you are responsible for bringing pizza (or an acceptable alternative) to the following class.
Attendance is required. Absenteeism and tardiness will adversely affect your final grade. Excessive absenteeism could lead to failure of the course. You are responsible for all of the work you miss.
1/12Introduction
I. European Renaissance and Reformation (1400-1648)
1/14Chapter 14: Global Encounters and Religious Reforms (MW: 419-449)
1/16Machiavelli, from The Prince (Norton v. 1: 1945, 1949-1961)
______
1/19Martin Luther King Jr. Day—no class
1/21Montaigne, Essays (Norton v. 1: 2178-2199)
Chapter 15: Wars of Religion and the Clash of Worldviews (MW: 451-481)
1/23Cervantes, from Don Quixote (Norton v. 1: 2217-2260)
______
1/26Cervantes, from Don Quixote (Norton v. 1: 2260-2306)
1/28Cervantes, from Don Quixote (Norton v. 1: 2307-2349)
II. StateBuilding to the Enlightenment (1648-1789)
1/30The Enlightenment (1-9)
Swift (289-291), A Modest Proposal (341-347)
Voltaire, from Candide (375-403)
Chapter 16: StateBuilding and the Search for Order (MW: 483-517)
______
2/2Voltaire, from Candide (403-438)
Chapter 17: The Atlantic System and its Consequences (MW: 519-552)
2/4The Situation of Women (235-236)
“Sophia,” Woman Not Inferior to Man (243-255)
von Hippel, On Improving the Status of Women (263-275)
2/6Chapter 18: The Promise of Enlightenment (MW: 555-585)
Woolf, from A Room of One’s Own (1922-1956)
Response #1 due in hard copy in class and to
______
III. Age of Revolutions: French Revolution and Industrialization (1789-1848)
2/9The Nineteenth Century: Romanticism (485-495)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein(Introduction: xi-xlvii; Author’s Introduction-Volume One, Chapter III: 5-50)
Chapter 19: The Cataclysm of Revolution (MW: 587-617)
2/11Shelley, Frankenstein(Volume One, Chapter IV-Volume Two, Chapter II: 51-105)
2/13Shelley, Frankenstein(Volume Two, Chapter III-Volume Two, Chapter IX: 105-151)
______2/16 President’s Day—no class
2/18Shelley, Frankenstein (Volume Three, Chapter I-Volume III, Chapter VII: 155-225)
2/20Chapter 20: Napoleon and the Revolutionary Legacy (MW: 619-651)
Chapter 21: Industrialization and Social Ferment (MW: 653-687)
Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave (856-915)
______
IV. Liberalism, Imperialism & The Development of the 19th Century World (1848-1914)
2/23The Nineteenth Century: Realism and Symbolism (997-1007)
Revolutionary Principles (1369-1370)
Darwin, from The Origin of Species; from The Descent of Man (1370-1381)
Chapter 22: Politics and Culture of the Nation-State (MW: 689-723)
2/25Marx & Engels, from Manifesto of the Communist Party(1381-1390)
Chapter 23: Industry, Empire, and Everyday Life (MW: 725-761)
Response #2 due in hard copy in class and to
2/27No class
______
3/2Spring Break—no class
3/4Spring Break—no class
3/6Spring Break—no class
______
3/9Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1250-1293)
3/11Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1293-1327)
3/13Twentieth Century: Modernisms and Modernity(1621-1631)
Chapter 24: Modernity and the Road to War (MW: 763-797)
______3/16 Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1632-1669)
3/18Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1669-1692)
V. A Disconcerted Modernity (1914-1945)
3/20Civilization on Trial (1692-1693)
Freud, from The Future of an Illusion; from Civilization and Its
Discontents (1693-1699)
Valéry, The Crisis of the Mind (1701-1705)
Spengler, The Decline of the West (1706-1710)
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1710-14)
______
3/23Yeats (1723-1736)
Chapter 25: World War I and its Aftermath (MW: 799-837)
Response #3 due in hard copy in class and to
3/25Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author (Act I: 1736-1757)
3/27Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author (Acts II, III: 1757-1780)
______
3/30Freedom and Responsibility at Mid-Century (2096)
Orwell, from The Prevention of Literature (2096-2102)
Sartre, Being and Nothingness (2102-2107)
4/1Arendt, from Organized Guilt and Universal Responsibility (2107-2112)
Chapter 26: The Great Depression and World War II (MW: 839-877)
4/3Tadeusz Borowski, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber (2304-2320)
______
VI. The Contemporary World, 1945-2009
4/6Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapters 1-2: 1-51)
Chapter 27: The Cold War and the Remaking of Europe (MW: 879-913)
4/8Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapters 3-4: 52-86)
4/10Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapter 5: 87-135)
______
4/13Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapters 6-8: 136-181)
4/15Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapters 9-10: 182-215)
4/17Postmodernism
Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths, Borges and I (2179-2189)
Chapter 28: Postindustrial Society and the End of the Cold War Order (MW: 915-949)
Response #4 due in hard copy in class and to
______
4/20Postmodernism
Borges, “Library of Babel,” “The Book of Sand” (handouts)
Cortázar, “Continuity of Parks” (handout)
Heise, “Science, technology, and postmodernism” (handout)
4/22Chapter 29: A New Globalism (MW: 951-984)
Pleasantville
4/24Robbe-Grillet, The Secret Room (2321-2326)
______
4/27Donnie Darko
4/29Conclusions
______
5/4Final Exam (8-10 am)
5/6Final Essay due in hard copy to my office and to