2. We have not had a presentation
since February 2, when we were
reading Othello.
Let’s catch up on some of the social,
cultural, and historical background of
Europe since the time of Shakespeare.
3. Course Objectives
• By the end of this course, students should be able to
– Identify major authors and texts from the Renaissance to
the present
– Explain how literary texts relate to their social, cultural,
and historical contexts
– Apply factual and conceptual knowledge to the analysis of
literary texts
– Assess how knowledge of European literature is valuable
in your own life
4. Authors and Texts
• Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian, 1313-1375), The Decameron
• François Rabelais (French, 1494-1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel
• William Shakespeare (British, 1564-1616), Othello
• Molière (French, 1622-1673), Tartuffe
• Denis Diderot (French, 1713-1784), Jacques The Fatalist
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German, 1749-1832),
The Sorrows Of Young Werther
• Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian, 1821-1881),
Notes From Underground
• Virginia Woolf (British, 1882-1941), Mrs. Dalloway
• Wisława Szymborska (Polish, b. 1923), Miracle Fair
• Tomas Tranströmer (Swedish, b. 1931), Half-finished Heaven
6. Periods of Anglo-European History
• Classical antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE)
• Middle Ages (500–1400) Decameron
• Renaissance (1300–1600) Pantagruel
Tartuffe
• Reformation (1500–1700) Othello
• Jacques
Enlightenment (1700–1800) Werther
• Industrial Revolution (1800–1900)
• Modernity (1900–?)
• Postmodernity (?)
7. Tartuffe: Identification
• Author = Molière
– Stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin
– Nationality: French
– Dates: (1622–1673)
• Title = Tartuffe
• Genre = Play, drama, comedy
8. Jacques: Identification
• Author = Denis Diderot
– Nationality: French
– Dates: (1713–1784)
• Title = Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
• Genre = Novel
9. Werther: Identification
• Author = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
– Nationality: German
– Dates: (1749–1832)
• Title = The Sorrows of Young Werther
• Genre = Novel
10. The Renaissance begins in
Florence, Italy…
• …with the work of three major writers
– Dante (1265–1321)
– Petrarch (1304–1374)
– Boccaccio (1313–1375)
QuickTimeª and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
11. Rebirth of Classical Humanism
• Knowledge of Latin continued in Europe
after the fall of the Roman Empire
• European scholars, however, focused on the
study of Greek and Arabic works of science,
philosophy and mathematics (in Latin
translations)
• 14th-century Italian scholars revived the
study of Latin poetry, history, and oratory
13. Humanism
• The study of humanity, the human condition,
human history, and human values
• While humanism is not irreligious or anti-
religious, its central focus is the human rather
than the divine
14. Humanism
• The study of humanity, the human condition,
human history, and human values
• While humanism is not irreligious or anti-
religious, its central focus is the human rather
than the divine
What does the term “human
condition” mean?
15. The Human Condition
• Originally after the French phrase “condition
humaine” (= human condition)
• “Let us learn, by the great miseries and
afflictions that God hath sent us, the great
fragility and misery of our human condition”
Pierre Boaistuau (c. 1517–1566)
French humanist
16. The Human Condition
• The state or condition of being human, especially
regarded as being inherently problematic or flawed
• The condition of human beings collectively
– Oxford English Dictionary
How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello,
Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human
condition?
17. The Human Condition
• The positive and negative aspects of existence as a
human being, especially the inevitable events such as
birth, childhood, adolescence, love, sex,
reproduction, aging, and death
– Dictionary.com
How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello,
Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human
condition?
18. The Human Condition
• The unique and inescapable features of being human in a
social, cultural, and personal context
• It includes concerns such as a search for purpose, sense of
curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, or the fear of death
– Wikipedia
How would you relate Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello,
Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther to the idea of the human
condition?
19. Rediscovery of Ancient Greek
• While ancient Greek was studied in the
Byzantine Empire, study of ancient Greek
was very limited in Western Europe
• In 1396, Coluccio Salutati, the chancellor of
the University of Florence, hired Byzantine
scholar Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek
• Italian scholars became reacquainted with
ancient Greek poetry, drama, history, oratory,
and philosophy
20. The Literary Renaissance
Spreads Beyond Italy
• Spain: Miguel de Cervantes (1548–1616) wrote Don
Quixote
• France: François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553), Pierre de
Ronsard (1524–1585), Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522–
1560), and Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
• England: William Shakespeare (1564–1616),
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), Edmund
Spenser (c. 1552–1599), Sir Thomas More (1478–
1535), Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Sir Philip Sidney
(1554–1586), and John Milton (1608–1674)
21. The Church Was a Major Force
in European…
• Politics How do we see the
• Government influence of the Church
• Criminal and civil law as a topic or theme in
Decameron, Pantagruel,
• Education Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or
• Inheritance Werther?
• Marriage
• Health, hospitals
• Assistance to the poor
22. Carnival:
The Church’s Playful Side
• Twelfth Night (January 5)
– Lord of Misrule
– World turned upside down
• Mardi Gras
– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days
before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)
– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventions,
dancing, sports competitions, parades
• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday
– Masques and plays
– Games and sport
– Final celebrations before Lent
23. Carnival Laugher Is More Than Just
Sexual & Scatological Humor
• Twelfth Night (January 5)
– Lord of Misrule
– World turned upside down
• Mardi Gras
– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days
before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)
– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventions,
conventions
dancing, sports competitions, parades
• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday
– Masques and plays
– Games and sport
– Final celebrations before Lent
24. Carnival & Carnival Laugher
• Twelfth Night (January 5) How do we see Carnival as
– Lord of Misrule a topic or theme in
– World turned upside down Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello,
• Mardi Gras Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?
– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days
before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)
– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventions,
conventions
dancing, sports competitions, parades
• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday
– Masques and plays
– Games and sport
– Final celebrations before Lent
25. Erosion of Church Authority
• The Church struggled to offer meaningful support to its
members during the Black Death (1348-1350)
• The Church lost respect, influence, and authority
• Some traditional social roles of the Church were taken over
by secular groups
• Peasant uprisings occurred in parts of Europe
– Northern France, 1358 (Jacquerie Rebellion)
– Florence, Italy, 1378 (Ciompi Rebellion)
– England, 1381 (Peasant’s Revolt)
How do we see the erosion of Church authority as a
topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe,
Jacques, or Werther?
26. The Western (Papal) Schism
• Split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417
• The cardinals elected a new pope in 1378, but then had
“buyer’s remorse” and elected another pope
• Both men claimed the right to hold the office
• Conflict was more political than theological in nature
• Ended by the Council of Constance (1414–1418), who fired
the successors of both popes and started fresh with Pope
Martin V
• The schism hurt the reputation of the papacy and diminished
the respect and authority of the Church
How do we see the erosion of Church authority as a
topic or theme in Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe,
Jacques, or Werther?
27. Renaissance & Reformation
• Renaissance Catholic priests such such as Erasmus of
Rotterdam (1466–1536) and Martin Luther (1483–1546)
proposed reform to the Church, often based on classical
humanist principles
• The Ninety-Five Theses, published by Luther in 1517,
condemned the corruption of the papacy and challenged the
authority of the Pope, leading to the Protestant Reformation
• Northern Europe, with the exception of Ireland and parts of
Britain, turned Protestant, while Southern Europe remained
Roman Catholic
How do we see the Reformation as a topic or theme in
Decameron, Pantagruel, Othello, Tartuffe, Jacques, or Werther?
28. A World of Rapid and Radical Change
• Black Death (1348-1350) How do we see
• Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353)
•
social, cultural,
Coluccio Salutati comes to Florence (1396)
• Western Schism (1378)
political, or
• Council of Constance (1417) historical change as
• Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) a topic or theme in
• Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses (1517) Decameron,
• Erasmus & Christian Humanism (1466–1536) Pantagruel, Othello,
• Tartuffe, Jacques, or
Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564)
• Shakespeare’s Othello (1603) Werther?
• Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1615)
• Molière’s Tartuffe (1664)
• Diderot’s Jacques the Fatalist and His Master (1765-1780/1796)
• Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)
29. Changing Economic Systems
• Feudalism (9th – 15th centuries)
– Lords own the land
– Vassals manage the land
– Serfs work the land
• Mercantilism (16th – 18th centuries)
– Government regulation of the economy to support a
favorable balance of trade
• Industrialism (18th – 20th centuries)
– Manufacturing became mechanized (steam engine)
– Private enterprise replaced government control
– Labor moved from the land to the factories
30. Changing Economic Systems
• Feudalism (9th – 15th centuries) Where do the the texts we
– Lords own the land
– Vassals manage the land
have read fit into the changing
– Serfs work the land economic landscape?
• Mercantilism (16th – 18th Decameron
centuries)
– Government regulation of the Pantagruel
economy to support a favorable Othello
balance of trade
• Industrialism (18th – 20th Tartuffe
centuries) Jacques
– Manufacturing became
mechanized (steam engine) Werther
– Private enterprise replaced
government control
– Labor moved from the land to
the factories
31. Changing Intellectual Systems
• Renaissance (14th – 16th centuries)
– Humanism (Classical, Christian)
• Age of Reason (17th century)
– Rationalism: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz
– Empiricism: Hobbes, Locke
– Isaac Newton (gravity, laws of motion)
• Age of Enlightenment (18th century)
– Voltaire (1694–1778)
– Rousseau (1712–1778)
– Diderot (1713–1784)
– Montesquieu (1689–1755)
– Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) (reason + experience)
32. Changing Intellectual Systems
• Renaissance (14th – 16th centuries)
– Humanism (Classical, Christian)
• Age of Reason (17th century) Decameron
– Rationalism: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz Pantagruel
– Empiricism: Hobbes, Locke
Othello
– Isaac Newton (gravity, laws of motion)
• Age of Enlightenment (18th century) Tartuffe
– Voltaire (1694–1778) Jacques
– Rousseau (1712–1778) Werther
– Diderot (1713–1784)
– Montesquieu (1689–1755)
– Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) (reason + experience)
33. German Literary Movements in
the 18th Century
• Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress)
– Free expression of individual subjectivity and extremes of
emotion (1760s–1780s)
• Weimar Classicism (1772–1805)
– Sought to balance formal and sentimental tendencies in
18th-century literature
• German Romanticism (1795–1830)
– Emphasized intuition, imagination, and feeling
– Valued nature as a place free from societal judgment and
restrictions
34. German Literary Movements in
the 18th Century
• Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress)
– Free expression of individual subjectivity and extremes of
emotion (1760s–1780s)
• Weimar Classicism (1772–1805)
– Sought to balance formal and sentimental tendencies in
18th-century literature
• German Romanticism (1795–1830)
– Emphasized intuition, imagination, and feeling
– Valued nature as a place free from societal judgment and
restrictions
Goethe was an important figure in each of these
movements. Can we see this in Werther?
35. Upcoming Assignments
• 3/13 Goethe, Werther, pp. 1-50
• 3/15 Goethe, Werther, pp. 51-100
• 3/20 Goethe, Werther, pp. 101-149
• 3/22 Dostoyevsky, Underground, pp. 3-41
• 3/27 Dostoyevsky, Underground, pp. 42-82
• 3/29 Dostoyevsky, Underground, pp. 82-130
