We explore premodern ways of thinking about classification, sovereignty, religion, the environment, and interspecies cohabitation. How do concepts and practices such as metamorphosis, translation, and virtue work in cultural and biological spheres, in earlier periods and today?
Students will read classics of world literature by Attar, Chaucer, Marie de France, Obeyd-i-Zakani, Ovid, and Shakespeare, among others, while investigating genres of wisdom literature, epic poetry, drama, and political satire. We will consider textual materiality, transmission, and interrelation with images with digitized manuscripts of the Bible, medieval bestiary, and Kalīlah wa Dimnah. In seminar, students will build a basic website to display ongoing multimodal projects and will compose two expository essays: a rhetorical analysis of a medieval animal fable and a literary analysis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Essay
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Research
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Writing
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UCI
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LECTURING FACULTY
Prof. Rebecca Davis (Dept. of English) Office hours: Thursday 10:30-12:30 HIB 350
Prof. Julia Lupton (Dept. of English) Office hours: Tuesday 1-3 p.m. HIB 207
Prof. Nasrin Rahimieh (Dept. of Comparative Literature and Humanities Core Program)
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Important: The course requires the specific editions and translations listed below.
Attar. The Conference of the Birds. Translated by Sholeh Wolpé. Norton, 2017. ISBN: 9780393292183 (Available at the bookstore packaged with Marie de France: Poetry at a discounted price, ISBN: 9780393433661)
Beauchamp, Tamara, ed. Humanities Core Handbook: Animal/Culture 2019–2020. XanEdu, 2019. ISBN: 9781593999667
Marie de France. Marie de France: Poetry. Translated and edited by Dorothy Gilbert. Norton, 2015. ISBN: 9780393932683 (Available at the bookstore packaged with The Conference of the Birds at a discounted price, ISBN: 9780393433661)
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by Rolfe Humphries. Annotated by Joseph D. Reed. Indiana University Press, 2018. ISBN: 9780253033598
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Edited by Wolfgang Clemen. Signet Classics, 1998. ISBN: 9780451526960
FALL 2019 LECTURE CALENDAR
Lectures are held:
M/W 9:00-9:50am in BS3 1200
M/W 11:00-11:50am in BS3 1200
Tu/Th 9:30-10:20am in ALP 1300
Students in Humanities Core enroll in a lecture and in a corresponding writing seminar. This calendar (subject to change) provides information about the lecturing faculty, readings, writing assignments, and special events such as Friday Forums. The reading assignment for each lecture should be completed before the lecture. The password for downloadable pdfs will be provided to enrolled students. When lecture slides are available for a particular lecture, a link to download them will be provided.
For information about your writing seminar, please sign in to EEE+ GrandCentral and follow the link to your seminar’s Canvas site.
| Date | Lecture | Readings | Events | |
| Wk 0 | ||||
| 9/26, 9/27 | No lectures this week, but seminars do meet: TuTh seminars meet for the first time on Thursday, 9/26, and MWF seminars meet for the first time on Friday, 9/27. | Beauchamp, “Critical Thinking in Humanities Core,” Humanities Core Handbook (pp. 11–20) | ||
| Wk 1 | ||||
| 9/30, 10/1 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
Rahimieh, “Introduction to the Humanities and Animal/Culture,” Humanities Core Handbook (pp. 1–7) | ||
| 10/2, 10/3 |
Prof. Davis: |
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No Friday Forums Oct. 4. Optional, drop-in help sessions: Setting up a simple website. 9-9:50am, 11-11:50am in BioSci3 1200 | |
| Wk 2 | ||||
| 10/7, 10/8 |
Prof. Davis: The Medieval Bestiary PDF or high-res PDF requiring @uci.edu login |
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Please complete or follow the study information directions to opt out of the online survey by Oct. 7. First meeting of the HumCore reading group, Oct. 7. 4-5pm in ALP 3700 (LARC) |
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| 10/9, 10/10 |
Prof. Davis: Becoming Animal/Becoming Human in the Beast Fable PDF |
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| Wk 3 | ||||
| 10/14, 10/15 |
Prof. Davis: |
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| 10/16, 10/17 |
Prof. Davis: Animals Behaving Badly: Violence in the Beast Epic PDF |
Selections from Jacobs (ed.), The Most Delectable History of Reynard the Fox (ch. 1-5, 8-10, 12 PDF) | Optional film screening, Oct. 17: Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, 7-9pm in HG 1070 | |
| 10/18 | Brinkman and Quezada, “The University Library,” Handbook (pp. 114–121) | Friday Forum, Oct. 18: Introduction to the UCI Libraries (9-9:50am and 11-11:50am, BS3 1200. Video to be made available after the event.) | ||
| Wk 4 | ||||
| 10/21, 10/22 |
Prof. Davis: |
Chaucer, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale (PDF) | ||
| 10/23, 10/24 |
Prof. Lupton: |
Ovid, Metamorphoses (pp. 3–27 [commentary on 399–410], 61-64 [420], 83–87 [425–6], 367-369 [503-4]) | Recommended event, Oct. 24: Conversation with Patience Agbabi (5-6:15pm in Crystal Cove) | |
| 10/25 | Friday Forum, Oct. 25: Poet and performer Patience Agbabi (11-11:50am in BS3 1200) spoken word performance: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales | |||
| Wk 5 | ||||
| 10/28, 10/29 |
Prof. Lupton: |
Ovid, Metamorphoses (pp. 234–63 [commentary on 461–471]) | ||
| 10/30, 10/31 |
Prof. Lupton: |
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 1, pp. 1–16) MIDTERM in seminar, Wed 10/30, Th 10/31, or Fri 11/1 |
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| Wk 6 | ||||
| 11/4, 11/5 |
Prof. Lupton: |
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| 11/6, 11/7 |
Prof. Lupton: |
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Acts 4-5, pp. 59–86) |
Film screening, Nov. 7: Globe Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (6-9pm in ALP 1300) Note change in day and location! The Globe film is also available as streaming video with closed captions, courtesy of the library (On-campus access or VPN use required). Video of the New Swan/UCI Shakespeare Center is on Youtube |
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| Wk 7 | ||||
| 11/11, 11/12 | Veterans Day holiday: No lectures Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday seminars will meet. | |||
| 11/13, 11/14 |
Prof. Lupton: |
Short, “Evaluating Essay Organization and Transitioning,” Handbook (pp. 160–169) |
Film screening, Nov. 14: Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (6-9pm in ALP 1300) Note change in day and location! The Taymor production film is also available as streaming video with closed captions, courtesy of the library (On-campus access or VPN use required) |
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| 11/15 | Friday Forum, Nov. 15: Actor Thomas Varga (11-11:50am in BS3 1200. Video to be made available after the event.) | |||
| Wk 8 | ||||
| 11/18, 11/19 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
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| 11/20, 11/21 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
Attar, The Conference of the Birds (pp. 252–256, 262–264, 272–274, 280–281, 290, 298, 318–319, 323–343) | ||
| 11/22 | Friday Forum, Nov. 22: Poet and translator Sholeh Wolpé (11-11:50am in BS3 1200. Video to be made available after the event.) | |||
| Wk 9 | ||||
| 11/25, 11/26 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
Kalila wa Dimna: Fables from a Fourteenth-Century Arabic Manuscript (pp. 33–54) (PDF) | ||
| 11/27, 11/28 | No lectures Wednesday or Thursday (Thanksgiving holiday). Wednesday seminars will meet. No seminars Thursday or Friday. | |||
| Wk 10 | ||||
| 12/2, 12/3 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
Kalila wa Dimna: Fables from a Fourteenth-Century Arabic Manuscript (pp. 9–10, 55–60, 61–67, and 12–32) (PDF) | ||
| 12/4, 12/5 |
Prof. Rahimieh: |
Zakani, Gorby and the Rats (pp. 7–57) (PDF) |
Your (one) final exam is scheduled according to your seminar time.
Image: “The Trapped Cat and the Frightened Mouse (Rat?)” from a Kalila wa Dimna. 18th century, Metropolitan Museum, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453133
