Course Archive
Spring 2013
Spring 2013
Richard Poss
FRIDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Jan 25 to Apr 5
The Renaissance begins in Italy and is an invention of the Florentines. This seminar is an examination of the art, architecture, sculpture, literature, and history of the republic of Florence during its period of greatest importance to world history. From the mid-14th to the late 15th century, Florence was the center of a cultural movement that has become the definition of the modern world.
We will begin by examining the first glimmerings in the frescoes of Giotto, the literary works of Petrarch and Boccaccio, the sculptural work of Donatello and Ghiberti, and the architecture and...
Spring 2013
Mike Lippman
THURSDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Jan 24 to Apr 4
This course will cover the rich and seminal history and literature of fifth-century Greece; the most creative and productive period in all human history. Our course will particularly focus on Athens, the world's first democracy, from which most of the liberal arts trace their origins.
These amazing developments began with the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, the clash between democratic Athens and the vast invading Persian Empire. From there we will trace how the victorious Athenians built up their power then fought with Sparta in the ruinous Peloponnesian War. We will end with the symbolic...
Spring 2013
Peter Medine
WEDNESDAYS
1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m
Jan 23 to Apr 3
Poetry is capable of saving us; it is a perfectly possible
means of overcoming chaos.
--I. A. Richards
Words for music perhaps.
--W. B. Yeats
Very likely the earliest form of literary expression, the lyric poem is a relatively short statement in verse, usually in the first person, and deals with emotionally charged subject matter, such as unrequited love, personal loss, celebration, or religious meditation. This seminar will...
Spring 2013
Richard T. Hanson
Morning section: TUESDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Jan 22 to Apr 2
Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! will explore the creation of the American musical theater and trace the influence of minstrelsy, vaudeville, burlesque, revue, and operetta in the evolution of this unique American form of lyric theater. From Stephen Foster to Stephen Sondheim, the course will chart the development of America's great, original gift to the world: the musical.
Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! will toast the tunesmiths and poets of Broadway whose collective genius created the golden age of the American musical theater. The course will celebrate the Broadway musical heritage of Cohan, Kern,...
Fall 2012
Fall 2012
Charlene Kampfe
TUESDAYS
1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Nov 6 to Dec 4
The percentage of the older population in the United States is increasing, and will continue to grow, due to the aging of the Baby Boomers. These individuals will experience a number of transitions and issues that may be associated with the aging process. Examples of these issues are late onset hearing loss, increased possibility for disabling conditions, decrease in ability to live independently, and decreased likelihood of employment potential due to prejudice toward older adults.
The first of the four class sessions will involve an overview of the population and the kinds of physical...
Fall 2012
Homer Pettey
FRIDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Oct 5 to Dec 14
Clearly, Nobel laureates have made major creative contributions to world literature and to international reception of emerging nations’ literary arts. This course will expose students to movements in 20th-century world literature by reading Nobel laureates. Global modernism, as shown by influences shared among these laureates, combines Western and non-Western styles, traditions, and modes of expression. This class will emphasize the relationship of modern world literature to traditional arts, performance, and ritual.Formal categories and genres will be approached in terms of their...
Fall 2012
David Byrne
THURSDAYS
10:00 a.m. until noon
Oct 4 to Dec 13
Because insects account for more than half of all described species and have profound effects on our history and culture, knowledge of their contributions and influences is important. Ecologically, insects provide tremendous benefits and equally daunting challenges. They provide critical biological services in pollination, natural products, pest-population regulation, and human nutrition. Insects are also our chief competitors for food, and act as parasites and vectors of human disease, the source of much human misery. The impacts of insects on humans, both positive and negative, are also...
Fall 2012
Cynthia White
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Oct 3 to Dec 12
Rome survives despite nearly 3,000 years of invasions by Sabines, Gauls, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Huns, Normans, Napoleon, Hitler, and mass tourism. In this course we will visit Rome, interwoven in texts and art, from antiquity through the twentieth century. We will complement our reading selections from diaries, guidebooks, poetry, fiction, and history with film clips and discussion.
Beginning with its foundation on the Palatine Hill and continuing through the design of Mussolini’s Fascist Square, we will reflect on “the city that becomes to all a second native land by predilection and not by...
Fall 2012
Richard Poss
MONDAYS
9:00 a.m. until noon
Oct 1 to Dec 17
This seminar will examine mysterious moments, ancient and modern, which have come to the fore in humanity’s quest to understand our place in the cosmos. We begin in prehistory, where from the oldest humans we have evidence of sophisticated astronomy. How much did the earliest sky-watchers discover the motions of the heavens? What did they record in stone for us to decipher? We will study archaeoastronomical monuments in Europe and America to try to place ourselves in the minds of the earliest astronomers. From there we will turn to ancient Greek astronomy and its philosophical...
Fall 2012
Thomas P. Miller
MONDAYS
2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Oct 1 to Dec 17
Alexander Hamilton promised that the Constitution would “unite parties for the general welfare,” but Washington perceived that “the baneful effects of the spirit of Party” continued to threaten the republic. In the centuries since, we have blamed partisans and identified with parties. Both of our major parties are grab bags of discordant factions, as we will discuss with an eye to how politicians appeal to common aspirations and contradictory assumptions. As part of our discussions, we will look at the historical evolution of party politics, including campaigns, polls, slogans,...
Summer 2012
Summer 2012
Fabian Alfie
TUESDAYS
9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
Jul 10 to Jul 31
Using the recent translation by Jean and Robert Hollander, we will deal with Dante’s views on human nature as represented in his Purgatorio. We shall discuss the nature of sin: how it is that appetites which keep the body and species alive are evil (i.e., lust and gluttony); and how it is that human beings can transcend their fallen nature (with Divine assistance). We will cover the numerous historical personages and references therein, and the theology implicit to it.
Although Purgatorio is the second portion of Dante’s Comedy, it is not necessary to have studied Inferno to enroll in this...
Summer 2012
David Soren
MONDAYS
9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.
Jul 9 to Jul 30
Two years ago the Main Library of the University of Arizona was given a massive donation of original collections from the American Vaudeville Museum by its curators Frank Cullen and Donald McNeilly. This collection is one of the largest in the world. To commemorate this move, Dr. David Soren who coordinated the transfer will offer a course in the history and evolution of American vaudeville from its roots to superstars such as Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker, The Nicholas Brothers, Annette Kellerman, Eddie Cantor and many more.
Dr. Soren was himself a vaudeville performer who is listed among the...
Summer 2012
Norman Austin
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
Jun 6 to Jun 27
The Odyssey gives us an adventure story of a Greek hero returning to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. This could be a straightforward journey lasting three or four days at most. But in the Odyssey the journey is expanded into a narrative of 24 books (= ancient rolls) and over a time period of ten years. Home-coming is made into an epic theme. The epic dimensions of this journey allow the poets to incorporate a variety of folktales of heroic encounters with nymphs of divine beauty and monsters such as only an epic hero could hope to conquer.
For the Greeks, the poem achieved a...
Summer 2012
Meg Lota Brown
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
May 2 to May 23
How do Shakespeare and filmmakers who adapt his plays engage their audiences, construct meaning, and enable us to understand more fully our own culture and ourselves? This seminar will deepen our understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s drama and of his cinematic interpreters. We will focus on the following plays from three different genres—comedy, tragedy, and history: Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV, Part II, and Henry V. Each of those plays will be paired with at least two film adaptations from different decades. We will think critically about Shakespeare...
Summer 2012
Barbara Atwood
TUESDAYS
10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
May 1 to May 22
When Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience,” he meant that law is a messy and imperfect invention reflecting the human condition. This course will explore the imperfect nature of law today by focusing on cutting edge contemporary problems in legal interpretation and policy, with each covered by a distinguished faculty member from the College of Law, who is a well-known expert in the field. Four distinguished faculty members from the College of Law will lecture on an area within the faculty member’s expertise.
The Challenge of...
Spring 2012
Spring 2012
Jay Rosenblatt
MONDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Jan 30 to Feb 20
Franz Liszt (1811–1886) is one of the seminal figures of the 19th century. As one of the great piano virtuosos, he toured Europe from one end to the other, coming into contact with virtually all the prominent figures of the period. As a composer, he contributed to all the major genres and pioneered various innovations in form and harmony.
A series of four class sessions will consider Liszt, both in terms of biography and music. For the latter, our survey will begin with piano music (the first session), continue with orchestral and choral works (the next two sessions), and conclude with his...
Spring 2012
Adele Barker
THURSDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Jan 26 to Apr 5
This course is for those who love to read ! Beginning with his memoir Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth and then moving into War and Peace, we will discuss the world that the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy created in his fictions against the backdrop of the social and political ferment that would ultimately lead to the 1917 revolution. Tolstoy attempted to find the family happiness in his novels that eluded him in his own life. Reading him is to gain insight into the unique role that literature played in political and philosophical thought in nineteenth century Russia.
Spring 2012
Patrick Baliani
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jan 25 to Apr 4
What makes comedy comedy? Does the comedic aesthetic evolve across cultural and temporal barriers? How do interpretation and performance affect our understanding of the works? What does it mean that comedy is deadly serious? These are a few of the questions to be raised in the exploration of one major comedy each week, by Aristophanes, Plautus, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Moliere, Wilde, Shaw, Coward, and Frayn. Historical, social,
political, and psychological contexts will also be addressed. Professional actors will perform key scenes, film clips will be screened, and short essays will...
Spring 2012
Peter Medine
WEDNESDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Jan 25 to Apr 4
I have put in [Ulysses] so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant. James Joyce
While most of the great avant-garde art works of the early 20thcentury rest securely within the canon of modernist classics, Ulysses (1922) continues to challenge and, as the author had hoped, puzzle us. We are still struggling to become Joyce’s contemporaries.
This seminar will continue the effort through a critical reading...
Spring 2012
Richard T. Hanson
TUESDAYS
morning section: 9:00 a.m.
Jan 24 to Jul 2
Gene Kelly once said that “the history of dance on film begins with Astaire.” One might say that the history of dance on film ends with Kelly. Dancin’ Fools will explore the Broadway and Hollywood careers of these two iconic song and dance men who define the Golden Age of movie musicals. Astaire’s elegance and Kelly’s athleticism transformed dance in popular culture and elevated it to the status of art. Astaire in his top hat and tails and Kelly in his white socks and loafers were a counter point to each other, enchanting audiences worldwide in over 60 movie musicals. This seminar will toast...