Required Texts:  

• Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with a Pearl Earring

• Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary

• Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness 

• Ionesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros

• Tsukiyama, Gail. The Samurai's Garden

Reading Provided via Handouts:

• Donne, John. Selected poems from The Holy Sonnets

• Sacks, Oliver. "To See and Not See," from an Anthropologist on Mars

• Hemingway, Ernest. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

• Morrison, Toni. Excerpt from The Bluest Eye.

Recommended Materials:  

• Beckett, Sr. Wendy. Sister Wendy's Story of Painting, 2nd Ed.

• Just for fun: Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code.

Course Description

Course Objectives:

• to view and appreciate paintings from different periods;

• to analyze the different techniques used in painting and literature;

• to consider literature and art from a wide variety of periods and cultures;

• to explore connections between the art of painting and the art of literature;

• to consider the ways that art and literature often mirror the society in which they are created..  

Grading:

In-class exercises and assignments

5%  

Unit 1 - An Introduction to Literature, Art, and Perception

• How does our visual orientation (pre-conceptions) inform the way artists create art and viewers/readers receive art?

Sep 3

• Course Overview, Introductions

• Group work

• PP presentation on history, art, and literature

• Handout: "To See and Not See" - read for next class 

Sep 8

• Discuss "To See and Not See" and cultural perception
• Group work and informal presentations
• Read: Read first half of the Girl with a Pearl Earring for next class.

Unit 2 - Art as the Subject of Literature

Materials

Readings:

• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Art - Dutch masters (e.g., Rembrandt, Vermeer, de Hooch, etc.)

• Gallery: www.kristisiegel.com/gallery2.html (Dutch Masters)

Music:

• Johann Sebastian Bach - Jesu, Joy of Men's Desiring

• Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Trumpets, Strings, and Continuo in C

Video:

• Dutch Masters: Vermeer (KULTUR VIDEO, Cromwell Films, 2000

Sep 10

• Discuss Jan Vermeer - film and slide show
• Small group discussion

Sep 15

• Discuss first half GWPE
• Small group discussion and informal presentations

Sep 17

• Discuss rest of GWPE
• Small group discussion and informal presentations
• Optional presentations on artists (sign up sheet)

Unit 3 - Religious Visions/Religious Struggles

Materials

• "Death Be Not Proud"
• "Batter my Heart, Three-Person'd God"
• "At the Round Earths Imagin'd Corners, Blow"
• "I am a Little World Made Cunningly"

Art

• Gallery: www.kristisiegel.com/gallery3.html - (Religious art of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, etc.)

Music:

• William Byrd - Praeludium
• Claudio Monteverdi - Due Belli Occhi

Video:

• WIT starring Emma Thompson

Sep 22

• Discussion of religious art
• Video and/or slides

Sep 24

• Discussion of selected Holy Sonnets

Sep 29

• Video - WIT starring Emma Thompson

Oct 1

• Discuss film, poems, and art
• Directed essay assigned (due Oct 15)

Unit 4 - Light, Landscape, Realism, and Impressionism

Materials

• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Art

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/gallery4.html - (Impressionism - e.g., Renoir, Monet, Pissaro)

Music

• Frederic Chopin - Nocturne 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9, No. 1
• Robert Schumann - Traumerei

Video

• Excerpt from Madame Bovary - Directed by Claude Chabrol. Los Angeles, CA: Republic Pictures Home Video, 1992.

Oct 6

• Discussion and video on Impressionism

Oct 8

• First third of MB - Chapters 1-16
• Discussion in small groups and informal presentations

Oct 13

• Second third of MB - Chapter 17-27
• Discussion in small groups and informal presentations
• Excerpt from video

Oct 15

• Finish MB - discussion of book and Impressionism
• In-class work on essay (due next class)
• Excerpt from video

Unit 5 - Naturalism, Modernism, Primitivism

Materials

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Excerpt from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's early philosophical writing

Art

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/gallery5.html - Primitivism (e.g., Picasso, Rousseau, Gauguin)

Music

• Bela Bartok - Bagetelle, Op. 6 (1908)

Video

• Excerpt from Apocalypse Now

Oct 20

• Discussion of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Primitivism

Oct 22

• First half of HOD and discussion

Oct 27 

• Rest of HOD and excerpt from Apocalypse Now

Unit 6 - American Realism and Minimalism

Materials

• "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway

Art: 

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/hopper.html - Edward Hopper

Music: TBA

Oct 29

• Edward Hopper and American Realism
• Short answer midterm

Nov 3

• Hemingway Hero, minimalism
• Discussion and small group presentations on short story

Unit 7 - The Absurd, Abstract, and Postmodern

Materials

Reading:

• Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco

Art

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/gallery6.html - Modern Art (e.g., Miro, Magritte, Klee, etc.)

Music: TBA

Nov 5

• Field trip to Milwaukee Art Museum

Nov 10

• Modern Art and the Theatre of the Absurd

Nov 12

• Rhinoceros - Discussion and small groups
• Topics for Directed Essay no. 2 (due Dec 1)

Unit 8 - Gauging the Influence of Pop Culture: Icons of Everyday Life

Materials

• Excerpt from The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Art

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/gallery8.html - Pop Art (Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg)

Music: TBA

Nov 17

• Art and Pop Culture
• Option of final take-home exam or project (to be presented during exam period - handout and explanation provided in class)

Nov 19

• Discussion of The Bluest Eye (excerpt)
• In-class work on Directed Essay no. 2

Nov 24

• Reading day - catch up on reading and complete essay

Unit 9 - Eastern Art and Philosophy

Materials

• The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

Art

• Gallery - www.kristisiegel.com/gallery7.html - Eastern Art

Music: TBA

Dec 1

• Essay no. 2 due
• Eastern Art and Philosophy

Dec 3

• First half of TSG and discussion

Dec 8 

• Rest of TSG and discussion

Dec 10

• Overview of course
• Evaluations
• Take-home exam (if not doing final project)

Dec 17 - 3:15 p.m.

• Discussion of take-home exams
• Project presentations