Call Number | 12902 |
---|---|
Day & Time Location |
T 4:10pm-6:00pm 424 Pupin Laboratories |
Points | 4 |
Grading Mode | Standard |
Approvals Required | Instructor |
Instructor | David B Lurie - e-mail, homepage |
Type | SEMINAR |
Method of Instruction | In-Person |
Course Description | Philology, broadly defined as the practice of making sense of texts, is a fundamental human activity that has been repeatedly institutionalized in widely separated places and times. In the wake of the formation of the modern academic disciplines in the nineteenth century and their global spread, it became difficult to understand the power and glory of older western philology, and its striking parallels with other pre- and early modern forms of scholarship around the globe. This class seeks to create a new comparative framework for understanding how earlier generations made sense of the texts that they valued, and how their practices provide still-vital models for us at a time of upheaval in the format and media of texts and in our scholarly approaches to them. Students will encounter key fields of philology—textual criticism, lexicography, grammar, and, above all, commentary—not in the abstract but as instantiated in relation to four foundational works—the Confucian Analects, the Ramaya?a of Valmiki, the Aeneid, and the Tale of Genji—and the scholarly traditions that grew up around them. We are never alone when we grapple with the basic question of how to read texts whose meaning is unclear to us. Over the course of the semester, this class will foster a global understanding of the deep roots and strange parallels linking contemporary reading and interpretation to the practices of the past. |
Web Site | Vergil |
Department | Comparative Literature and Society, Institute for |
Enrollment | 15 students (20 max) as of 9:06PM Tuesday, December 17, 2024 |
Subject | Comparative Literature & Society |
Number | GU4111 |
Section | 001 |
Division | Interfaculty |
Section key | 20233CPLS4111W001 |