Dr. McNees, Sturm Hall 486C, ext. 2855, emcnees@du.edu
Winter 2002
Syllabus
“In planning his Giro d’Italiathe
Tourist was advised to arrange his journey so as to be in Venice for the
Carnival, in Bologna for the Octave of the Sacrament, and in Rome for Holy
Week” notes Christopher Hibbert in his book, The Grand Tour (1969).
While the class will not literally be in these Italian cities during these
times, we will attempt via travel journals, diaries, novels, maps and poems
to recreate the Grand Tour of the English tourist during the 18th
and 19th centuries. We will focus principally on Rome, Florence
and Venice, seats respectively of Italian classicism, Renaissance and powerful
city state. You will complete a variety of assignments from short essays
to a hypothetical version of your own tour based on the class readings.
Week One: Introduction
to Italy and the Grand Tourist: Routes to Italy
Thurs.1/3Lecture
& Slides
Week Two: Early
Grand Tourists
Tues. 1/8Sitwell,
“Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples”; Lassels, The Voyage
Of Italy; Addison, “From Rome to Napels”; Sharp, Letters From Italy;
Starke,
Travels in Europe; Trollope, A Visit to Italy (Copy Packet)
Thurs. 1/10Smollett,
Travels
Through France and Italy
Week Three: Rome
Tues.
1/15*Letter in imitation of Lassels,
Addison, Sharp, Starke or Trollope due (2-3 pgs.) Piozzi, “Rome” fr. Observations
and Reflections; Jameson, “Journey
To
Rome” & “Rome”; James, “A Roman Holiday” (Copy Packet)
Thurs. 1/17Mme
de Stael, Corinne, or Italy
Tues. 1/22Mme
de Stael, Corinne, or Italy
Thurs. 1/24Byron,
Fr. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
Tues. 1/29James,
Daisy
Miller
Week Six:Florence
Tues. 2/5Addison,
“Florence”; Piozzi, “Florence”; Jameson, “Florence”;
James,
“Florentine Notes”
Thurs.
2/7Rogers, “Italy”; E.B. Browning,
“Casa Guidi Windows” (Copy Packet)
Week Seven: Florence
Tues. 2/12R.
Browning, “Fra Lippo Lippi,” “Andrea del Sarto”; Vasari, “Fra
Filippo
Lippi,” “Andrea del Sarto” (Copy Packet)
Thurs. 2/14Oliphant,
The
Makers of Florence” (Copy Packet)
Week Eight:Florence
Concluded
Tues. 2/19Forster,
A
Room With a View
Thurs. 2/21Film
Week Nine:Midterm
& Venice
Tues. 2/26*Midterm
Examination
Thurs. 2/28Piozzi,
“Venice”; Jameson, “Venice” (Copy Packet); James,
“From
Venice to Strasburg”
Tues. 3/5Dickens,
Pictures
from Italy
Thurs. 3/7McCarthy,
Venice
Observed
Tues. 3/12*Final
Presentations
Thurs. 3/14*Final
Examination
Your final presentation should be interdisciplinary
in nature, combining a variety of genres and media such as the memoir,
letter, diary entry, formal travelogue, Xeroxed photographs or computer
images, drawings, maps. You will present orally to the class (and in written
form to me) your own Grand Tour of Italy based partly on the readings and
partly on your own research about the sites and history of Italy. You may
choose to focus more on one city than another; you may also choose to include
sites not studied in the class such as Naples, Pisa, Sicily, Milan, etc.
Significant Details: Attendance and participation
in class discussions are expected. More than 2 unexcused absences WILL
result in a lowered grade. Papers are due at the beginning of class and
will not be accepted later. Remember as you read the assignments to investigate
the authors’ intentions and attitudes, especially the specifically “English”
attitude toward a foreign and largely Roman Catholic culture. As a corollary
you are encouraged to examine your own preconceptions of both Italian and
other cultures and people. If you choose to employ a persona other than
yourself for your final presentation, you should reflect and justify that
persona’s cultural biases.