R5B, Section 2: Reading and Composition: The Great Beauty? Art, Creativity, and Nostalgia in the West

MWF 3-4 | 250 Dwinelle | Instructor: Brandon Schneider

Units: 4

All Reading and Composition courses must be taken for a letter grade in order to fulfill this requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree. This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement.

 

This course will use Paolo Sorrentino’s 2013 film The Great Beauty to begin and end an investigation into the meanings and use of art, creativity, and nostalgia in the cultural tradition of the West. Students will analyze Renaissance and contemporary art, nineteenth and twentieth century literature, and postwar European and American cinema to consider the significance and function of art, creativity, and nostalgia in key texts of the West’s cultural development. In considering works by Raphael, Pollock, Celine, Breton, Pirandello, Fellini, and others, students will be trained to analyze interdisciplinary primary and secondary sources while developing their own research portfolio. Successful completion of the course will signify students’ increased intellectual maturity, competence in textual analysis, and satisfactory capacity to independently undertake significant research projects.

 

Texts: The required texts for the course are forthcoming.

 

Prerequisites: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading & Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll in nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.