(3 credits)
As they move between two worlds—the infinite possibilities of spirit and the nightmarish
limits of the physical—writers, artists and philosophers of the Renaissance offer many images
of what it means to be human. As we investigate the peculiar nature of those imaginings, we
are likely to see premonitions of many modern assumptions and dilemmas. The writings of
Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Rabelais, More Montaigne, Shakespeare and Cervantes will form the
backbone of our reading.