Reading for January 10: Robert Darnton, “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose,” in The Great Cat Massacre (Google book or library e-book 9-29).
Week 1: January 10
Tests returned
From oral to written and back again
Folktales (Sharmila)
The traditional fairytale and Harry Potter (Janae)
Folktale and Fairy tale Hand-out
Reading for January 17: Elizabeth Eisenstein, “Defining the Initial Shift” (Reader 233-254)
Week 2: January 17
Essays due
The Gutenberg Revolution
The printing press
Early Printed Books (incunabula), the printing shop & the birth of the book trade
Illustration of children’s tales (Eilish)
Bestiaries (Julie)
Grimoires and magic books (Marti)
The Advent of Print Hand-out
Reading for January 24: David J. Shaw, “The Book Trade Comes of Age: The Sixteenth Century” (Companion 220-231)
Week 3: January 24
The Renaissance (14th to 17th C.)
Vitruvius and De Architectura
Astrology & Astronomy (Marianna)
Cartography & early navigators (Carlyn)
The Renaissance hand-out
Reading for January 31: John Feather, “The British Book Market 1600-1800” (Companion 232-246)
Week 4: January 31
The Renaissance II
The Scientific Revolution
The Enlightenment (1715-1789)
Travel writing tales & diaries (Elijah)
Oral, Scribal, and Typographical cultures
The Enlightenment and L’Encyclopédie hand-out
Jan Rehner Essay Prize
Reading for February 7: Roland Barthes, “The death of the author” & Michel Foucault, “What is an author?” (Reader 277-280 & 281-291)
Week 5: February 7
Writers & their intentions
Author hand-out
Barthes & Foucault summary
Autobiographies (Kelsie)
Diaries (Jillian)
Letters (Mary)
Reading for February 14: Wayne A. Wiegand, “Libraries and the Invention of Information” (Companion 531-543)
Week 6: February 14
The Text and the Reader
Libraries
Ancient Libraries (Luke)
The body as a text (tattoos) (Carolina)
No Reading for February 21
Week 7: February 21
Reading Week
No class
Reading for February 28: Stephen Colclough, “Readers: Books and Biography” (Companion 50-62)
Week 8: February 28
Readers and reading practices
Children’s lit & its messages (Serena)
Chivalric adventure tales for young boys (Julia)
Round Table: Fiction & the Imagination: Great Characters & their Power
Readings for March 7: Megan L. Benton “The Book as Art” (BH Companion 493-507)
Week 9: March 7
The book as art & art as a book
The book as art (Michael)
Magazines & their market (Olivia)
Author, text, and readers’ hand-out
Fore-edge painting 1
Fore-edge painting 2
Book as art hand-out
Art books
Bookwork: Old books reborn as art
Reading for March 14: Deana Heath, “Obscenity, Censorship, and Modernity” (Companion 508-519)
Week 10: March 14
Suppression & Survival
Banned, censored & destroyed books (Juan)
Writing from prison (Donna)
The future of the book (Chanee)
Censorship and obscenity hand-out
Readings for March 21: John Brewer, “Authors, Publishers and the Making of Literary Culture,” (Reader, 318-326)
Week 11: March 21
Popular print culture
The Gothic (Amber)
Chick Lit and the Romance (Simran)
Cartoons, comic strips & graphic books (Cole)
Round Table: cartoons, comics & graphic books (Bring your favorites!)
Week 12: March 28
Visit to the Fisher Rare Books Library
Incunabula and first editions of your quest books
Week 13: April 4
Final test