ENGL 392(S) Wonder
We tend to imagine "wonder" as a naïve, even pre-rational category, something quite distinct from the cold act of critical analysis. In this discussion class, we will consider wonder as an eminently analyzable concept, but one that also raises provocative questions about the historical nature and limits of our own, distinctly modern forms of critical engagement. The course examines three historical incarnations of "wonder," each involving complex relations among the aesthetic, philosophical, and political domains: the Renaissance tradition on wonder and the marvelous; the eighteenth-century analysis of the sublime; and the mid-twentieth-century critique of Enlightenment thought posed by the Frankfurt School. We will consider writers such as Shakespeare, Coleridge, Borges, and Nicholson Baker (all wonderful); painters such as Leonardo, Vermeer, and Courbet; some recent films, including Titanic; and critical or philosophical writers, including Aristotle, Edmund Burke, and Walter Benjamin. Requirements: two 8-10 page papers. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, other than Engl 150. Enrollment limited to 25. (Criticism).
Hour: PYE