Admission requirements
Students must have read Umberto Eco, The Vertigo of Lists (2009; alternative title: The Infinity of Lists) before the first class starts.
Description
This interdisciplinary reserach seminar takes as its starting point Umberto Eco’s latest book, The Vertigo of Lists (2009; alternative title: The Infinity of Lists). We will look at the various forms and functions of lists in the visual arts and literary culture of the medieval and early modern period: as forms of enumeration, description, index, catalogue and encyclopedia, or as (descriptions and depictions of) existing or imaginary libraries, Kunst- & Wunderkammern, and other collections.
We will discuss issues such as place and function of a list in its immediate context; the intended purpose of lists and listmaking; rhetorical aspects and the order and placement of lists. Much attention will be drawn to the ekphrastic tradition since Homer, the literary works of Rabelais and his contemporaries, paintings by Jeroen Bosch and the Brueghel-family, as well as early modern (fictional) auction catalogues.
Course objectives
Students will gain insight in the meaning and function of lists and list making in early modern culture, especially in the visual arts and literature.
Students will have to partake in interdisciplinary research and research methods
Students will gain experience in presenting their own research methods and results in a group by means of a presentation (20 mins)
Students will learn to engage and take part in scholarly debates and discussions
Timetable
See for schedules of courses and exams on timetable
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
presentation (25%);
research paper (75%)
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used to distribute research materials and research papers.
Reading list
Umberto Eco, The Vertigo of Lists (2009; alternative title: The Infinity of Lists).
Registration
Students have to apply for this course with the registration system of the university uSis. General information about registration with uSis you can find here in Dutch and in English
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply.
Contact information
Please contact the instructor Prof dr P.J. Smith
Remarks
For more information consult the website from the Institute for Cultural Disciplines