300-400 level courses are on special topics and are more advanced. They often presuppose some basic knowledge in the field and should be more difficult courses than courses at the 1-199 levels. The department is trying to insure that some 400 level courses, although substantially more difficult, are also small in size; they thus may be suitable for graduate students.
HIST 411 Introduction to Written Culture
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM
This seminar will examine the impact and limits of the invention of the printing press on Western culture. It will propose a reappraisal of the relations between scribal culture and print culture and an aalysis of the importance of printing for new definitions of the book, publishing, textual genres and authorship. It will focus on specific case and textual studies and use some materials owned by the collections of the Van Pelt Library. It will deal mainly with English, Spanish and French examples. The seminar is taught in English but the knowledge of another language (Spanish, French, or Italian) could be useful.
