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 The Formation of the Self
Stallybrass
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM
This course will look at how the self was imagined and constructed in Renaissance England (and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Colonial America). We will particularly explore different forms of power (especially forms of monarchy and republicanism), conflicting concepts of gender and sexuality, and the role of memory in the formation of the self. The primary texts for the course will be Shakespeare's Sonnets, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, the poetry of John Donne and George Herbert, and the Bible. The seminar will make full use of the rare book collections at Penn and the Library Company of Philadelphia, as well as a wide range of internet resources.
