413    Film Directors:  The Films of Alfred Hitchcock

             Professor David Schmid

             TTh      6:30 - 9:40

             Reg. No.  388632

 

The aim of this class is to watch and discuss a representative sample of films from the long and distinguished career of the great director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). You will learn why Hitchcock is considered to be one of the major film auteurs, what the major themes and concerns of his work are, and how to approach and analyze a Hitchcock film. Along the way, we will discuss such subjects as auteur theory, film history, and cinematic technique. Throughout the class, we will emphasize how Hitchcock himself and his films have come to embody the possibilities of cinema.

 

Films:

 

· The 39 Steps (1935)

· Rebecca (1939)

· Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

· Spellbound (1945)

· Rope (1948)

· Dial M for Murder (1954)

· Rear Window (1954)

· Vertigo (1958)

· North By Northwest (1959)

· Psycho (1960)

· The Birds (1963)

· Marnie (1964)

 

Requirements:

 

·  Class attendance.

·  Participation in class discussion.

·  A series of short (1-2 pages) written responses to the films.

·  One 7-9 page paper, which you will have the option of revising.

·  A final exam.

303    Chaucer

             Professor Daniel Pinti

             MW      6:30 - 9:40

             Reg. No.  016268

 

Chaucer stands as one of the greatest narrative poets in the history of English literature, and his Canterbury Tales is an extraordinarily varied and vibrant collection that showcases Chaucer’s storytelling art.  In this course we will study the Canterbury Tales, exploring their complex connections to one another, to their sources and analogues, and to Chaucer’s social and cultural world of late fourteenth-century England.  We will also address some of the current issues and critical approaches in the field of Chaucer studies, in an effort to understand Chaucer not only in his time but in ours as well.  All reading from Chaucer will be in Chaucer’s own language, Middle English, which requires no previous training but some little instruction and initial effort—always amply rewarded.  Students will take two exams and write at least one paper using secondary sources. 

 

This course will satisfy an earlier literature requirement.