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Class number:
3293
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Title: A History of Love |
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Department: English |
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Career: Undergraduate |
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Component: Lecture |
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Session: Regular |
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Instructor's Permission Required: No |
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Grading Basis: Regular |
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Units: 1.00 |
| Enrollment limited to 25 |
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Current enrollment: 24 |
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Available seats: 1 |
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Start date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 |
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End date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026 |
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Mode of Instruction: In Person |
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Schedule: TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM, MC - 303 |
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Instructor(s): Staples, James |
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Prerequisite(s): None |
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Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement |
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Note: For English majors, this course fulfills the pre-1800, elective, additional literature or film, and UVSJ requirements. For all students, it fulfills the College’s HUM requirements. |
Course Description:
At the end of the eleventh century, the troubadours of southwest France introduced a novel—and electrifying—concept into European imaginations, one that had lain dormant for centuries: love. This course takes up this historical event, exploring how “love” in Western literature became a topic worthy of literary, philosophical, and theological consideration. We will, however, problematize the Western-centric and hetero-marital assumptions of “love” by recognizing its longer history, farther geographical reach, and nonheteronormative instantiations that contributed to our modern notion of love. We will consider writings of Muslim Sufis, Hispano-Arabic songs, pledges of erotic fidelity between knights, and love letters written by monks and nuns to one another and to God (among other materials), in addition to European heteroerotic lyrics and medieval romance. |