The supernatural in music, literature and culture

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

There are no prerequisites for this course.

This class focusses on beliefs and practices about the supernatural, and their reflection in literature and music. The semester is divided into three sections, concerned with:

Special attention to the great European witch hunt of the 15th through 18th centuries: Shakespeare's Macbeth; Purcell's Dido and Aeneas; Verdi's Macbeth; Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.

Magic and science in early modem Europe: Goethe's Faust; Liszt's A Faust Symphony;
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique; Murnau's Faust.

Spiritualism and ghosts in 19th century America: James's The Turn of the Screw;
Britten's The Turn of the Screw.

Emphasis falls on weekly listening and reading assignments. There will be live performances by staff members, other faculty, and outside musicians and actors. Film adaptations and opera videos will be screened in the evening.

A total of 20 pages divided into three papers (one with required revision and expansion).

As part of the CI requirement of this class, students are required to attend lectures and recitations and to participate actively. At least one hour per week will be devoted to discussion.

At the end of the semester, several class sessions will be devoted to preparing and delivering oral presentations on aspects of the works considered in the last third of the course. Earlier group and / or individual presentations will be assigned to help prepare students for this component of the class.

There is no final exam

21M.013J / 21A.113J / 21L.013J is both a HASS-D and CI-HASS subject. This means that each recitation can accept a maximum of 18 students. Priority is given to students who are registered in the class through the HASS-D lottery, but these students must attend the first two recitation meetings to keep their place in the class. Additional students may enter the class, so long as there are open slots, through the second week of classes.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780192834171.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Goethe's Faust. Translated and with an Introduction by William Kaufmann. Anchor Books, 1962. ISBN: 9780385031141.

James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. 2nd ed. Edited by Deborah Esch, and Jonathan Warren. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. ISBN: 9780393959048.

For additional readings, see the Readings section.

Students are required to write three essays, the first of which will require a revision and expansion. In addition, students will work on a final project with both an oral and written component.

For further detail, see the Assignments section.

Attendance is required. Because there is no final exam, students who miss class for any reason will be required to write a two-page summary of the material covered that day.

The individual recitation instructors give the grades in this class, adhering to the following percentages:

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