Jan 11, 2014

Plague Narratives: The Rhetoric of Catastrophe (@Richard Hugo House, beginning Feb 1)

This six-week reading course will look at the rhetorical challenge of representing current and future catastrophic harm and risk, using plague narratives as a point of departure.

Full reading list below.
Meets: Saturday, February 1, 2014 – Saturday, March 8, 2014
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Richard Hugo House
General: $245.00
Members of Hugo House: $220.50


Readings

Week 1 – Introduction to History of the Plague
  • John Kelly, The Great Mortality (chapters 1-5)
Week 2 – Some Key Plague Narratives
  • Procopius, History of the Wars (Book II, xxii-xxxiii) – 542 AD*
  • Boccaccio, The Decameron (Introduction) – 1353 AD**
  • Rosemary Horrox (trans. And ed.), The Black Death (various accounts) – 14th Century**
  • Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys Diary (1665-1667) (http://www.pepys.info/1665/plague.html)*
  • Nathaniel Hodges, Loimologia (sections I-III) – 1672 AD*
Week 3 – Daniel Defoe – A Journal of the Plague Year
  • Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year – 1722 AD*
Week 4 – Visions of End Times – Real and Imagined
Week 5 – Risk Perception and Coping Mechanisms
Week 6 – Understanding Resistance and Inspiring Action
*Available online
**Will be included in course reader

No comments: