Description:
A recent book series at Oxford University Press, a series of articles
by contemporary novelists in the New York Times Book Review, and
an hour-long special on MTV, all devoted to the deadly sins, demonstrate
the lasting impact of this systematization of morality on western
thought within both elite and popular culture for the last millennium
and a half. This interdisciplinary class will investigate the
origins of the idea of a systematized list of chief vices which
emerged in the ethical writings of monks in the Egyptian desert
in the fourth century; the medieval developments of this idea
in literature and the arts in monastic, courtly, and university
environments; its transmission in late-medieval popular and vernacular
forms, especially in England, and in the literature of the English
Renaissance; and its adaptations in modern literature, art, and
music.
Reading List:
Kleinberg, Aviad. 7 Deadly Sins. A Very Partial List. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780674031418
On Reserve or Available through the Library Portal or My Web Site:
Bossy, John. "Moral Arithmetic: Seven Sins into Ten Commandments."
In Conscience and Casuistry in Early Modern Europe.
Ed. Edmund Leites. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, Paris: Editions
de la maison des sciences de l'homme, 1988. Pp. 214-34. [Hayden:
BJ301.C63 1988]
Bracciolini, Poggio. On Avarice. Trans. Benjamin
G. Kohl and Elizabeth B. Welles. In The Earthly Republic:
Italian Humanists on Government and Society. Ed. Benjamin
G. Kohl and Ronald G. Witt, with Elizabeth B. Welles. Philadelphia:
Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1978. Pp. 241-89. [Hayden: DG532.E37]
Brecht, Bertolt, and Kurt Weill. The Seven Deadly Sins of
the Petty Bourgeoisie. In The Rise and Fall of the
City of Mahagonny and The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petty Bourgeoisie.
Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Trans. W. H. Auden and Chester
Kallman. New York: Arcade, 1996. Pp. 67-83. [Hayden: PT2603.R397A9613
1996]
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Parson's Tale." In The
Canterbury Tales. Trans. Ronald L. Ecker and Eugene J.
Crook. Palatka, FL: Hodge & Braddock, 1993. [Hayden: PR1870.A1E27
1993]
Evagrius Ponticus. The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer.
Trans. John Eudes Bamberger. Cistercian Studies Series, 4. Spencer,
MA: Cistercian Publications, 1972, reprint 1981. [Hayden: BV5039.G7E973]
Langland, William. Piers Plowman. Trans. A. V. C.
Schmidt. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992. [pdf]
Little, Lester K. "Pride Goes before Avarice: Social Change
and the Vices in Latin Christendom." The American Historical
Review 76,1 (1971): 16-49. [JSTOR]
Martin of Braga. De ira. Trans. Claude W. Barlow.
In Iberian Fathers, vol. 1. Washington, DC: Catholic
Univ. of America Press, [1969]. Pp. 59-69. [Hayden: BR60.F3I2
v.1]
Newhauser, Richard. "Introduction: Cultural Construction
and the Vices." In The Seven Deadly Sins: From Communities
to Individuals. Ed. Richard Newhauser. Studies in Medieval
and Reformation Traditions: History, Culture, Religion, Ideas,
vol. 123. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2007. Pp. 1-9. [Hayden: BV4626.S48
2007]
Newhauser, Richard. "On Ambiguity in Moral Theology: When
the Vices Masquerade as Virtues." Trans. Andrea Nemeth-Newhauser.
In R. Newhauser. Sin: Essays on the Moral Tradition in the
Western Middle Ages. Variorum Collected Studies Series,
CS869. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007. Essay
I. [Hayden: BJ231.N49 2007]
Prudentius. Psychomachia. Trans. H. J. Thomson.
In Prudentius, vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, 387.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1949, reprint 1969. [Hayden:
PA6648.P6 1949 v.1]
Pynchon, Thomas [et al.], Deadly Sins; illustrations
by Etienne Delessert. New York: W. Morrow, 1993. [originally published
in The New York Times Book Review: Thomas Pynchon, "Nearer,
My Couch, to Thee" (June 6, 1993, pp. 3, 57); Mary Gordon,
"The Fascination Begins in the Mouth" (June 13, 1993,
pp. 3, 31); John Updike, "Even the Bible is Soft on Sex"
(June 20, 1993, pp. 3, 29); William Trevor, "Remembering
Mr. Pinkerton" (June 27, 1993, pp. 3, 25); Gore Vidal, "The
Most Unnerving Sin" (July 4, 1993, p. 3); Richard Howard,
"Avarice, 1849: A Distraction" (July 11, 1993, p. 3);
A. S. Byatt, "The Sin of Families and Nations" (July
18, 1993, pp. 3, 25-26); Joyce Carol Oates, "The One Unforgivable
Sin" (July 25, 1993, pp. 3, 25)] [Hayden: BV4626.D43 1993]
Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queene. Ed. Thomas P.
Roche, Jr., with C. Patrick O'Donnell, Jr. London: Penguin, 1978,
reprint 1987. [PR2358.A3R6 1978]
Requirements:
Students will be responsible for the content not only of the reading
assignments, but also of our discussions in class. Regular attendance
and participation in the discussions of all texts (not just the
text[s] that you are researching for the semester) are prerequisites
for passing the course. The door to the classroom will remain
open for five minutes after the scheduled time for the class to
begin; after that point the door will be closed. If you are late
and see that the door has been closed, you have already been marked
absent for that day - do not come into the classroom. Two unexcused
absences are permissible without any effect on your grade, but
three unexcused absences or more will adversely affect the final
grade for the course. Absences due to a medical condition must
be excused by a statement signed by the physician in charge of
the treatment. You may also expect brief quizzes on all reading
assignments. Do not use any electronic equipment in the classroom
to record the discussion or take notes. The final grade for the
course will be composed of individual performance in six
areas:
1) A Topic Description. All Topic Descriptions (1 page; typed or printed in no larger than size 12 font; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, and your name at the top of the page; and carefully proofread) are due on February 15. The grade on the Topic Description will account for about 10 percent of your final grade. Two or three students may wish to work together on a series of oral presentations of related topics or literary texts and/or intellectual documents to be held at successive class meetings.
2) An oral presentation. The presentation (ca. 15 minutes) represents the fruits of your initial research on a topic which will either be assigned to you or which you will choose yourself after consultation with me. You must meet with me during my office hours (or make an appointment) to discuss your topic. The presentation should be open-ended and should encourage questions from the rest of the class. The grade on the presentation will account for about 15 percent of the final grade.
3) A brief critical book report. The book report (1-2 pages; typed or printed in no larger than size 12 font; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) will deal with one or two major studies (secondary literature) of the topic or text on which your report is based and is due on the date of the oral report. The grade on the critical book report will account for about 10 percent of the final grade.
4) Quizzes. The quizzes will cover many of the works, including secondary texts, to be read for the semester. The average of all the quizzes will account for about 15 percent of the final grade.
5) A short paper. The short paper (5-7 pages; typed or printed in no larger than size 12 font; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) is to be handed in one week before the oral presentation. The paper will include an annotated bibliography of 3-5 items of secondary research (not primary texts) which you will have read in preparation for giving the report and writing the paper (for all questions of documentation and references, follow the guidelines available at: http://www.public.asu.edu/~dedalus/guidetostyle/index.html). The short paper for all reports to be held on or after April 12 will be due on April 5. The short paper will serve as the basis for your term paper. The grade on the short paper will account for about 15 percent of the final grade.
6) A term paper. The term paper (10-15 pages; typed or printed in no larger than size 12 font; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) is one in which all of your research on the topic, and all of your own brilliance, are formulated carefully and in the scope which the subject demands. Term papers must be turned in to me - together with the copy of the short paper you handed in to me and which I returned to you with my comments - at the latest on the last day of class. I will not be able to complete your grade for the course (you will receive an Incomplete) unless I receive both papers at the end of the semester. The grade on the term paper will account for about 35 percent of the final grade.
1. W 1/20 - Introduction: The syllabus, documentation and style, plagiarism
2. M 1/25 - What is Sin? [read for today: from Kleinberg, 7
Deadly Sins, pp. 10-31]
3. W 1/27 - Sins as Cultural Constructions [read for today: Newhauser,
"Introduction"] (pdf)
4. M 2/1 - The Sins on MTV
5. W 2/3 - Origins: Monastic Culture [read for today: from Evagrius,
The Praktikos, pp. 16-26 (the eight evil thoughts)]
6. M 2/8 - Accidia (Sloth) [read for today: from Kleinberg,
7 Deadly Sins, pp. 32-43]
7. W 2/10 - No Class
8. M 2/15 - Sin and Social Change [read for today: Little,
"Pride Goes before Avarice"]; All Topic
Descriptions Due Today
9. W 2/17 - Aristocratic Society [read for today: from Prudentius,
Psychomachia, pp. 290-301 (pride v. humility)];
Student report _____________________; Student report _____________________
10. M 2/22 - Superbia (Pride); [read for today: from Kleinberg,
7 Deadly Sins, pp. 132-49]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
11. W 2/24 - Medieval and Classical Cultures [read for today:
Martin of Braga, De ira]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
12. M 3/1 - Ira (Wrath); [read for today: from Kleinberg, 7
Deadly Sins, pp. 113-31]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
13. W 3/3 - Academic Culture; Systems of Vices and Virtues; Student
report _____________________; Student report _____________________
14. M 3/8 - Invidia (Envy); [read for today: from Kleinberg,
7 Deadly Sins, pp. 44-61]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
15. W 3/10 - Sin and Confession [read for today: from Geoffrey
Chaucer, "The Parson's Tale," pp. 530-64 (vices and
contrary virtues)]; Student report _____________________; Student
report _____________________
(3/14 - 3/21 - Spring Break)
16. M 3/22 - Peasant/Bourgeois Society [read for today: from
William Langland, Piers Plowman, pp. 42-63, 270-79
(B.5: sins' confession) (pdf)];
Student report _____________________; Student report _____________________
17. W 3/24 - Accidia (Sloth); Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
18. M 3/29 - The Seven Deadly Sins and Modernity I [read for
today: Bossy, "Moral Arithmatic"]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
19. W 3/31 - Ambiguity and Moral Theology [read for today: Newhauser,
"On Ambiguity in Moral Theology"]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
20. M 4/5 - Avaritia (Greed); [read for today: Poggio Bracciolini,
On Avarice; from Kleinberg, 7 Deadly Sins,
pp. 97-112]; Student report _____________________; Student report
_____________________; All Short Papers Due Today for reports
to be held on or after April 12
21. W 4/7 - The Seven Deadly Sins and Modernity II [read for today:
from Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iv, pp. 79-91,
1085-88 (procession of sins)]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
22. M 4/12 - Gula (Gluttony); [read for today: from Kleinberg,
7 Deadly Sins, pp. 81-96]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
23. W 4/14 - Vices as Virtues [read for today: Brecht and Weill,
The Seven Deadly Sins]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
24. M 4/19 - Luxuria (Lust); [read for today: from Kleinberg,
7 Deadly Sins, pp. 62-80]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
25. W 4/21 - Rethinking Sin I [read for today: Pynchon et al.,
Deadly Sins, essays by Pynchon, Gordon, Updike,
and Trevor]; Student report _____________________; Student report
_____________________
26. M 4/26 - Rethinking Sin II [read for today: Pynchon et
al., Deadly Sins, essays by Vidal, Howard, Byatt,
and Oates]; Student report _____________________; Student report
_____________________
27. W 4/28 - New Sins?; [read for today: from Kleinberg, 7
Deadly Sins, pp. 150-65]; Student report _____________________;
Student report _____________________
28. M 5/3 - Epilogue; All Term Papers Due Today
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY!
In the "Student Academic Integrity Policy" manual, ASU
defines "'Plagiarism" [as] using another's words, ideas,
materials or work without properly acknowledging and documenting
the source. Students are responsible for knowing the rules governing
the use of another's work or materials and for acknowledging and
documenting the source appropriately." You can find more
information on plagiarism at:
http://provost.asu.edu/academicintegrity
Academic dishonesty, including inappropriate collaboration, will not be tolerated. There are severe sanctions for cheating, plagiarizing and any other form of dishonesty.