RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

A salient defect in the Department of Comparative Literature is the lack of any full course devoted to the Literature of the Renaissance, as a whole. There are a number of courses which discuss various aspects of the period, but which treat literature in a cursory manner. Several reasons for urging the creation of such a course are apparent.

At the present time, History 7 attempts to cover the Renaissance from all points of view. Certain phases of the period are necessarily, but unjustly, subordinated to others. When whole periods of literature are summarized in an occasional lecture, the effect on the mind is that of a confused and unrelated mass of dates and names. Although it is advisable to show the relation between history, art, and literature, each deserves individual treatment which would be treated in a more profound manner.

The ability to view Renaissance literature not as the unrelated work of several nations, but as a genuine artistic unity, is invaluable to the student. One cannot understand, for instance, the remarkable development in English drama and poetry during the sixteenth century without taking into account the influence of contemporary continental movements. Other phases of Renaissance literature are likewise interdependent. A full course, conducted by a competent authority, is the only way of making that understanding possible. Otherwise students of the period will have to rely on courses which straddle the field without covering it.