Autumn Quarter In Rome 2018: Sacking Rome-Creative Writing at the Center of the Western World

ENGL 493 (5 credits)

The famous monuments and cultural treasury of the city will serve as laboratory benches. We’ll offer rigorous review of the technical elements of literary composition, prescribe practice, and experience what it means to carry one’s mind as an artist for ten weeks. Our many experiments— writing to prompt— will throw light (if sometimes also inky smoke) back across the sights we’ve seen, and fill a portfolio you’ll find on your shelf a quarter-century from now. No prior experience in creative writing is presumed and a wide range is anticipated. The class will scale to respective students’ abilities, and prove demanding at all levels.

Learning goals include:
Learning how to experience the world as a writer. Students will complete daily writing assignments and participate in class discussion.

ENGL 395 (5 credits)

We write, therefore we read; the practices are interdependent. We’ll read from a writerly perspective. Taking inspiration from literary figures who’ve besieged the city before us, we’ll make acquaintance with Roman literati, citizens and expatriates alike. Our course packet begins with excerpts from the ancient and medieval worlds (in translation), and includes more modern British, American, and Italian literature. We’ll greet Keats near the Spanish steps at the beginning of our travels and at the Protestant cemetery near the end.

Learning goals include:
We’ll deepen understanding of Rome’s great poets, writers, and historians, considering how these writers shape modern and contemporary attitudes toward Rome. Students will discuss readings in class and write brief analyses of each text. Those seeking “W” credit or pre1900 credit will also submit an end of term research paper.

ENGL 363 (5 credits)

Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences We’ll begin with survival instruction in conversational Italian. We’ll discover art, architecture, archaeology, history, and other facets of Roman intellectual life and culture. We’ll take several field trips, including overnight visits to a hill-town to the north, and a coastal region in the south of Italy. What does it mean to think like a scientist? What are those little birds streaking against the ocher walls of that palazzo, nesting in its cornices? What is the natural history of a gryphon? For hundreds of years before its archaeological excavation in modern times, the ruined Colosseum was a wilderness of exotic flora and fauna, residual of the African, European and Asian animal trades serving the Roman games. Those blood sports are long gone, but ecologies continue to flourish and change without them. Any environment, urban ones included, may be viewed from the naturalist’s perspective. We’ll see this one under the guidance of Dr. Adam Summers, a distinguished scientist at the UW marine laboratories in Friday Harbor.

Learning goals include:
This omnibus course aims to deepen student understanding of art, architecture, history, natural history, and culture in Rome and Italy. Students will participate in class discussions and make two presentations to the class.