In 1501, Pietro Bembo observed that “it really was a fine thing to encounter new lands-almost another world—and to place on record peoples who had been concealed and cut off from us.” But even without taking into account Atlantic navigations that Bembo alluded to, early Modern Venice boasted the most diverse population in Europe, if not the world. Venetian culture was influenced by the arts and civilizations of Northern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Through our study of this waterborne Republic, this course will examine a multicultural state whose livelihood was based on global trade, intellectual ferment, and artistic vitality . We will investigate the ways in which culture and the flourishing book trade embraced and showcased Venice's diversity. We will also apply our historical study to the global, multicultural society in which we live today and reflect on the impact of the climate crisis on this unique city.
In this course students will:
Engage with the political, social and ethical arguments raised by the cultural production of early modern Venice;
Interrogate key social, historiographic, and literary concepts, such as Venetian political and religious identity, materiality (book history and cartography), intellectual history, and cross-cultural contact;
Required Texts:
David Chambers and Brian Pullan, with Jennifer Fletcher, eds., Venice: A Documentary History,1450–1630 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001).