Department of French and Italian

Back by professorial demand, the Rabelais Seminar, last offered in Spring 1998, will study all five books of Rabelais’ novel and their cultural contexts while reading Rabelais criticism as a paradigm of Renaissance studies. There is a lot to take stock of since ’98: last year saw the publication of the new RSA/Brill Companion to Rabelais while in 2017 a team of French scholars launched the new journal l’Année Rabelaisienne to reinvigorate the field and reorient Rabelais studies toward one of the most prevalent trends in Renaissance studies, the History of the Book. The seminar is open to students of different disciplines who want to deepen their knowledge of the cultural crises and controversies of the European Renaissance in the company of one of the most creative figures in all of world literature. Through an in-class presentation and a 15 to 20 page term paper, students will develop a research project in keeping with their own interests and expertise that relates to the world of Rabelais. We will also have a visit from one of the current editors of l’Année Rabelaisienne.