| Course Winter Timetable |

Literary Studies Courses

VIC201Y1
Ancient and Medieval Literary Modes: Conventions and Continuities 52L

Selected genres, topoi, or modes (such as epic, romance, satire, tragedy, lyric, utopia, autobiography, confession), with special
attention to their roots in the Ancient and Medieval period.
Exclusion: VIC110Y1

VIC210Y1
Literary Studies II: Empire, Literature and Modernity 52L, 26T

The rise of modern European literatures in various contexts - colonialism, humanism, literacy, nation-states, democratic movements, ideologies, individualism - which prompted development of new literary genres and sub-genres, figures, personae and filiations. Texts: Petrarch, (selected poems); Montaigne, Essays, (selection); Shakespeare, The Tempest; Cervantes, Don Quixote; Milton, Paradise Lost; Juana Ines de la Cruz, (selected poems and prose); Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; Wheatley, (selected poems); Rousseau, Emile; Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman; Goethe, Elective Affinities; Claire de Duras, Ourika, (MLA Texts and Translations); Bremer, The Colonel’s Daughter; Tolstoy, The Cossacks; Haggard, She; Pauline Johnson, (selected short stories)

VIC211Y1
Literature and Film: Issues of Adaptation 52L

Cinematic readings of epic and lyric poetry, folk tale, biblical narrative, novel, short story. The focus will be on cross-cultural
translation in a wide variety of cinematic styles and forms, including classic Hollywood film, animation, film noir, neo-realism, surrealist film.
Exclusion: INI328Y1

VIC300H1/Y1
Special Topic in Literary Studies 78S

Interdisciplinary seminar on an author or extensive work (eg. Proust’s, Remembrance of Things Past, Joyce’s, Finnegans Wake) or on a historical period (eg. Late Antiquity, Romanticism, the Harlem Renaissance) or critical event. Emphasis on literature and its relation to fine arts, philosophy, politics, history
Prerequisite: VIC110Y1/VIC201Y1/301Y1/VIC310Y1/instructor’s approval

VIC310Y1
Literary Studies III: Readings in 20th Century Literature 52L, 26T

The avant-garde and its querying of language, representation, and interpretation. In the first term, intensive study of Joyce’s Ulysses. In the second term, works by writers such as Borges, Robbe-Grillet, Brecht, Gombrowicz, Beckett, Levi, Wolf, Garcia Marquez, Shalamov, Spiegelman.

VIC410Y1
Seminar in Comparative Studies 78S

For students enrolled in the Literary Studies program, although other students are welcome. Intensive study of general issues of
poetics and critical theory, including representative literary and philosophical texts from the European tradition.
Prerequisite: VIC110Y1/VIC210Y1/VIC310Y1/a course in the study of literature

VIC411H1
Postmodernist Approaches to Film and Literature 36S

Study of current filmic and literary theories, with emphasis on the rhetoric of film: the concept of the trope, metaphor, metonymy, allegory, irony, repetition, and specific thematic tropes like the eye, the face, the death mask, the mirror, the dream, etc.
Prerequisite: VIC110Y1/VIC210Y1/VIC310Y1/a course in the study of literature

Renaissance Studies Courses

VIC240Y1
The Civilization of Renaissance Europe 52L

An interdisciplinary introduction to the civilization of the Renaissance illustrated by a study of the institutions, thought, politics, society and culture of both Italy and Northern Europe. Italian city states such as Florence, Urbino and Venice, Papal Rome and despotic Milan are compared with the northern dynastic monarchies of France and England.

VIC341H1
The Self and Society: Women, Men and Children 26S

A study of the changing conception of the human self in the Renaissance, and of its representation by major authors: Erasmus, Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre, Castiglione, Machiavelli and others.

VIC343Y1
Sex and Gender (formerly VIC343H1) 52S

An interdisciplinary approach to questions of gender and sexuality in early modern Europe, with special focus on the representations of the sexual drive, the gender roles of men and women, and varieties of sexual experience in the literature and art of the period.
Exclusion: VIC343H1

VIC344H1
Renaissance Narrative (formerly VIC242H1) 26S

Focuses on analysis of short stories and longer prose works including, in English translation: Boccaccio’s stories of love, fortune and human intelligence in the Decameron; Rabelais’ humorous parody of high culture in Gargantua; the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet; and the adventures of picaresque rogues in Lazarillo de Tormes and Nashe’s Unfortunate Traveler.
Exclusion: VIC242H1

VIC345H1
Media and Communications in the Early Modern Era 26S

This course examines the various media (printing press, representation art, music, preaching) and social and political forces (family and political networks, censorship, education, etc.) that conditioned the communication of ideas in early modern society.
Prerequisite: VIC240Y1
VIC346H1 Orpheus in the Italian Renaissance 26S
A study of Orpheus as portrayed in art, music, poetry, and philosophy of the Italian Renaissance.

VIC440Y1
Florence and the Renaissance 52L

An interdisciplinary seminar on Florence in the 15th and 16th centuries: humanism, culture and society in the republican period, the rise of the Medici, Florentine neoplatonism, the establishment of the Medici principate, culture, society and religion.
Prerequisite: VIC240Y1 or permission of instructor

Semiotics Courses

VIC120Y1
Introduction to Semiotics and Communication 52L, 26T

Systems and processes of verbal and non-verbal communication. Processes of constituting texts out of sign systems in a variety of contemporary modes and genres: language, literature, cinema, advertising, the media, art, gestures.

VIC220Y1
Post-Structuralism/Post-Modernism 52L, 26T

Studies the international culture emerging in media and literature and examines recent communication theory as it applies to literary, social and cultural issues.
Prerequisite: VIC120Y1

VIC221Y1
Semiotics in the Professions 52L

Using semiotic analysis to understand impact of postmodernism on professional fields, including education, medicine, law, and the church.
Prerequisite: VIC120Y1

VIC320Y1
Semiotics of Visual Art 52L, 26T

Theories and models of applied semiotics: analysis of sign systems as articulated in various forms of artistic and cultural production.
Prerequisite: VIC120Y1, VIC220Y1/VIC221Y1.
VIC322H1 Topics in Semiotics 26S
An in-depth examination of some aspect of Semiotic theory or practice. Content in any given year depends on instructor. Not offered every year.
Prerequisite: VIC120Y1, VIC220Y1/VIC221Y1.
This is a social science course.

JFV323H1
Semiotics and Literature I 26S

The study of readings from major French literary semioticians will be combined with the practical application of theory to the analysis of selected literary texts. (Given by the Department of French and Victoria College)
Prerequisite: At least 5 course credits in any subject.
Exclusion(s): FRE444H1/445H1
Recommended Preparation: FRE240Y1/VIC120Y1
This is a humanities or social science course.
JFV333H1 Semiotics and Literature II 26S
The study of readings from major French literary semioticians will be combined with the practical application of theory to the analysis of selected literary texts. (Given by the Department of French and Victoria College)
Prerequisite: At least 5 course credits in any subject.
Exclusion(s): FRE444H1/445H1.
Recommended Preparation: FRE240Y1/VIC120Y1
This is a humanities or social science course.

VIC420Y1
Sign, Culture and History 52L, 26T

Theories of signification studied with a focus on major works in the semiotics of modern and contemporary culture.
Prerequisite: ANT323Y1, VIC120Y1, VIC220Y1/VIC221Y1, VIC320Y1.

Other Victoria College Courses

VIC299Y1
Research Opportunity Program

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. See page 40 for details.

VIC350Y1
Creative Writing: A Multicultural Approach 52S

Practice and instruction in writing poetry and fiction, paired with study of literature and theory introducing the multicultural richness of contemporary English writing. Approximately three-quarters of class periods are workshops, one-quarter lecture discussions. Work by many writers from contemporary and traditional literatures are read in English translation.
Prerequisite: four credits
This is a Humanities course

VIC390Y1/391H1
Victoria College Independent Studies TBA

VIC490Y1/491H1
Victoria College Independent Studies TBA

These courses provide an opportunity to design an interdisciplinary course of study not otherwise available within the Faculty. Written application (detailed proposal, reading list and a letter of support from a Victoria College faculty member who is prepared to supervise) should be made through the Program Director for approval by Victoria College Council’s Academic Advisory Committee by April 30 for a Fall course or by November 30 for a Spring course.
Prerequisite: Permission of College Program Director