VIC171Y1
Methodology, Theory and Ethics in the Life Sciences
An examination of scientific theories and their logic, the role in life sciences
of models and mathematics, and issues in
experimental design and data analysis. Particular emphasis will be placed
on evolutionary theory, genomics, contemporary
scientific controversies and ethical issues.
Co-requisites BIO150Y1 & VIC170Y
Pearson Stream
VIC181H1
Events and the Public Sphere: World Affairs
A seminar course that examines a specific event or events in relation to
the public sphere. The course will use events or an
event as an entry point to discuss the nature of society including topics
such as major revolutions, economic crises, the impact
of the appearance of significant artistic or cultural works, and the impact
of technological changes. We will emphasize recent
political developments in world affairs.
Co-requisites: VIC182H1, VIC183H1, VIC184H1,
and a First year course in History or Political Science
VIC182H1
Events and the Public Sphere: Case Studies
A seminar course that examines a specific event or events in relation to
the public sphere. The course will use events or an
event as an entry point to discuss the nature of society including topics
such as major revolutions, economic crises, the impact
of the appearance of significant artistic or cultural works, and the impact
of technological changes. We will emphasize case
studies of recent social issues.
Co-requisites: VIC181H1, VIC183H1, VIC184H1,
and a first year course in History or Political Science
VIC183H1
Individuals and the Public Sphere: Shaping Memory
A seminar course that examines the contribution of an individual or individuals to the public sphere. The course will explore
how public service and citizenship are developed in the context of studying the social, philosophical, cultural and scientific
context of the period. Topics could include the role of law and government, civil liberties, rights and responsibilities, the role of
protest. We will examine individuals who have shaped the processes by which modern memory is formed.
Co-requisites: VIC181H1, VIC182H1, VIC184H1 & a first year course in History or Political Science
VIC184H1
Individuals and the Public Sphere: Cultural Memory
A seminar course that examines the contribution of an individual or individuals to the public sphere. The course will explore
how public service and citizenship are developed in the context of studying the social, philosophical, cultural and scientific
context of the period. Topics could include the role of law and government, civil liberties, rights and responsibilities, the role of
protest. We will examine our evolving role in developing cultural memory.
Co-requisites: VIC181H1, VIC182H1, VIC183H1 & a First year course in History or Political Science
Literary Studies Courses
For Distribution Requirement purposes (see page 24), all VIC Literary Studies
courses are classified as HUMANITIES courses.
VIC201Y1
Ancient and Medieval Literary 52L
Modes: Conventions and Continuities
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)
VIC211H1/Y1
Literature and Film: Issues of Adaptation 26L/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
VIC300H1/301H1
Special Topics: Literary Studies 39S
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: VIC 110Y1/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/Y1
Postmodernist Approaches to Film and Literature 18S/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
See page 30 for Key to Course Descriptions.
For Distribution Requirement purposes (see page 24), all VIC Renaissance
Studies courses are classified as HUMANITIES
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 52S
(formerly VIC343H1)
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 26S
(formerly VIC242H1)
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.
VIC 346H1
Orpheus in the Italian Renaissance 26S
A study of Orpheus as portrayed in art, music, poetry, and philosophy of
the Italian Renaissance.
VIC 347Y1
Studies in Renaissance Performance 52L
Studies in the development of new musical and/or dramatic forms in the
Renaissance. The course will combine seminars and
lectures with a series of musical and/or dramatic performances taking
place in Toronto over the course of an academic year.
Recommended preparation: VIC240Y1,
or another course in Renaissance Studies.
VIC 348Y1
The Renaissance in the Cities 52L
An interdisciplinary course exploring the history, art, architecture, literature,
and music of the Renaissance in one or more cities
from ca. 1400-1650. The course will investigate how local political
and social-historical contexts shape ideas and cultural
forms, and so illustrate the process and effects of cross-fertilization
in the Renaissance period.
Recommended preparation: VIC240Y1,
or another course in Renaissance Studies.
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
See page 30 for Key to Course Descriptions.
For Distribution Requirement purposes (see page 24), all VIC Semiotics courses
are classified as SOCIAL SCIENCE 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.
VIC 322H1
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.
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): FRE 444H1/445H1
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): FRE 444H1/445H1.
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.
World Literatures Courses
See page 30 for Key to Course Descriptions.
For the Distribution Requirement, JEF100Y1 and
the WLD course are Humanities courses.
JEF100Y1
The Western Tradition 78L
(formerly WLD 100Y1)
An introduction to literature through major works of the Western literary tradition. What constitutes a literary "classic"? How
have the great concerns of the Western tradition - human nature, its place in society, its mythmaking, its destiny - been
represented in literature? These and other questions are examined by reference to 11-12 works, from ancient times to the
twentieth century, by such authors as: Homer, Sophocles, Ovid, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, MoliŠre, Austen,
Dostoevski, Kafka, Camus, Beckett and M rquez. (A joint course offered by the Departments of English and French; see also
JEF100Y1 in the French program listings.)
Exclusion: WLD100Y1
WLD300Y1
Provocations: Literary Transformations in
the 20th Century 78L
What makes literature "modern"? What makes its questions different from those asked in the past? This course examines
significant transformations in contemporary literature by studying works ranging from the early avant-garde to most recent
literary trends.
Recommended Preparation: JEF100Y1
Other Victoria College Courses
VIC299Y1
Research Opportunity Program
Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. See page 43 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
VIC 351H1
Learning Communities and Higher Education in Canada 26S
This course examines the evolution of higher education in Canada. Using Victoria
University and Victoria's affiliates as a case
study, the course explores the intersection of gender, race, class and
religion. Comparisons are made with other
denominational and secular institutions in the context of late nineteenth
and early twentieth century education. International
contexts of education through student service and missions are discussed.
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) must 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. Students should have a minimum
CGPA of 3.
Prerequisite: Permission of College Program Director
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