HUAS90945 - Reading Machiavelli and Macbeth … Twice!

Course Description

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is sometimes read as a rebuttal of Machiavelli’s Prince. We’ll explore this notion by using the strategy laid out in Mortimer Adler’s classic How to Read a Book, to read each work twice, once quickly to get an overview and then again more slowly to figure out the details. Along the way, we’ll pay careful attention to the literary, philosophical, and political aspects of each classic work as well as to the relationships between the two. Prior or concurrent participation in How to Read Classic Texts or equivalent experience is recommended. Students may wish to review Adler and Van Doren’s How to Read a Book prior to, or concurrent with, this course. Please complete the assigned “inspectional” skim readings for Week 1 before the first class.

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Notes

Online registration closes Friday, March 15 at 5 pm CT.

You will receive an invitation to join the Canvas site for the course a week before the class begins. The Zoom link for the course will be in Canvas. For more information about Canvas, please see our Remote Learning Resources page.