Fall, 2001
Prof. Laurel Carrington, Holland 535
x 3628, e-mail: carringt@stolaf.edu
The purpose of this course will be to explore three examples of advances in media technologies that had major implications for intellectual and social history. The first is the development of a new script, the Caroline Minuscule, in the period of Emperor Charlemagne's rule in 8th and 9th century Europe. The second is the 15th century invention of the printing press. The third is the internet of our own time.
The first part of the course will explore Charlemagne's court school, and the impact of the development of a readable script on the dissemination of manuscripts. The Caroline Minuscule eventually became a standard script for manuscript production in Charlemagne's far-flung territories, making possible the production of manuscripts that were readily comprehensible to a wider audience than previous handwriting practices allowed. We will work through a brief introduction to the paleographical traditions of the period, as well as learn about the literary culture of the court school and monastic institutions in which the script was used for manuscript production. As part of this segment there will be a trip to the Hill Manuscript Library in Collegeville.
Part II of the course will address the role of the printing press in the Reformation. Gutenberg's invention in the mid-15th century over time revolutionized the availability of literature to a wider audience. We will explore the impact of the new technology on a world that did not yet have in place a tradition of institutional practices for regulating the flow of literature, examining how the invention of print affected the literary culture of the period, and how the Reformation itself developed in the context of that culture. One anticipated activity will be a trip to the Rare Books room of the Wilson Library.
Finally, the last part of the course will address the effect of the internet on the propagation of knowledge in our own day. Some of the questions we will consider will be what impact the internet has had on the way people think, how we now stand in relation to the medium at a point where regulatory mechanisms do not exist, and whether or not books as we've known them will become obsolete in our lifetimes. I will expect you to take the lead in this part of the course, both in presenting the material and in devising assignments.
At the conclusion of each segment of the course, you will be asked to put together a presentation employing several media--pictorial evidence, internet, print--in which you explore creatively a significant issue raised by that segment of the course. For a final project, you will be asked to reflect on the role of media in intellectual history and in the production of culture.