Readings and Music

In this course, emphasis falls on weekly reading and listening assignments.

The following are the required text:

[Shakespeare] = Buy at Amazon Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780192834171.

[Goethe] = Buy at Amazon Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Goethe's Faust. Translated and with an Introduction by William Kaufmann. Anchor, 1962. ISBN: 9780385031141.

[James] = Buy at Amazon James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. 2nd ed. Edited by Deborah Esch and Jonathan Warren. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. ISBN: 9780393959048.

These as well as other reading and listening items are featured in the table below.

SES # TOPICS READINGS AND MUSIC
1 Introduction

Music

Song setting of Goethe's poem "Der Erlkönig" (text) by Franz Schubert and Johann Friedrich Reichardt.

Buy at Amazon Schubert, Franz. "Erlkönig ('Wer reitet so spät')." The Hyperion Schubert Edition 8 / Sarah Walker, Graham Johnson. Hyperion UK CD, 1993.

I. Witches
2 The social history of witch-hunting

Readings

Buy at Amazon Briggs, Robin. "Introduction." In Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN: 9780140144383.

Buy at Amazon ———. "The Projection of Evil." Chapter IV in Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN: 9780140144383.

Buy at Amazon ———. "Men against Women: the Gendering of Witchcraft." Chapter VII in Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN: 9780140144383.

3 Witch-hunting discussion

Readings

Buy at Amazon Willis, Deborah. "(Un) Neighborly Nurture." Chapter 2 in Malevolent Nature: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England. Cornell University Press, 1995, pp. 27–65. ISBN: 9780801481949.

Buy at Amazon Midelfort, H.C. Erik. "The General Crisis of Confidence, 1627–1684." Chapter 6 in Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany, 1562-1684: The Social and Intellectual Foundations. Stanford University Press, 1972, pp. 150–4. ISBN: 9780804708050.

4 Introduction to Shakespeare's Macbeth

Reading

[Shakespeare]
5 Macbeth discussion

Readings

Buy at Amazon Brooke, Nicholas, ed. "Introduction, Section 1: Illusion." In The Oxford Shakespeare: Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199535835.

Buy at Amazon ———. "Introduction, Section 3: Baroque Drama." In The Oxford Shakespeare: Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199535835.

Screening: Throne of Blood. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Black & White, 110 min. 1957.

Reading

Buy at Amazon Goodwin, James. "Tragedy without Heroes: Throne of Blood." Chapter 4 in Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema. John Hopkins University Press, 1993, pp. 169–91. ISBN: 9780801846618. (Optional)
6 Shakespeare, Kurosawa and context discussion

Readings

Buy at Amazon Greenblatt, Stephen. "Shakespeare Bewitched." Chapter 4 in New Historical Literary Study: Essays on Reproducing Texts, Representing History. Edited by Jeffrey N. Cox and Larry J. Reynolds. Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780691015460. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Wills, Gary. "Introduction: The Trouble with Macbeth." In Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Gunpowder." Chapter 1 in Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Witches." Chapter 2 in Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Jesuits." Chapter 5 in Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Male Witch." Chapter 3 in Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview with Google Books] (Optional)

7 Purcell, Dido and Aeneas

Reading

Buy at Amazon Price, Curtis A. "Dido and Aeneas: The Allegory." Chapter 5 in Henry Purcell and the London Stage. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 229–34. ISBN: 9780521105156. [Preview with Google Books]

Music

Buy at Amazon Purcell, Henry. Dido and Aeneas. Emmanuelle Haim, conductor. European Voices, Le Concert d'Astree, Susan Graham, et al. Virgin Veritas CD, 2004.

Buy at Amazon Purcell, Henry. "The Libretto: A Critical Edition." In Dido and Aeneas: An Opera. Edited by Curtis A. Price. W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. ISBN: 9780393955286.

8 Purcell discussion No readings or music
9 Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique; Verdi, Macbeth

Reading

A Beginner's Guide to the Supernatural in Music: Macbeth and Symphonie fantastique (PDF)

Music

Buy at Amazon Verdi, Guisseppe. Macbeth. Claudio Abbado, conductor. Alla Scala Theater Orchestra and Chorus, Shirley Verrett, Piero Cappuccilli, et al. Deutsche Grammophon CD, 1997.

Excerpts from Act 1:

Preludio
Introduzione: Che faceste? dite su!
Due vaticini compiuti or sono
S'allontanarono!
Sappia la sposa mia
Di destarlo per tempo il re m'impose

Excerpts from Act 3:

Tre volte miagola la gatta in fregola
Ballo
Finche appeli
Fuggi, regal fantasima
Ondine e Silfidi

Macbeth libretto, operafolio.com.

Buy at Amazon Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie Fantastique. Mvmt. 1, 2, 4 and 5. Roger Norrington, conductor. The London Classical Players. Virgin Classics CD, 2006.

10 Berlioz, Verdi discussion No readings or music
11 Verdi's Macbeth

Readings

Buy at Amazon Parker, Roger. "Macbeth." In The New Grove Guide to Verdi and His Operas. Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780195313147. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Albright, Daniel. "Shakespeare's Random." Chapter 10 in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. BOYE6, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Magic as Theft." Chapter 11 in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. BOYE6, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Prophesying." Chapter 12 in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. BOYE6, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Squinting at Consequences." Chapter 13 in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. BOYE6, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Witches Amok." Chapter 17 in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. BOYE6, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview with Google Books]

II. Learned Magic
12 Introduction to learned magic and alchemy
Guest: Tara Nummedal

Readings

Buy at Amazon Kiechefer, Richard. "Arabic Learning and the Occult Sciences." Chapter 6 in Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 116–9, and pp. 133–65. ISBN: 9780521785761. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Grafton, Anthony. "The Master of Time." Chapter 1 in Cardano's Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer. Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780674006706. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "The Astrologer's Practice." Chapter 2 in Cardano's Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer. Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780674006706. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. "The Ritual Magician and his Work." In Wizards: A History. The History Press, Limited, 2007, pp. 13–32. ISBN: 9780752441276.

Buy at Amazon ———. "The Patterns and Aims of a Ritual Magician." In Wizards: A History. The History Press, Limited, 2007, pp. 77–81. ISBN: 9780752441276.

The Chymistry of Isaac Newton: Multimedia Lab, indiana.edu.

13 Visit to MIT Libraries Special Collections

Readings

Special Collections booklist (PDF)

Photo highlights from books on magic, google.com.

14 Introduction to Goethe's Faust

Reading

[Goethe] Part 1, to line 2072.
15 Goethe's Faust; Murnau

Reading

[Goethe] Part 1, to end.
16 Murnau's Faust, Marlowe's Faust, and the Faust puppet play

Readings

Buy at Amazon Ott, Frederick W. "Faust." In The Great German Films: From Before World War I to the Present. Citadel, 1991. ISBN: 9780806512181.

Excerpt from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. (Read from "OLD MAN. O gentle Faustus…'' to the end.)

Excerpts from This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.Dr. Johannes Faustus' Puppet Play (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Faustus, Johannes. Puppet Play Now First Done into English. Book on Demand Ltd., 2013. ISBN: 9785518781900. (Optional full reading)

17 Faust in music

Readings

Buy at Amazon Sternfeld, F. W. "Faust." In New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Oxford University Press, 2004. Edited by Stanley Sadie. ISBN: 9780195221862.

Buy at Amazon Huebner, Steven. "Faust (ii)." In New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Oxford University Press, 2004. Edited by Stanley Sadie. ISBN: 9780195221862.

Faust and 19th Century Orchestral Music (PDF)

18 Liszt, Faust Symphony

Reading

Buy at Amazon Searle, Humphrey. "Frank Liszt (1811–1186)." Chapter 9 in The Symphony. Edited by Ralph Hill. Penguin–Pelican, 1950, pp. 191–97; musical examples 1–8, and pp. 200–1.

Music

Buy at Amazon Liszt, Franz. A Faust Symphony. Leonard Bernstein, conductor. The New York Philharmonic. Sony Import CD, 2011

III. Ghosts
19 Henry James and Spiritualism
Guest: Paul Fisher

Readings

Buy at Amazon Braude, Ann. "Introduction: My Soul's Thraldom and Its Deliverance." In Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. 2nd ed. Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780253215024. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "Unbroken Communication between the Infinite and All Beings." Chapter 1 in Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. 2nd ed. Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780253215024. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "The Blessedness of Sinless Childhood in the World Beyond." Chapter 2 in Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. 2nd ed. Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780253215024. [Preview with Google Books] (Optional)

Buy at Amazon Fisher, Paul. "Spirits." Chapter 14 in House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family. Henry Holt and Company, 2008, pp. 474–80. ISBN: 9780805074901.

Buy at Amazon Jones, Vivien. "Henry James's 'The Turn of the Screw'." Chapter 1 in Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Edited by Patricia Howard. Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521283564. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Beidler, Peter. "Motifs of the Ghost-Case Tradition." Chapter 3 in Ghosts, Demons, and Henry James: The Turn of the Screw at the Turn of the Century. University of Missouri Press, 1989, pp. 76–101. ISBN: 9780826206848.

Buy at Amazon ———. "Spirit Mediums and Demon Possession." Chapter 5 in Ghosts, Demons, and Henry James: The Turn of the Screw at the Turn of the Century. University of Missouri Press, 1989, pp. 150–9. ISBN: 9780826206848.

Buy at Amazon Apraxine, Pierre, and Sophie Schmit. "Photography and the Occult." In The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Edited by Clément Chéroux, Andreas Fischer, et al. Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780300111361.

Buy at Amazon Cloutier, Crista. "Mumler's Ghosts." In The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Edited by Clément Chéroux, Andreas Fischer, et al. Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780300111361.

Buy at Amazon Fischer, Andreas. "The Reciprocal Adaptation of Optics and Phenomena." In The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Edited by Clément Chéroux, Andreas Fischer, et al. Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780300111361.

Buy at Amazon Richardson, Robert D. William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism. Mariner Books, 2007, pp. 257–65, 478–9, and 506–8. ISBN: 9780618919895. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Gaskell, Elizabeth. "The Old Nurse's Story." In Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology. Edited by Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert. Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780192829993.

20 Introduction to James' The Turn of the Screw

Reading

[James]
21 James' The Turn of the Screw discussion

Reading                                                                     

[James]

22 Music of Britten's The Turn of the Screw

Readings

Britten's Turn of the Screw: A Basic Guide (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Howard, Patricia. "Myfanwy Piper's 'The Turn of the Screw': Libretto and Synopsis." Chapter 2 in Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Edited by Patricia Howard. Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521283564. [Preview with Google Books]

For students with considerable musical experience:

Buy at Amazon Evans, Peter. The Music of Benjamin Britten. Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 203–33. ISBN: 9780198165903.

For students with less musical experience:

Buy at Amazon White, Eric Walter. "The Turn of the Screw." Chapter 9 in Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas. University of California Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780520048942. [Preview with Google Books]

Music

Buy at Amazon Britten, Benjamin. The Turn of the Screw. Steuart Bedford, conductor. Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, Philip Landridge, Felicity Lott, et al. Naxos CD, 2004.