HIST 353. Sentimental Education in Early Modern Europe (WELLESLEY COLLEGE)

Simon Grote
It has been a commonplace since antiquity that human beings are rational animals.  But the notion that we also have non-rational capacities – senses, imaginations, memories, desires, and emotions – and that developing these capacities is important, is equally venerable and similarly central to Western intellectual and cultural history.  Our seminar will trace this notion like a golden thread through some of the most fascinating manifestations of the visual and material culture of early modern Europe, and through the various psychological and educational theories that shaped that culture — and simultaneously through some of the jewels of Wellesley’s own collections of rare books, manuscripts, visual arts, and other artifacts.  Our many subjects will include memory palaces, Jesuit meditation techniques, emblem books, cabinets of curiosities, history paintings, pictorial encyclopedias, and games.  For each session we will meet in the Clapp Library Special Collections seminar room to discuss the week’s readings and examine objects from Wellesley’s collections.