Revisiting Research Resources

The Renaissance humanists set about recovering old and forgotten texts and bringing these to light: Petrarch found Cicero's Familiar Letters gathering dust, and later publishers like Aldus Manutius would print and disseminate such works. They went back to the primary sources of knowledge from western culture and found more there than they expected.

Similarly, today we benefit from renewed access to otherwise forgotten or barely accessible works. This began with Project Gutenberg when, in 1971, a University of Illinois college freshman, Michael Hart, keyed in the Declaration of Independence and envisioned thousands of freely available electronic texts (Lebert). His dream was realized as first the world wide web in 1990 and then an army of volunteers organized in 2000 began ramping up production. Today, almost 50,000 public domain texts reside on the site.

Little did the Finnish poet know
that his works would be
available to billions

Well known works in the western canon were the first to be digitized in this project, such as Shakespeare and the Bible. But Project Gutenberg -- like other platforms for digital content -- soon found itself accommodating far more obscure works. So, while the well known Old English epic, Beowulf was put into digital form, so also was the less known grammar by Ælfric of Eynsham. This text recovery process quickly began expanding into many different languages: one can peruse the Finnish poet Veikko Antero Koskenniemi's Lyyra ja paimenhuilu in its original tongue, or works in Mayan, Frisian, or Yiddish. The variety of newly available sources goes beyond languages, and includes a multitude of both common and obscure genres (from plays to CIA Factbooks) and formats (from novels and periodicals to computer-generated audiobooks and sheet music).

Petrarch: Inventor of the Seance For Purposes of Flattery

[Italy. A small home seemingly decorated with fervent but sporadic mini-shrines.]

Ohmmmmmm. Is Cicero there? Ask our spirit guide if Cicero is there.

Cicero. Yes. Hi. Um, I'm Petrarch and I invent sonnets and so forth, and I don't really have any questions for you because I am your biggest fan and have devoted serious effort to stalking you transtemporally. Ahem. Love you bye.

[End scene.]

Hope for Humanity

When I first enrolled in the class, I was expecting new techniques of pedagogy, some digital components of coursework and a project-based structure--but I never expected a non-structured, seemingly non-focused curriculum, the daily panic-attack of a surprise homework load and the inability to plan ahead due to the non-presence of any syllabus at all. "I should drop it," I remember thinking, "I can't handle this in my last semester of school--and my first semester married--and my first semester working--and the semester when I'm in a hardcore capstone class." I stayed, because I've seen the potential for creativity in learning fluidly, with group members, in projects, and in a new medium--and I've seen the results without such encouragement... 

I made this myself. All rights out the window. 
Also, I just noticed this zombie could be in the middle of the Thriller dance. 

My mom just wrote a post for her parenting blog reflecting on her experience with pedagogy in home school with my little brother. She was amazed at the change she's seen as he's been allowed and encouraged to direct his own learning and become invested in that process: "In the past year, our Zombie child morphed into a more self-directed teenager with greater confidence in his own talent and abilities—a transformation nearly as incredible as that in the movie [Warm Bodies]!" She claims that several aspects of public schooling are "Zombie Makers," including low sleep, high stress, inefficient, focused-on-the-squeaky-wheel/overburdened teachers and, especially, a one-size-fits-all curriculum. You can read more of her essay on education-created zombie teens here. 

Albert Einstein quothe: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it's stupid."

Humanism in the English Renaissance was intensely concerned with returning to classic education techniques, which, if followed together, would enable humanity like never before in history (except of course ancient Greece, haha), and create the perfect "Renaissance Man," able to speak, write, reason and make clever conversation. Erasmus of Rotterdam said famously, "It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is," but the next happiness, of course, was extending the mental and logical facilities of man to make him, as Hamlet says in Shakespeare's play, a "piece of work:"
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals...

Hamlet ends his speech, as usual, vacillating between opinions, "—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" but the vantage point of humanism is already established. The potentiality of man, enabled through education and speech/writing training, was almost limitless. In Erasmus's treatise on rhetorical strategies entitled de Copia, he comes up with 100+ variations on just one, boring sentence: "Your letter pleased me greatly."  To see some, click here.

What does this have to do with zombies? The emphasis of humanism was on the potential of human creativity, and through its course, our class has taken a necessary pulse in that vein of thought in order to arrive where we are now: not passified, individually grade-grubbing zombies, but an enlightened (if still amateur) team of Renaissance men and women (Sprezzatura), seeking out (Brave New Worlds) sources and ideas from previous centuries (ad fontes) and repackaging, refreshing and revitalizing (Humanism) them through our new media (Typographia), relying on our faith in God (Ploughboys and Bibles) and in each other (Humanism again!) as we go.


I found myself praying for unity and a sense of purpose, along with the strength to just carry on. 

It was partially a primary text and partially an assignment that answered my prayer, I feel, and changed my experience of the course--a video introduction of Michel Montaigne's Of Cannibals. In re-vamping the situation but retaining the original themes of the piece, I found new inspiration in the Renaissance artist and writer's take on previous centuries. It was exhilarating to find that with a webcam, , dark eye shadow, creativity and a little ketchup, I could do it, too--I could excite and inspire and amuse with the rest of youtube (the modern printing press, making public and simple what had previously been elite and closed to amateurs). The results of the class's video debuts launched us into a whole new aspect of pedagogy: getting the information to the masses in formats they were comfortable with (as in Plough Boys and Bibles) and working fluidly, in teams and as a class, as we did so (just like courtiers).


Though at the beginning of the semester I was ignorant about Erasmus or humanism's claims, I did recognize the stagnant signs of zombi-fied learning in myself. I don't think such drastic measures as we took are necessary to avoid the zombie'd student--and indeed, at the beginning, I found myself slipping into a stupified, anxious sphere from the inability to plan homework assignments ahead of time--but when I started really getting to know my teammates and trusting their creativity, I felt a change in the spirit of learning that enabled real scholarship ...in the form of puppet shows. Go figure, huh?

Presentation Ideas

Ideas on presentation:

Ad Fontes:

• Since this is the “back to the sources” group, is it possible to discuss our original thoughts on what the project would look like in comparison to how it actually turned out? (eBook vs. youtube channel, or even individual thoughts when first signing up for the class in comparison to final thoughts now that the class is over)
• How to incorporate the sources into our video, whether by a separate video with just quotes, a link to the actual text, or a summary of the text.
• How did we incorporate current teaching ideas (the source) into our revolutionary youTeach idea?

Plough Boys and Bibles:  

• I was talking to Dr. Burton last Friday because I realized that I hadn’t even thought about my grade in this class since our first midterm evaluation with him back in February where we discussed our knowledge on the 6 themes. I thought that was interesting, especially considering that I am one of those people who need to know where they stand grade-wise in a traditional class. Did any of you have this same experience? This actually ties in well with the Plough Boys and Bibles theme when you examine the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. Catholics are focused on outward ordinances (in our case, that would be a syllabus and solid grading system) whereas Protestants aren’t (our class, no real syllabus and no set grading system, we were focused on the project itself and not our grade for the project). How did this focus help us in our project, and what are the positives and negatives that go along with this sort of learning when it comes to grades? (Hopefully I explained that well enough for you to understand what I’m talking about.)
• The role of religion in our class
•  Our class had different ideas when it came to this project. We could talk about the collaborative nature of our project and how that mimics the importance of the individual in the reformation (this might go better with humanism).

Thoughts from Project Guinea Pigs

• 13 year old boy – It was hard to read some things, but the quizzes were more fun than my class tests even though I got most of the questions wrong.
• 17 year old girl – She liked the storylines for every theme group. The links worked. I liked it being online because I was able to take breaks and not need to worry about missing anything.

Petrarch quiz and quotes

Here's my quiz for the Petrarch letters. It's very elementary, and I couldn't figure out how to show the answers on the form itself, so I ended up just saying the answers in the next window that comes up once they submit the quiz. Try it out!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13nEnkNzHE79FbhjujuFKkOd_vbp8C8dgwG9DctejyIk/viewform?sid=63afe2f0537d403&token=GT-5zT0BAAA.YCfn9dFsmz62dloreQTfPA.TDkzEgsJPFvvf3yniG3OBg

... and here's my quote video. Unfortunately blogger won't let me embed the video here, so a link to it on youtube can be found here.

Script for Cannibals

Scene: cannibal hut/desert island, complete with human body parts on a spit]
[enter Sailors]

Sailor 1: Arrrr, a real cannibal island! Now, I remember reading an essay by some French guy...
Sailor 2 Marner: Michel Montaigne. You didn't read it, you just used Spiff Notes.
Sailor 1 Jonas: Bark Notes, actually, and it's all the same anyway. OK, I'm trying to remember if he gave us any clues about how not to get eaten.
Sailor 2: Just stay cool, man. I read the whole essay, and we just have to remember that just because people are different doesn't make them wrong. Steady, [other sailor is deep breathing] steady as she---
[enter Cannibal]
Cannibal: Boooooo!
[Sailors screech like girls and start shaking]
Cannibal: Haaa, teeny sailor girls screech like stuck pig! Welcome to our island, sailor sandwiches!
Sailor 2 Marner: Look at me, I'm shaking like we're still in that tempest!
Sailor 1 Jonas pirate: Um... I don't think it's sea legs anymore.
Cannibal: No need be frightened!  [switch to normal side] See, we offer you welcome! Rest, help, food! Anyone care for some delicious... Lady Fingers?
Sailor 1 Marner: Sailor 2!!! I mean, Jonas!!!
Sailor 2, nervously, Jonas: Ha! ...I bet they're ...finger-lickin' good! Arg.
Cannibal: HA! No worries, sailor sandwich man, I no eat you, you a comedian!
Sailor 2 Jonas: Well, why not?
Cannibal: Comedian taste funny!
Sailor 2 Jonas: HAA! See, [Marner], they're not so bad! Oh, oh, I got another one: what do you and a HR rep have in common?
Cannibal: What HR rep mean?
Sailor 2: You're both... fed up with people! (snare drum snap)
[Both laugh until Cannibal abruptly stops.] [switch to scary side]
Cannibal: ...all this laughing make me hungry.
Sailor 1: DON'T EAT ME!
Cannibal: Well, we humanists so we like (to eat) humans. I give you TEST. You can answer few question right, we no eat you. You answer wrong... and we helps you find out where you funny bone be.
Sailor 1 and 2: HELP US!

Help the sailors and work toward your own Exploring Brave New Worlds Badge:

option 1: I've already read Michel Montaigne's Of Cannibals. I'm ready for the challenge!
option 2: I need a refresher first! Take me to some texts!

Quiz:
1. Michel Montaigne's writing looks like...
            a. a personal essay
            b. a chapter from a book
            c. a speech to Parliament
            d. both a and b
            e. all of the above

*** 2. Michel Montaigne likes to get his information from...
            a. a famous explorer of the period, Thomas Heriot
            b. the wisest, most experienced explorers on the ocean
            c. Long John Silver, the ship's cook.
            d. a simple, ignorant crew member

3. According to Montaigne, cannibals are savages in the same way...
           a. fire is hot: they will always be that way
           b. a mean dog is ornery: it's been taught to bite back
           c. fruit is wild: it's still in its natural state
           d. heaven is cloudy: it's actually better that way

***4. Montaigne believes cannibals are no more savage than...
           a. Wild apples (since they actually taste better out of the orchard)
           b. Europeans (since they torture their prisoners alive)
           c. Zombies (since they really don't have a choice in what they eat)
          d. Pocahontas (since she ...wasn't around yet)

***5. What are the two chief values of the cannibals?
           a. valor to their enemies and love to their wives
           b. peace and plenty
           c. careful seasoning and perfect barbeque techniques
           d. drinking and dancing

6. Why does M. use so many allusions to older myths and civiliations in history? Name one such nation and do some background research on what the inclusion would have meant to his day. (ad fontes)

7. Humanism

Script for Petrarch letters mission

Mission: Alonzo must find motivation to learn Latin and Greek (A difficult task)

Setting: Ancient Greece/ Rome

Script:

(In a study room)

Alonzo: I give up! I’m never going to be able to learn these ancient languages, why even try?

(Voices from the past, transition setting to ancient Greece/ Rome)

Cicero – Do or do not, there is no try.

Alonzo – Who are you? And where am I?

Cicero – I am Cicero, the great Roman author and your Latin master.

Homer – And I am Homer, your Greek master. A master Homer is. You are in ancient Europe, at the height of the Greek and Roman empires.

Alonzo – Why am I here?

Homer – So you can gain an appreciation of Latin and Greek works. It is important that your generation still looks back to what we have done.

Alonzo – But I can’t learn Latin or Greek. I’ve tried, and it’s just too hard. I’m afraid if I keep trying, I’ll just fail.

Cicero – Fear is the path to the dark side. We must replace that fear. In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.

Alonzo – What knowledge?

Homer – The knowledge that comes with motivation. When you are motivated, you will find the strength to learn Latin and Greek.

Alonzo – But how will I become motivated?

Homer and Cicero – By learning about one who did what you’re trying to do.

Cicero – Read Petrarch, you shall. He had trouble learning the same languages you’re trying to learn, but he persevered.

Cicero and Homer – By learning why Petrarch loved our writings so much, you will find your motivation. (Go to the texts)

Cicero – Congratulations! You’ve learned why Petrarch enjoyed reading ancient texts, and you’ve gained motivation! You’re one step closer to earning your Ad Fontes badge. Let’s see what you’ve learned. (Quiz)

Petrarch letters outline and questions

Our Ad Fontes group decided to have a mission impossible theme for our avatar. He goes on a series of missions involving our texts. Here’s my (short, bare bones) outline for Alonzo’s the Ad Fontes Master’s mission regarding the Petrarch letters, along with some thought provoking questions:

Alonzo has a conversation with Homer and Cicero. They are concerned that people don’t remember their works. Alonzo’s mission is to use Petrarch’s letters to convince people that ancient writers are worth reading.

Questions:

In “Two Homer,” Petrarch discusses his yearning for “knowledge” about Homer. Petrarch learned that Homer “wrote about his instructors.” Petrarch was returning to a source in Homer, but Homer also was turning to the sources through his own ancient instructors. Do we follow the same pattern today? And if so, why do we do it?

Based on Petrarch’s letters, what was the importance of copyists? How does the relationship between copyists and printing relate to the Ad Fontes idea?

Avatars by Amber

Well I just spent several hours of the night making avatars for the Ad Fontes and Humanism groups just to have them not upload properly or save. So. I will just explain what I had set up. I used the xtranormal site to make them, but found that a lot of the stuff to make videos with you had to pay for (like different characters or backgrounds) so hopefully you guys have more luck finding a material site for our avatars. I didn't find any other digital sources that seemed good enough for what we're trying to pull. Anyway. My characters:

Alfonso is an old man, Italian scholar (with an office/library looking background) who firmly believes in the idea of ad fontes: referring back to ancient sources to bring about inspiration for new work. He loves history, especially reading sermons and translations of texts because everyone can learn so much from them.

Walter is an English apprentice philosopher trying to discover who he is. He attends school (classroom was in the background) with the best teachers the world has to offer. He is one of a kind though, challenging his professors with deep and imaginative questions about the established order and doctrines. He is creative and fresh with a thirst for something more, for independence.

Both of these characters would have talked about the theme (including the one liner sentences we have for each of our themes) and given their strong opinion about how important ad fontes or the question of "What piece of work is man."

Throwback Theater: The Tempest and Ad Fontes

The Renaissance was a time when referring back to ancient sources, otherwise known as “Ad Fontes,” led to inspiration for the work at that time. Ad fontes has to do primarily with turning to the past. Renaissance icons, Shakespeare in this instance, utilized the information, studies and cultures of their history to create new ideas, to create a better future.

(Two examples to start with)

Latin Influence:
By using The Tempest as a model, we are able to create a fuller picture of what the Renaissance was all about in reference to the theme “Ad Fontes.” Prospero’s name (or Prospera in this version of the play) is a derivative of the Latin word prosperus meaning successful or fortunate. We can now draw conclusions about what kind of character Prospero is, as well as how his (her) name fits into the description of the Renaissance time, because we looked back to the source of Prospero’s name. Prospero is fortunate, he is the most powerful character in The Tempest and has the ability to control his environment from his books. Prospero’s books gave him power in the same way that individuals in the Renaissance received knowledge from books. 

Romantic/Mythological references:
Shakespeare returned to the sources by including a masque in the middle of The Tempest. The masque includes Iris, goddess of the sea and the sky, Greek goddess Juno, and Roman goddess of fertility, Ceres. Including these Greek and Roman influences laces the play with echoes of the rich, reemerging culture of the past.

Using the following clip, how can we draw parallels from either Greek or Roman literature to The Tempest. What about this clip uses Ad Fontes in a meaningful way? How can a knowledge of previous works help us understand Shakespeare's play?

The Brave (re)New(ed) Project

Some people write until they stumble across a good idea. Our Renaissance literature class just talks until we "stumble" upon a fantastic idea. 

All semester we've been talking about how we can avoid falling into the remake-the-Norton-Anthology-in-digital-form rut. The reason for making an eBook was to help us venture into the brave new world of technology, eBooks specifically. And up until our last class meeting, I was a little worried about where our project was going (or not going, if you know what I mean). 

But I think we've got things sorted out. It looks like we've decided to create a tiered curriculum that we can share. And let me tell you, I'm excited. I was concerned before that our eBook would get lost in the bottomless hole of literary criticism. I didn't want it to be another one of those books.

We're going to be incorporating video into our curriculum in an attempt to interest various audiences. I'm excited about the things we can do with video in both my groups. In my Ad Fontes group I was thinking maybe some interviews with authors, or for the Sprezzatura group we could have some friendly court discussions.

Whatever ensues, I'm excited. I feel like I'm finally excited about our project. I'm ready to enter this brave new world. 

Hopefully I'll learn something. Hopefully. :)

On Cannibals and Zombies: Montaigne in 2800 AD

journal entry 1: 

journal entry 2:

journal entry 3

journal entry 4

journal entry 5:

I would've polished this much more if I'd had time, but I think it does accomplish some things I'd like you to consider while you watch: How has the personal "essay" genre changed through time? What has a "journal" meant through time? How should literature incite our own experiences, whether that's exploring our own world or making a video? What is Other, and how do we deal with it? What role has the unknown or the monster played through British lit/ cultural history? How does our contact with the Other start to dissolve our own cultural concepts or boundaries? Can it strengthen them instead? Why zombies? Why cannibals? How do you get ketchup out of your hair? Who in your life trusts you enough to let you bite their finger?

Modernizing The Aeneid

Hopefully this upload actually works, I was having a really rough time getting it up. I'm kind of disappointed in this video. The point of it is to show that even ancient texts can be modernized, and although that modernization might cause the text to lose some of its meaning, the modernization itself might cause more people to become interested in the text in the first place. In the case of the Aeneid, I originally made a puppet pals video to illustrate that more people might learn about the plotline of the Aeneid if it was in a format (puppet pals, in this instance) that we could recognize (somewhat like Hannah's disney movie version of Paradise Lost). For some reason, it would not upload to anything (Facebook, youtube, google +, nothing), so you have to suffer through this horrible last minute video instead. Sorry guys!

Who is Petrarch?

Here is a fun introduction to who Petrarch is... or at least, who people think he is. This would be a lot more fun if you could see their faces and reactions to questions. Perhaps I'll redo it when I have a camera available and working to make it better quality. But it's a bit of a promotion for our blog to discover who this guy actually is...seeing how wrong other people are.

Paradise Lost Meets Disney

Here is my introduction to Paradise Lost by Jon Milton. I had a lot of fun, and got really excited about this poem. I don't know how I will be able to tie in my ideas to a scholarly piece of work either by myself or another author, but this was fun and would get my younger sibling interested in this piece. Enjoy!

Hannah

Waiting for the Movie

I read two articles, "One Nation, Under Google, with Wikipedia Access for All: Information Entitlement" by Derrick Clements and "'Some Text': E.B. White's Web of Primary Texts" by Carlie Wallentine. These two made me think about the attitude of access toward different mediums of novels.

My little brother doesn't like to read. As much as it saddens me, he doesn't. When I read a book that amazes me, that keeps me up reading, I haven't given up begging that he give it a try. He always replies, "I'll wait for the movie." When I explain to him that they might not make it into the movie, he scoffs and says, "Then it must not be a very good book."

With a digitalized world, we've come to expect several different mediums from our primary sources. Why read Great Expectations when PBS made it into a movie? Why spend the time on Shakespeare when you can Sparknote it (for free, no less)?

Having access to several different mediums of a primary text is a wonderful thing. I myself enjoy watching different portrayals of Pride and Prejudice from the traditional Regency, to Bollywood, to a modernized vlogger version. But does easier mediums take away from people's decision to access the original? Do too many people expect a movie, and without a movie the book isn't worth a read?

We Are Not Robots: The Importance of Emotion in Academia

I have, for another class this semester, been studying a headache-inducing amount of Plato and Aristotle.  Plato, emotionless logician that he is, argues that art is dangerous and destructive, as it causes humans to feel emotions that distract them from their property duties or "techne."  Aristotle responds in multiple fronts:  first, that artists have their own techne, which he analyzes and critiques; second, that emotions, and more specifically the cathartic release brought on by excellent artistic creations, are a healthy part of human life.

Aristotle, in my opinion, had a much clearer concept of true human nature.

The reason I bring this up is that academia has eschewed passion and emotion in favor of reason.  They do not wish to be moved; they wish to be convinced.

While I believe logic certainly has its place in academic writing, I also believe that choking it of ethos is slowly and inexorably killing it.  Just as Plato would have poets exiled from society, academics seem to want to drive passion from their writing.  This has two negative effects:  first, the author is less interested in his or her writing (When was the last time you, as a student, were excited to write a paper for a class?); second, the audience is bored.

Humans are highly emotional creatures.  Everything we do is driven by emotion first, although we often come up with logical reasons for our actions afterward.  I married my wife because I love her.  The fact that we have similar life goals and complement each other exceptionally well gives logic to our decision, but the reasoning was not the cause.

In like manner, I selected an English major because I am passionate about stories and storytelling.  Yet the longer I remain in academia, the more I want to run screaming from it!  The professors actively try to quash my enthusiasm in an effort to enhance my arguments.  Writing has become a chore, and my reading can rarely be described as pleasurable.

This constant, soul-draining exercise is unsustainable.  College tuition is rocketing upward, while student interest is in rapid decline.   One of two things need to happen for academia to save itself from self-destruction:  either college expenses must dramatically decrease (unlikely, as professors expect nice paychecks and textbook publishers have shown little interest in making their publications available inexpensively), or professors must embrace new methods of teaching that engage and impassion students.

One of the reasons that I find this class intriguing is that Professor Burton has not only allowed, but encouraged our enthusiasm of certain subjects.  This is refreshing and shows an incredible understanding of how students process information.  While electronic media is not something that particularly interests me, I do think that relating Renaissance literature to modern literary movements--blogging, ebooks, and so forth--is a fascinating way to make the past more immediate to us students.  We have been allowed to explore topics of interest to us, we have been encouraged to write from the gut, and we have been forced out of our comfort zone--our of our academic rut--to engage with and learn from one another.

Thank God.

Welcome to the eRenaissance Project

a mockup cover
for our prospective eBook

Let's create an eBook that explores the connections between the European Renaissance of the 15th-17th centuries and the current digital renaissance. After all, doesn't one good renaissance deserve another?

That's the premise for this project, launched by students of a Renaissance literature course at Brigham Young University in early 2013. The embedded picture is a mockup cover for our prospective eBook. As we think through our book's content and form, we will make that process public on this blog.

Already we have been using the Open Renaissance Wiki to collect and organize our content and ideas. But with the blog we can interact better among ourselves and with potential readers of our finished book.

Six Themes
We have already identified six themes, lenses by which we can understand Renaissance literature. These have proven to be handy concepts for understanding our present day, and also for conceptualizing our own project: