FREN 440 - Science, Art and Literature in Cartography in the 16th Century

Maps are one of the oldest forms of human communication, they ultimately express the many ways we attempt to understand the world and be part of it. The class will expose the different interactions between art, maps, explorers, and writers from Antiquity to present. Readings will include Ptolémée, Apian, Jean de Lery, Oronce Finé, Theodore de Bry, Rabelais, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Madame de Scudéry (Carte du Tendre), Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Apollinaire, Sophie Calle, and Andrée Chedid. One of the great problems in the history of cartography - and indeed, in the intellectual history of early modern Europe - is the sudden emergence and success of production of maps in Europe starting in 1600. This change, which amounted to a revolution in the European way of ”seeing” the world, no doubt emerged from a variety of causes that we will study through maps, paintings, diaries, novels, aesthetics and economical pamphlets. The role of the Renaissance and the fashionable admiration for Antiquity was exemplified by the rediscovery of Ptolemy. His Geography circulated in many editions in 1477 and spread rapidly all over Europe changing the role of the mapmaker and the viewer. Another strand leading to the development of a new map consciousness can be followed back into the artistic developments of the 15th and 16th century. Taught in French. Prerequisite(s): FREN 306 Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)