Manuscripts and Print Cultures in Europe

This subject is not offered in 2008.

This interdisciplinary advanced seminar examines key features and themes of manuscript and print cultures in Western Europe from the 13th to 17th centuries. It will explore the technical aspects of these communication technologies as well as their function and impact on culture and society. Topics on manuscript culture will include the production of manuscripts and organization of scriptoria, palaeography and codicology, manuscript illumination, written records and oral cultures, the formation of literate communities. Seminars on print cultures will cover the technologies of printing and print-making; printers and book production; the emergence of the broadsheet, the newssheet and the notion of 'news'; printing and propaganda, the formation of a 'republic of letters' and a 'public sphere'. More generally, the seminar will also consider issues of literacy, authorship and reading throughout the period, and will range over a number of different genres including musical texts, liturgical books, learned treatises and popular literature. Students will be encouraged to develop research topics based on materials contained in the University of Melbourne Library, the Theological College libraries, the Manuscript Resource Unit at Newman College, the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria.

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This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• be able to show an advanced understanding of the changing knowledge base in the specialist area;

• be able to evaluate and synthesise the research and professional literature in the discipline;

• develop an appreciation of the design, conduct and reporting of original research