Symbolism in Literature and the Arts

This course will deal with the some of the 19th and 20th century authors and artists associated with Symbolism. We will focus on some key theoretical essays about the symbol, as well as on symbolist poetry, novels, visual arts, cinema, and music. In reading authors such as Coleridge, Blake, Poe, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Valéry, Pascoli, Campana, d¿Annunzio, and Savinio, we will explore the nature and uses of the symbol in art.