ICPL 330
Epic and Empire: Ancient and Modern
MTh 1:30-2:40
FND 4??
Instructor: Brendon Reay, Classical Studies
Office: Founders 302C
Office phone: x2632
Office hours: MTh 10-12 & by appointment
Alexander the Great is said to have slept with two things under his pillow:
a dagger and a copy of Homer's Iliad. Julius Caesar and Augustus traced their
lineage back to Aeneas, the hero of Virgil's Aeneid. Epic poetry and empire:
coincidence? Or collusion? This course will investigate the relationship
of epic and empire, focusing especially on Virgil's Aeneid and Lucan's Civil
War, and their Augustan and Neronian contexts. How is poetry imbued with
political meaning? What is the relationship of epic narrative, myth, history,
and empire? Does poetry reflect its contexts? Or refract them? Is epic a
prop of imperial ideology? Or is it a site of resistance? Special attention
to narrative strategies and generic motifs; gender and "otherness”;
questions of patronage, propaganda, and resistance. We will consider post-classical
appropriations and transformations of classical epic form and ideologies
in Milton's Paradise Lost, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and Walcott’s
Omeros.
Course Requirements
I envision this class as a seminar. We are engaged in a community enterprise,
and your curiosity, diligence, and active participation are vital. I've set
up a First Class conference for the course, which I hope will be a convenient
and productive venue for us to continue conversations that we begin in class,
and to share ideas, questions, answers.
The final grade you earn for the course will depend on your performance in
three areas: class participation, a midterm exam, and a final paper. The percentage
breakdown is as follows:
Class participation: 20%
Midterm exam: 30%
Final paper: 50%
Class participation
One of the premises of a seminar is that we learn best
by being active agents, not passive recipients, of our education. Here are
my minimal expectations for your participation in this course:
- Attendance. I expect you to attend every class, health permitting.
If you are ill and unable to attend, I expect a phone call (office
phone: 2632) or an email before class alerting me to your situation.
Vacation travel plans are not a valid excuse for missing class, and
no special arrangements will be made for you to take the midterm
exam at a different time.
- Punctuality. I expect you to be on time. If you have a class or
other obligation immediately before our class that will cause you
to be late on a regular basis, please let me know.
- Preparation. I expect you to be prepared for every class, i.e.
you will have completed all of the assigned work.
- Contribution. Our time together every Monday and Thursday is an
opportunity to learn from one another, and I expect you to share
your knowledge, questions, and ideas in class and/or on the FC course
conference.
Class participation can be a notoriously difficult
performance to evaluate (for me and for you). To help us both evaluate
your class participation, we will meet twice during the semester to compare
notes.
Midterm Exam
The midterm will be a 70-minute exam given in class on Thursday, October 9.
It will consist of two sections. In the first section, you will identify and
briefly explain the significance of characters or words or ideas or places
from the reading that we will have done up to that point. The second section
will consist of short essays.
Term Paper
Length: 15+ pp. This is not a "research" paper in the sense of a
paper that summarizes different scholarly views on this or that issue or question.
The point of the paper is for you to articulate, in detail, your argument about
an idea or ideas. Your argument will naturally refer to secondary literature
that supports (or diverges from) your ideas, and you must document someone
else's ideas that help you clarify your own or that otherwise supplement them.
But let me emphasize again that your paper is your argument about your idea.
To this end, as the semester progresses you should record (in a journal or
notebook or computer file dedicated to this class) your thoughts, questions,
problems, and/or hypotheses, write down words or lines or whole sections of
text that strike you as interesting or unusual, and jot down things that you
simply are curious about. Sometimes a half-baked hunch is the beginning of
an exciting, original idea. I am happy to discuss topics with you at any point
during the semester, and I urge you to start thinking about this project sooner
rather than later. A one-page description of your paper topic is due
no later than Wednesday, December 3rd by 5 p.m. I do not expect a
polished one-page summary of a paper which has been completely thought-through,
but I do expect more than a paragraph of apparently random "maybes" with
little if any indication that some careful thinking or research has taken place. The
paper will be due, as specified by the registrar, no later than 4 p.m. on Friday,
December 19th.
My philosophy of grading papers is as follows. An 'A' paper must have several
qualities. It must have a thesis and an argument that supports it. It should
have cogent logic, illuminating textual exegesis, and abundant and relevant
details. It must have a clear structure suitable to the point it is making.
The grammar and syntax must be correct, and it should have no typos. Its documentation
(footnotes or endnotes, and bibliography) should follow a recognizable format
and should be consistent (see the Research Aids section
of the course web page for links to the MLA Handbook or the Chicago Manual
of Style). A 'B' paper lacks one or two of these qualities, a 'C' paper most
of them, a 'D' paper almost all of them. An 'F' paper is one on which the writer
has evidently expended no effort. These qualities are all in the forefront
of my mind as I read a paper. Having read the paper three times, I assign it
a grade that answers to my impressions of it as a whole.
Students with disabilities who will be taking this course and who need disability-related
classroom or testing accommodations are encouraged to see me as soon as possible.
The Director of the Learning and Teaching Center and the Coordinator of Disability
Services are available in the Learning and Teaching Center to assist students
in arranging these accommodations.
Assignments (subject to change)
All texts (except Omeros) may be found on the Texts page.
Th 9.4
Introduction
M 9.8
Homer, Iliad, books 1, 2 (lines 484-535), 3, 6, 8
R. Lattimore, “Introduction,” 12-17, and 37-44.
Albert Lord, Mark Edwards, Seth Schein
Given what you’ve learned from Lattimore about the formulaic nature of
Homeric poetry, make a list of formulaic phrases that you’ve encountered
in your reading (as many as you like, but at least five).
Ask yourself the following question: what is the Iliad about? Jot down some
verses or just the verse numbers that you think best illustrate your answer.
Th 9.11
Homer, Iliad 9, 10, 12, 16, 17
Redfield?
Read Lattimore, p. 40-44, then make a list of similes (as many as you like,
but at least three). Pick your favorite simile and read, out loud, the lines
immediately preceding the simile, and then the simile itself. Jot down in a
couple of sentences what effect or effects the simile has on you. For example,
you might think about whether or not the simile accelerates or retards the
story, or whether or not it clarifies or obscures what is going on. In other
words, ask yourself: “what is the point of having a simile at all?”
M 9.15
Homer, Iliad 18, 20, 22-24
Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad
Th 9.18
Homer, Odyssey 1, 5-12
P. Parker, Literary Fat Ladies, 8-13.
De Lauretis on Women
Pucci, Songs of the Siren (in Schein)
M 9.22
Homer, Odyssey 13, 14, 19, 21-24
Guest lecture by Professor Carol Dougherty of the Dept. of Classical Studies
Plus readings from Carol’s book (intro and “Brave New World” chapter)
Th 9.25
Virgil, Aeneid 1-4
B. Otis, The Iliadic Aeneid and the Odyssean Aeneid
R. Hexter, “Sidonian Dido”
M 9.29
Virgil, Aeneid 5-7
Something on book 6
Th 10.2
Virgil, Aeneid 8
Quint, Epic and Empire
M 10.6
Virgil, Aeneid 9-12
WR Johnson, Darkness Visible (opening chapter, and on book 12)
Th 10.9
Midterm Exam
FALL BREAK
Th 10.16
Lucan, Civil War
Historical narrative about Caesar v. Pompey
Susannah H. Braund, “Introduction,” p. xiii-xxii, xxxvii-xxxix.
Something on Nero? Statius, Silvae 2.7?
M 10.20
Lucan, Civil War
Quint, Epic and Empire
Th 10.23
Lucan, Civil War
M 10.27
Milton, Paradise Lost
Christopher Hill
Th 10.30
Milton, Paradise Lost
M 11.3
Milton, Paradise Lost
Th 11.6
Milton, Paradise Lost
M 11.10
Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Th 11.13
Whitman, Leaves of Grass
M 11.17
Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Th 11.20
Walcott, Omeros
History of St. Lucia
Anjali?
M 11.24
Walcott, Omeros
M 12.1
Walcott, Omeros
Th 12.4
NO CLASS
M 12.8
Retrospective & Conclusions
M 12.15 – F 12.19 FINAL EXAM PERIOD |