CLAS 101(F) The Trojan War (Same as Comparative Literature 107) (W)
"The Trojan War" may or may not have taken place near the end of the Bronze Age (c1100), but it certainly provided poets, visual artists, historians, philosophers, and many others in archaic and classical Greece (750-320) with a rich discourse in which to engage questions about gender, exchange, desire, loss, and remembrance, and about friendship, marriage, family, army, city-state and religious cult. This discourse of "The Trojan War" attained a remarkable coherence yet also thrived on substantial variations and changes over the 300-400 years of Greek literature we will explore, a dynamic of change and continuity that has persisted through the more than two millenia of subsequent Greek, Roman, Western, and non-Western participation in this discourse. More than half the course will be devoted to the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, after which we will read brief selections from lyric poetry (e.g. Sappho of Lesbos) and then several tragedies (e.g. Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Ajax, and Euripides' Trojan Women). Depending on time and on the particular interests of the class, we may briefly consider a few short selections from other ancient Greek and Roman authors and/or one or two modern poets. We will also watch several films, e.g. Troy, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Gods and Monsters, Fight Club, In the Bedroom, Grand Illusion, Zorba the Greek.
Format: discussion with short lectures. Evaluation will be based on a series of short papers involving close textual analysis, two 5-page papers, and contributions to class discussion.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores, and to majors in Classics and Comparative Literature. Not open to students who have taken Classics 101/Comparative Literature 107, Greek Literature, or Classics 224/Women's and Gender Studies 224/Comparative Literature 244, Helen, Desire and Language.
Hour: HOPPIN