>From the Homeric epics of the eighth century to the tragedies of fifth century Athens, the literature of the archaic and classical Greek world was produced by and for a "performance society" in which genres like epic and lyric, iambics and elegy, victory odes for athletes and hymns for the gods, comedy and tragedy, history and oratory and even philosophy,all developed out of the numerous and varied occasions at which both poetry (usually accompanied by music and very often by dance) and prose were performed. As we read in translation Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days, several Homeric Hymns, selections from poets like Archilochus, Sappho, Solon and Pindar, tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, comedies by Aristophanes, brief selections from the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, and perhaps a Platonic dialogue, we will attend to the performance contexts in which these works were first produced, from the small drinking party to large festivals, and to the different kinds of audience each "genre" presupposes and, indeed, implicitly constructs. Our chief aim in doing so will be to enrich our readings of individual texts and to provide a framework for exploring some of the issues that persist in a literature produced over four turbulent centuries of social and political change, for example: the godlike in humans and yet our human limitations, particularly our mortality; whether the family and community that survive us or the "fame" of poetry can provide adequate compensation for individuals' mortality; gender constructions and their relation to "genres"; changing conceptions of community and of the individual's and family's relation to it as various types of polis ("city-state") develop. Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on short response papers, two or three 5- to 7-page papers, and a final exam. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 40 (expected: 25-30). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores.
_____________________________________________________
CLAS 102 Roman Literature (Same as Comparative Literature 108) (Not offered 2003-2004; to be offered 2004-2005)
Modern fascination with the ancient Romans may be due in no small measure to modern assumptions about the enduring influence of their civilization on our own. The very real continuities between our distant cultures are certainly due in large part to the enormous impact of Roman on European literature. Yet continuity is counterbalanced by significant cultural differences that are often overlooked in representations of ancient Rome in today's literature, film, and television. We will read a variety of Roman literary works in translation-epic, satire, lyric poetry, oratory, philosophy, historiography, and drama-with an aim to both appreciating them as literature and gaining a deeper understanding of Roman culture and society. Since a number of Roman authors were also important figures in Roman political life, we are in an unusually good position to analyze how Roman literature delineates and deploys cultural ideals, power structures, class hierarchies, political ideology, religious beliefs, categories of sex, gender and difference, and the relationship between the individual and the state. Readings from Plautus, Terence, Lucretius, Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Apuleius will be supplemented by critical essays and by movies (e.g., A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gladiator). Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on classroom participation, one or two short essays, and midterm and final exams. No prerequisities. Enrollment limit: 35 (expected: 35). Open to first-year students.