Death and Love. Policies

Transcription

1 LIT 3300 Western Literary Tradition ATC 2.302, Fall 2015, TR 2:30 3:45 Dr. Sean Cotter Office: JO Office Hours: s 11:00 to 12:00, and by appointment Death and Love This course will read texts from ancient and medieval periods of Western culture, examining the diversity of a literary tradition of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic texts. We will pay special attention to the ways in which different languages and cultures interact to develop and transform literary ideas, such as the underworld and love. Thus, our definition of Western will be broad, as will our use of literary, since our readings will include philosophy and popular texts. We will come to understand tradition as two impulses in tension with each other: on the one hand, a tradition gives us a set of conventions heroes, plots, genres, etc. which work in an expected way. On the other, a tradition is also the history of the violation of these conventions, their transformation through creativity, misunderstanding, and material conditions of transmission. Our class will record the richness of a vast number of readers of a changing set of shared books. We will concentrate on the shared idea of love, following a historical series of transmissions from Greek texts, through Arab poetry and philosophy, into Provençal lyrics, and finally (for this course) to Dante. Even though the authors make use of a shared group of texts, a variety of intellectual, physical, and spiritual ideas of love emerge. Dante s combination of Christian and courtly loves demonstrates a maximal use of the resources of the Western tradition. This is to say that Dante the author is also a model reader, who includes the conventions of tradition and transforms them into an encyclopedic Western literary underworld. Two warnings: some of our readings will include frank discussions of sex, and some will be texts considered holy in other contexts. (Sometimes, these texts are the same.) In both cases, we will be reading the works as literature, as examples of creativity within the Western tradition. Participation Policies Classes begin and end at the same time for all involved. You should arrive before class-time and stay for the entire session. Attendance will be recorded with a roll-sheet. You must sign in to be recorded present. I understand that occasionally circumstances arise (e. g. car trouble, childcare complications, illness) which cause you to miss class. For this reason, you are allowed to miss three meetings over the course of the term. You do not need to explain these absences. Absences beyond this limit will result in a significant reduction of your final grade, up to three letter grades.

2 It is your responsibility to make your presence and interest in the class known to your instructor. You can demonstrate engagement through participation in classroom discussion, visits to office hours, or discussions over . I use filters to make sure class messages are not lost. For this reason, please include LIT 3300 in your subject line. Please do not send messages via elearning. Use the address listed at the top of this syllabus. Assignments You will be responsible for reading all the material on the syllabus, participating in class discussions, and completing all assignments. I may adjust your mathematical average grade up or down to reflect your participation. You will have four grades for the class, weighted roughly as follows: quizzes 20%, essay 30%, mid-term exam 20%, comprehensive final exam 30%. The quizzes will cover objective knowledge of the readings and their authors. The over-all grade will be the average of the ten best scores over the term. Quizzes cannot be made up. The exams will ask for knowledge of both individual works and over-arching themes, as well as the application of critical reasoning and concepts covered. The five-page essay is due, April 20. I will hand out topics two weeks in advance. It is possible, though not advisable, to extend the essay deadline, provided there is good reason. To ask for an extension, write me an before 5 pm on, April 18, giving a reason for the extension and the date you will turn the assignment in. The maximum extension is April 27. Extensions cannot be extended. Your papers will be graded and returned roughly in the order they arrive. Any assignments not turned in either on time or by the extended deadline are late; late assignments receive zero credit. It is better to turn in something than nothing. Paper-Writing Guidelines, in Brief A five-page paper ends on the sixth page. Use one to one and one-quarter inch margins (no more, no less). Print your paper on one side of the page, double-spaced, in a twelve-point font. Use black ink on white paper. Use a font similar to that used for this page; no sans-serif fonts. Do not use a cover sheet, binder, or slipcover. In the upper left corner of the first page, type your name, the course title and section number, the date the paper is turned in, and my name. The paper s title (a helpful title, not Literature and the Tradition ) follows, centered, on the next line. The title should not be in underlined or bolded. Starting with page two, each page has your last name and the page number in the upper right corner. Do not justify your paragraphs. Indent paragraphs one-half inch, block quotes one inch. Block quotes are double-spaced and not centered. Please note that underlining and italics are used for exactly the same purposes. I prefer that you use italics. Do not use footnotes. Follow Modern Language Association format. Any paper suspected of plagiarism will be sent to the Dean of Students. The MLA format works through parenthetical citations at the end of the

3 sentence: as he later writes, time and again the only meaning of correct is traditional (Kenner 216). The author s name and the page number (or line number) of the quote are included just before the final punctuation for in-sentence quotes, just after the punctuation for block quotes. The author s name refers to a Works Cited listing, which you should include as an appendix to your papers. This list includes the author s name, the book s title, it s translator, the city of publication, the publishing house, and the year published: Augustine. Confessions. Trans. F. J. Sheed. 2nd Revised edition. Hackett Pub. Co., Kenner, Hugh. The Pound Era. Berkeley: University of California Press, Your papers will be graded in part by the above guidelines, but primarily I will be looking for a paper that is strongly and simply written. The argument should show serious and creative engagement with the text. The introduction should have a clear thesis and forecast the organization of your paper. The body paragraphs should be focused and build from one to the next. You should explain your position using examples from the text, but only quote as much as you use. Transitions should be smooth. The conclusion should gather together the pieces of the argument to show what the reader has gained by reading the essay. Neither the introduction nor the conclusion should contain general statements about history, time, humankind, poetry, or literature. Proofread carefully. Trade papers with a classmate; you learn a great deal by proofreading and commenting on another essay. Lastly, your paper will be much improved if you write a complete draft, let it sit two days or so, and then re-write it. Texts Readings Most of our readings will be posted on elearning. When considering the cost of this course, remember to include the price of printing out these documents. All books required for this class may be purchased at both the on-campus and off-campus bookstores. Required books: Abelard, Peter. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Trans. Betty Radice. Rev. ed. Penguin, Augustine. Confessions. Trans. F. J. Sheed. 2nd Revised edition. Hackett Pub. Co., Dante. Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. Signet Classics, Franzen, Cola, trans. Poems of Arab Andalusia. San Francisco: City Lights Books, The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford UP, Plato. The Symposium. Trans. Christopher Gill. Penguin, Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. Vintage,

4 Bibliographical information for elearning documents: Capellanus, Andreas. The Art of Courtly Love A Treatise on Courtly Love (Excerpts). Trans. John Jay Parry. Ed. Frederick Locke. NY: Frederick Ungar Pub. Co., Carmi, T., ed. and trans. The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse. London: Allen Lane, Euripides. The Bacchae. Trans. David Greene and Richmond Lattimore. Four Tragedies. U of Chicago P, Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. Viking, Ibn Hazm. The Dove s Neck-Ring. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Kehew, Robert, ed. Lark in the Morning : The Verses of the Troubadours. U of Chicago P, Marie of France. The Lais of Marie de France. Trans. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante. NY: Dutton, Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Charles Martin. Norton, Plato. The Republic. Trans. Richard W. Sterling and William C. Scott. Norton, Sappho. Sappho: a New Translation. Trans. Mary Barnard. U of California P, Schedule Readings marked with an asterisk are available on elearning Introductions August 25 August 27 September 1 September 3 September 8 September 10 *Homer, Odyssey, *Homer, *Sappho, poems 3 43 *Plato, The Republic, , , Symposium, 3 64

5 September 15 September 17 September 22 September 24 September 29 October 1 October 6 October 8 October 13 October 15 October 20 * Euripides, The Bacchae The Aeneid, 3 61 The Aeneid, * Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15 47, , Genesis Song of Solomon Matthew John Confessions, 3 72 Confessions, Confessions,

6 October 22 October 27 October 29 November 3 November 5 Mid-term Exam Poems of Arab Andalusia, 1 91 Class cancelled * Jewish poetry of Andalucia * Marie of France * Ibn Hazm * Andreas Capellanus * Lark in the Morning, , , November 10 November 12 The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Letter One, Historia Calamitatum The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Letters Two Five November 17 November 19 November 24 November 26 Inferno, cantos I VII DUE: Essay Assignment Fall Break Thanksgiving Holiday

7 Inferno, cantos VIII - XIV December 1 Inferno, cantos XV XXVII December 3 December 8 Tentative:, Dec 15 2:00 to 4:45 Inferno, cantos XXVIII XXXIII Conclusions Final Exam held in the classroom, please bring two blue books These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.