The. Jude Atwood. Dante. Julie. Canterbury. Thomas. Knight. Portrait of the Artist as a. Dickens. Hamlet. Miss. Gawain. Hardy. the. The.

Transcription

1 Undergraduate study in English Explorations in Literature Helen Palmer, Michael Bruce, Sean Elliott, Barbara Goff, Carole Maddern and Michael Simpson EN Metamorphoses Jude Atwood Sir A the Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Antigone Dante Gawain Miss Ovid and the Green Knight Charles Hamlet The Inferno The The Rape of the Lock Julie Jane Austen Thomas William Hardy Obscure Dickens Canterbury Homer Tales The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Shakespeare Emma

2 Explorations in Literature Helen Palmer, Michael Bruce, Sean Elliott, Barbara Goff, Carole Maddern and Michael Simpson EN Advice to students registered on the following programmes BA English (New Regulations), Diploma of Higher Education in English and Certificate of Higher Education in English: This subject guide is for a Level 4, 30-credit course offered as part of the University of London International Programmes in English.

3 This guide was prepared for the University of London International Programmes by: Helen Palmer Michael Bruce Sean Elliott Barbara Goff Carole Maddern Michael Simpson Goldsmiths, University of London. This is one of a series of subject guides published by the University. We regret that due to pressure of work the authors are unable to enter into any correspondence relating to, or arising from, the guide. If you have any comments on this subject guide, favourable or unfavourable, please use the form at the back of this guide. University of London International Programmes Publications Office Stewart House 32 Russell Square London WC1B 5DN United Kingdom Website: Published by: University of London University of London 2012 The University of London asserts copyright over all material in this subject guide except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. We make every effort to contact copyright holders. If you think we have inadvertently used your copyright material, please let us know.

4 Contents Contents Course learning outcomes and assessment criteria... 1 Learning outcomes... 1 Mode of assessment... 1 Assessment criteria... 1 Introduction... 3 Using this subject guide... 3 General subject reading... 4 Subject content... 5 Suggested study syllabus...6 Methods of assessment... 7 Examination technique... 8 General matters: essays... 9 Online resources...10 Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey Recommended editions...11 Recommended secondary reading...11 Other important secondary works...11 Online resources...12 Introduction...12 Learning outcomes...17 Sample examination questions...17 Chapter 2: Section A single-text study Shakespeare s Hamlet Recommended editions...19 Recommended secondary reading...19 Online resources...20 Film versions...20 Introduction...21 Approaching Hamlet...22 Learning outcomes...27 Sample examination questions...28 Chapter 3: Section B single-text study Coleridge s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Recommended editions...29 Recommended secondary reading...29 Online resources...30 Introduction...30 Readings...33 Learning outcomes...37 Sample examination questions...37 Chapter 4: Section C comparative study Chaucer s The Wife of Bath s Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Recommended editions...39 Recommended secondary reading...40 The origins of medieval romance...42 i

5 Explorations in Literature Chaucer and the Gawain-Poet...44 Genre and gender in The Wife of Bath s Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...46 Learning outcomes...55 Sample examination questions on The Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale...55 Sample examination questions on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...55 Sample examination questions using this material for Section C...55 Chapter 5: Section C comparative study Satire: Pope s The Rape of the Lock and Fielding s Joseph Andrews Recommended editions...57 Recommended secondary reading...57 Introduction...58 Learning outcomes...66 Sample examination questions...66 Chapter 6: Section C comparative study The Bildungsroman: Hardy s Jude the Obscure and Joyce s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Recommended editions...67 Recommended secondary reading...67 Online resources...68 Introduction...68 The Bildungsroman...68 Jude the Obscure and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: narrative style and the reader...69 Learning outcomes...75 Sample examination questions...75 Appendix 1: Other recommended texts and sample questions Sophocles, Antigone...77 Ovid, Metamorphoses...79 Dante, The Inferno...80 The metaphysical poets...81 John Milton, Paradise Lost Books 1 and Jane Austen, Emma...83 Charles Dickens, Great Expectations...85 August Strindberg, Miss Julie...87 T.S. Eliot, Prufrock and Other Observations...88 Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway...90 Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot...91 Leonora Carrington, The Hearing Trumpet...92 Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad...93 Appendix 2: Sample examination paper Section A...95 Section B...95 Section C...96 Appendix 3: Sample Examiners report Advice to candidates on how Examiners calculate marks...97 General remarks...98 ii

6 Course learning outcomes and assessment criteria Course learning outcomes and assessment criteria This course introduces a wide range of works from the literary canon, from ancient Greek texts in translation to the contemporary, covering the major genres, and embodying significant interventions or influences in literary history. The emphasis is on reading primary texts voraciously and discovering or rediscovering diverse writers and cultures, so that students can make informed choices from more specialized courses later in their programme. Not being limited to a period, genre or single approach, the course cultivates difference and chronological sweep; it aims to challenge and surprise, as rewarding exploration should. Learning outcomes By the end of the course you should: have read a number of works that have been influential in the literary canon be aware of the cultural diversity that has informed and continues to inform English literature understand how literary genres and forms yield experimentation as well as continuities recognize the historicity as well as continuing accessibility of texts from diverse backgrounds have improved your historical overview of literature by study of primary texts in ways that will help orientate you in relation to other more specialized courses in the programme have improved basic skills in written expression and critical analysis be able to reflect on exploration of and within texts. Mode of assessment One three-hour unseen examination. Assessment criteria You will be assessed according to your ability to: show why course texts have been deemed culturally significant compare ways in which particular concepts are handled in texts from different periods and cultural backgrounds show responsiveness to genre as a factor in creation of meaning show sensitivity to historical contexts and evolutions exemplified by the texts perform basic textual analysis and communicate ideas effectively in the written exam your awareness of exploration as a literary device. 1

7 Explorations in Literature Notes 2

8 Introduction Introduction Explorations in Literature is a 30-credit course. Each credit carries 10-hours notional study time; 30 credits thus indicates 300 notional study hours, equivalent to 10 hours per week over 30 weeks. Using this subject guide This subject guide is not an exhaustive study of, nor a comprehensive guide to, Explorations in Literature. How well you succeed in the examination will depend on your knowledge of the individual primary texts studied for the subject and secondary material, such as literary criticism, history, biography and so on. The guide is intended as an indication of how you might decide to organise and develop your own programme of study. The texts we consider here might not coincide with your own choices from the prescribed syllabus of texts but the critical procedures indicated should be applicable to your own choices. It is in this sense that the guide acts as a model, but we would stress that the model will have to be adapted by you in various ways (for instance, you will certainly want to study more texts than we have space to discuss here). This guide does not explore every possible approach to the authors and topics discussed, but is an example of how you could construct an appropriate course of study and devise appropriate ways of studying the material you choose. It also indicates the range of material that is the minimum amount necessary to face the examination with confidence. Simple regurgitation in the examination of the illustrative material in this subject guide will be regarded as plagiarism and heavily penalised. Examiners will always look unfavourably at examinations that are composed of answers that draw solely on the illustrative material provided in this subject guide. There are six chapters in this guide: Chapters 1 and 2 indicate ways of preparing for Section A questions on individual texts from the period between Homer and Fielding. Chapter 3 indicates ways of preparing for Section B questions on individual texts from the period between Coleridge and Atwood. Chapters 4 to 6 indicate ways of preparing for Section C questions comparing different authors. You may also want to develop lines of enquiry that are only alluded to here; indeed, you may want to investigate issues that are not raised at all in the guide. During the course of this subject guide we will indicate directions that seem to us to be of particular interest and importance and we will be suggesting ways in which you might investigate them. Feel free to adapt the material we are offering here in any way consistent with the learning outcomes of the subject. For example, you 3

9 Explorations in Literature may want to use material from Chapters 5 and 6 to prepare individual texts of the exam. Or you may want to use material from Chapters 1 4 to provide the basis for comparative work for Section C of the examination in combination with other suitable texts of your own choice from the syllabus of prescribed texts. Each chapter starts with a suggested reading list for the topic(s) covered in that chapter. It is divided into recommended editions and recommended secondary reading. The former sets out the text(s) discussed in the chapter. The latter list includes a number of books and articles that will enhance your knowledge and understanding of the topic. In every chapter you will come across activities. These activites are designed to help you reflect on what you have just read. You will make most progress if you attempt to answer each of these questions as you come across them in the text. You should refer back to the reading and then write your answers down or discuss them with someone else. We include a list of learning outcomes at the end of each chapter. Learning outcomes tell you what you should have learned from that chapter of the subject guide and the relevant reading. You should pay close attention to the learning outcomes and use them to check that you have fully understood the topic(s) under discussion. In each chapter we will also be listing Sample examination questions you might want to revise or plan responses to. This will give you the opportunity to consolidate your ideas, and will be important preparation for your written examination. Appendix 1 provides you with a list of recommended editions and secondary reading for each of the texts on the prescribed syllabus of this course not covered in this subject guide. This appendix also provides you with a list of questions, as well as some sample examination questions which will help to direct your studies of these texts. Finally, you will find a Sample examination paper and an Examiners' report. General subject reading There are no textbooks that adequately cover the whole content of Explorations in Literature. You will find some general histories of literature and generic studies in the Student handbook. These will help, but they will need to be supplemented by more detailed criticism of individual works and authors. If you wish to extend your reading beyond the recommended texts listed in the chapters of this guide or in Appendix 1, you will need to compile your own reading lists with the help of the Student handbook and bearing the following points in mind: Most libraries have computerised indexing that will cross-reference. So the entry Homer, for example, should produce lists of Homer s writings, but also biographies, critical readings etc. 4

10 Introduction You will know from reading the Student handbook that the nature of English studies has changed radically over the last 30 years. Bear this in mind. If all the criticism you read on Homer, for example, was written in the 1950s, you would have a very limited idea of the more recent range of critical responses to this writer. Go for collections of essays, such as Twentieth-century interpretations, the Casebook series and so on. Collections like these often provide fast access to a range of critical views and approaches. Remember that good critical editions of the prescribed texts, such as the Penguin and Oxford Classics, contain bibliographies. These will be useful to you in compiling your own reading lists. If you have access to the internet, the catalogue listings for the Online Library at Senate House can be found online ( A collection search will give you a good indication of what has been written on the writers or texts you are studying; it also gives ISBN numbers for the majority of texts. Online resources can be useful for secondary reading if used carefully. Sites such as Wikipedia are not to be trusted implicitly, and information such as dates, titles and explanations of theories, movements and contexts should be checked using a more reputable source. Sites which are based within academic institutions or libraries (such as Senate House Library mentioned above) are more reliable, and databases of academic journals such as JSTOR are helpful for finding a huge variety of articles written about particular texts. NB: you should exercise caution with printed books in the same way as you do with online resources. Always make sure you are aware of the date that the critical work you are consulting was first published, to give you an idea of its context. Remember that criticism on any text is always evolving. Subject content The prescribed texts, and recommended editions, for Explorations in Literature are listed below. Section A texts Homer The Odyssey. Translated by W. Shewring. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1980 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Sophocles Antigone in The Theban Plays. Translated by E.F. Watling (Harmondsworth: Penguin 1969 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Ovid Metamorphoses. Translated by A.D. Melville (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1998 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Translated by Mark Musa (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale. Edited by James Winny et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994 or later edition) second edition [ISBN ]. Barron, W.R.J. (ed.) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998) [ISBN ]. 5

11 Explorations in Literature Section B texts Burrow, C. (ed.) Metaphysical Poetry. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 2006) [ISBN ]. William Shakespeare Hamlet. (London: Penguin, 2005) [ISBN ]. John Milton Paradise Lost. Edited by Stephen Orgel and J. Goldberg. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. Note: we study Books I and II. Alexander Pope The Rape of the Lock. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998) [ISBN ]. Henry Fielding Joseph Andrews and Shamela and Related Writings. (New York: Norton, 1987) [ISBN ]. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Coleridge s Poetry and Prose. (New York: Norton, 2003) [ISBN ]. Jane Austen Emma. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Popular Classics, revised edition, 2003 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Charles Dickens Great Expectations. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. August Strindberg Miss Julie in Miss Julie and Other Plays. Translated by Michael Robinson. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1998 or later edition) [ISBN ]. Thomas Hardy Jude the Obscure. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2002 or later edition) [ISBN ]. T.S. Eliot Prufrock and Other Observations. (London: Faber & Faber, 2001) [ISBN ]. James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. Virginia Woolf Mrs Dalloway. (London: Penguin, 2000) [ISBN ]. Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot. (London: Faber & Faber, 2010) [ISBN ]. Leonora Carrington The Hearing Trumpet. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2005) [ISBN ]. Margaret Atwood The Penelopiad. (London: Canongate Books, 2006) [ISBN ]. Note: this is the novel not the play. In subsequent chapters of this guide, particular editions of certain prescribed texts may be recommended. In choosing an edition of other texts on the syllabus, do try to obtain one that has a good critical introduction and reasonably comprehensive notes. The Penguin, Oxford World s Classics and New Everyman Classics series of paperbacks fall into this category. 6 Suggested study syllabus You will have some choice over which texts you choose to study from the prescribed syllabus. Your choices will be determined partly by your personal tastes and interests, partly by the objectives of this course (which require you to study a historical and generic range of literature) and partly by the methods through which you will be assessed (see Methods of assessment below).

12 Introduction In constructing your own syllabus of study for this course, you need to prepare an adequate range of material to be able to face the examination with confidence. You are advised to strike a balance between work from the earlier and later parts of the subject and between the various genres it includes. You should study in detail at least 10 of the prescribed texts for this course. This is the minimum necessary to give you sufficient choice in the examination and to enable you to fulfil the objectives of the course. Here, we offer a sample 22-week study syllabus, structured to cover an appropriate range of material. You may, of course, wish to substitute authors, topics or individual texts of your choice from the list above. Weeks 1 3 Single-text study (Section A): Homer s The Odyssey. Weeks 4 6 Weeks 7 9 Single-text study (Section A): Shakespeare s Hamlet. Single-text study (Section B): Coleridge s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Weeks Weeks Single-text study (Section B): Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Comparative study (Section C): Chaucer s Wife of Bath s Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Weeks Comparative study (Section C): Pope s The Rape of the Lock and Fielding s Joseph Andrews. Weeks Comparative study (Section C): Hardy s Jude the Obscure and Joyce s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Weeks Revision and practice examination questions. Methods of assessment Important: the information and advice given here are based on the examination structure used at the time this guide was written. Please note that subject guides may be used for several years. Because of this we strongly advise you to always check both the current Regulations for relevant information about the examination, and the virtual learning environment (VLE) where you should be advised of any forthcoming changes. You should also carefully check the rubric/instructions on the paper you actually sit and follow those instructions. 7

13 Explorations in Literature At the end of this course, you will be assessed by a three-hour unseen examination paper. There will be three sections: Section A, Section B and Section C. You must answer one question from each section. In Section A, you will be asked questions about individual texts covering the period from Homer to Fielding. In Section B, you will be asked questions about individual texts covering the period from Coleridge to Atwood. In Section C, you will be asked to compare and contrast the work of different authors. Please note that the rubric for the examination contains the following instruction: Candidates may not discuss the same text in more than one answer. This means that you must not discuss the same text in more than one answer in the examination, or in any other Level 4 examination (with one exception see the next paragraph). You can, however, use texts that you have answered on in the Explorations in Literature examination to answer questions in the Approaches to Text examination, provided your treatment of the text(s) in question is significantly different. Remember, it is important to check the VLE for: up-to-date information on examination and assessment arrangements for this course where available, past examination papers and Examiners reports for the course which give advice on how each question might best be answered. 8 Examination technique If you have followed the instructions offered in the subject guide, read as much of the suggested syllabus as possible and engaged with the topics under consideration, you should be well prepared for the examination. However, in order to do justice to yourself and the subject on the day of examination, it is useful to think about your examination technique. The Student handbook provides good advice on how to prepare for assessment, so as you study and prepare for examinations you should read it carefully as well as bearing in mind the following suggestions: If possible, read a Sample examination paper from a previous year so that you are familiar with the range and type of questions you might expect to encounter (see the Sample examination paper at the end of this guide). Use the Sample examination paper to practise writing timed answers. In the examination, read the rubric carefully, and at least twice, and follow the instructions given. Read the whole paper through before choosing which questions to attempt. Leave yourself sufficient time to answer all the questions you are asked to complete. If you do run out of time, write down in note form all the points you would have included. (You may be given credit for an outline of an answer which you have not had time to write in full).

14 Introduction Proofread it! At the end of the examination, read through what you have written, correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation etc. and checking titles and the names of authors for inaccuracies. Simple errors or slips can detract from a good answer. These rules may seem obvious but are essential for good examination performance in any subject. To further develop and improve your examination technique you should also read the annual Examiners reports (a sample report is contained at the back of this guide) and consider the following additional points. Choosing the question One of the most important examination techniques is the ability to choose the type of question that you are well equipped to answer, which will enable you to demonstrate the particular knowledge and skills you have acquired during your course of study. For instance, if a question asks you to discuss the use of Greek myth in any one text you have studied, you will need a framework of historical and theoretical knowledge to answer this question adequately. It is also important to remember that conditions change, and what may have been true of one period or place may not be true of another. What may have been the case when Homer was writing The Odyssey may not have been the case when Atwood was writing the The Penelopiad. Avoid making generalisations and, if possible, link your comments to specific facts about the period under discussion. (You may find the slogan always historicise a useful reminder of these points.) Reading the question In order to answer questions effectively, it is important to understand what you are being asked to do, so look at the terms of the questions (i.e. to consider, compare, evaluate, discuss or define ) and make sure you do what the question asks you to do. If you are asked, for example, to consider the use of satire in The Rape of the Lock it is not enough to list examples of satire in the text. To describe or list is not to consider. With this question you might start by considering the particular effects of satire in a literary text. You could then extend your discussion to show the ways in which satire might enable Pope to present the argument of The Rape of the Lock in a particular way. When writing your answer it is also useful to begin with a brief definition of the key terms. If you are answering a question on the use of allegory in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, for example, you could start by stating what you understand by allegory. General matters: essays In selecting topics on which to write practice essays, remember that your essays will be preparing you to answer examination questions, and therefore you should select essay topics that relate to the three sections of the final examination. 9

15 Explorations in Literature Online resources Please note that additional study resources may be available to you for this course. A particularly important resource is the VLE for the English programme, which you can access via the Student Portal see the Student handbook for details of how to log in. If you are registered for Level 4 course(s) on the new programme (BA English (New Regulations)/Diploma of Higher Education in English/ Certificate of Higher Education in English), then the VLE is the place where you will interact with your assigned tutor group for that course. 10

16 Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey Recommended editions Good modern English translations of The Odyssey include: Fitzgerald, R. (trans.) The Odyssey. (New York: Vintage Classics, 2007) [ISBN ]. Shewring, W. (trans.) The Odyssey. (Oxford: World s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. Recommended secondary reading For general introductions: Griffin, J. Homer: The Odyssey. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) [ISBN ]. Rutherford, R. Homer. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) [ISBN ]. For a more detailed overview: Fowler, R. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Homer. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) [ISBN ]. Other important secondary works Clay, J.S. The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in The Odyssey. (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996) [ISBN ]. Cohen, B. (ed.) The Distaff Side: Representing the Female in Homer s Odyssey. (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press USA, 1995) [ISBN ]. Doherty, L.E. Homer s Odyssey. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) [ISBN ]. Graziosi, B. and E. Greenwood Homer in the Twentieth Century: Between World Literature and the Western Canon. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) [ISBN ]. Katz, M.A. Penelope s Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy in The Odyssey. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) [ISBN ]. Peradotto, J. Man in the Middle Voice: Name and Narration in The Odyssey. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990) [ISBN ]. Reece, S. The Stranger s Welcome: Oral Theory and the Aesthetics of the Homeric Hospitality Scene. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993) [ISBN ]. Schein, S.L. (ed.) Reading the Odyssey: Selected Interpretive Essays. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996) [ISBN ]. 11

17 Explorations in Literature Online resources These need to be used with the customary care, but you can be confident of the resources hosted on the Perseus site: You might like to consult Robin Mitchell-Boyask s site at Temple University: There are lots of translations available online: see, for example, the Perseus version, The Samuel Butler version, The George Chapman version, The Perseus site also has a useful overview of archaic Greek history, by Thomas R. Martin: Introduction The Odyssey is an epic poem in 24 books of verse, attributed to Homer, which probably took the form in which we read it circa 750 BCE. It appeared prior to the classics of Greek tragedy, philosophy and history, and before many books of the Old Testament. It is a partner to the other Homeric epic, The Iliad, and together these poems were the founding texts of ancient Greek civilisation, as the Bible later was for Christian cultures. Because of the recurring importance of ancient Greece to subsequent cultures, The Odyssey has become one of the most influential texts in world literature. It continues to reverberate in contemporary culture: not only subsequent epics like Vergil s Aeneid, James Joyce s Ulysses, and Derek Walcott s Omeros, but also films such as the Coen brothers O Brother Where Art Thou, and novels such as Margaret Atwood s Penelopiad, acknowledge The Odyssey as part of their cultural inheritance. As an epic, The Odyssey operates on a grand scale, addressing the most resonant themes, such as love, death and the place of humanity within a cosmos directed by unfathomable, hostile or competing deities. It sets the bar for subsequent epics which also encompass motifs such as the quest, the journey over water, and the descent into the Underworld. It does not deal directly with war, unlike many other epics, because it is set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, tracing the journey home of the Greek hero Odysseus. It thus combines a thrilling tale of survival against the odds against cannibals, scheming females and dangerous deities with a story that is essentially domestic, and which longs chiefly to reunite the hero with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. The reunion is threatened, however, by the fact that the palace on Ithaca is overrun by wild young nobles who seek Penelope s 12

18 Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey hand in marriage, in order to take over Odysseus s royal property, and who, at the beginning of the epic, are also plotting to murder his son. Since the poem thus combines so many different elements within the structure of the journey home, interpretations of it have often approached the cosmic level, and it has been understood as everything from a blueprint for ancient Greek colonisation to a meditation on human identity. This introduction will first discuss some formal elements, and then offer some thematic guidance, centred on the issues of heroism and of gender. The poem s appeal has been transhistorical, but there are also some formal aspects that present obstacles to its enjoyment. In particular, certain phrases recur very insistently: dawn is almost always rosyfingered, the sea is regularly wine-dark, and whenever there is a feast, those present invariably put forth their hands towards the good things that lay before them. Even larger blocks of verse, and whole scenes, which describe repeated actions, such as feasting, can be iterated word for word. It was this feature of The Odyssey, which it shares with the The Iliad, which prompted perhaps the most remarkable discovery about the poem in modern times. This discovery, made by the scholar Milman Parry in the 1930s, explains numerous features of the poem, particularly why it is characterised by so much repetition in terms of phrasing and plotting, and explains The Iliad in the same terms. While doing fieldwork in what was then Yugoslavia, Parry recorded oral poems sung in Serbo-Croat by folk bards. What Parry observed was that individual bards often sang the same very long poem but with innumerable minor variations. Extrapolating from these findings, he hypothesised that The Odyssey, and The Iliad, were highly collective productions, which had developed over time and been widely circulated and revised, but that they were also, in the process, the productions of individual bards and their innumerable small acts of improvisation, each of these singers varying the expression of a known plot. Parry s investigation concentrated on the metre of the two Homeric poems, and plausibly explained how these singing poets could complete the metre of an improvised line of verse by drawing on a whole repertoire of stock words or phrases. Since the repeated elements in the poem are of different lengths, such as the single word brave attached to Odysseus or the much longer phrase rosy-fingered attached to dawn, they could be used quickly and readily to fill gaps of just the right size, as the poet, in his singing, groped to complete the metre of a given line. Parry s conclusions about the oral transmission of the poems have become established as the best overall explanation not only of how The Odyssey, and The Iliad, came into existence, but also why the poem s texture is studded with these many repetitions. Subsequent analysis has shown how certain lines and even whole scenes are also repeated because they offered convenient building blocks to the oral poet who had to extemporise. Earlier debates had struggled to explain this texture either by the hypothesis of a particular individual genius (the unitarian argument) or by the notion that the poem was the product of some sort of committee (the analytic ). Oral transmission reconciles these ideas by the successive contributions of a series of talented poets 13

19 Explorations in Literature over time. If the figure of Homer existed at all, it is likely that he was the scribe who first committed a version of the shifting oral Odyssey to written script. Find examples of repeated scenes, such as putting on armour, single combat, sacrifice, feasting, visiting etc. Find three adjectives used with the name Achilles and three with the name Agamemnon. How meaningful do you find these adjectives? Try the same exercise with Odysseus and Penelope. Another feature of The Odyssey that readers often remark on is the somewhat convoluted plot. While this is structured by the motif of the quest, in other respects it is complex, and again part of its appeal can be understood in the balance and combination of the domestic and the distant. The epic begins with its focus not on the questing hero but rather on his son, who is confined in the toxic atmosphere of the palace at Ithaca. Only at the end of Book II does Telemachus succeed in departing, and there then follow two additional books before Odysseus actually appears in the text, during which Telemachus journeys to visit old friends of his father in order to seek news of him. The action of this Telemachy is suspended, as the narrative focus suddenly switches to his father who, like his son at the beginning, is confined, in this case in the palace of the nymph Calypso. Odysseus too is trying to escape and four books, from V through VIII, narrate his trajectory from Calypso s island to the court of the Phaeacians and his reception there. There is then an even more noticeable shift in the narrative structure, when the story of Odysseus at the court of Alcinous changes to Odysseus s first-person narrative about himself. This first-person account runs from Book IX through to XII, and concludes there as Odysseus finishes his story, at the halfway point of the epic, having recounted his adventures up to this very moment of their telling. After the next two books, XIII and XIV, Odysseus s final return to Ithaca, the narrative at the beginning of Book XV swings back to resume the account of Telemachus s effort to return home, which was left uncompleted at Book XIV, and to get him home in Book XV. Two separate narratives, focused on son and father in sequence, converge and finally intersect. Hereafter, until the poem ends at Book XXIV, there is a single storyline, which drives forward into the future, rather than looping back into the past. This multilinear, intertwining narrative is not merely an engaging formal feature of the poem, however. It also produces effects, such as suspense and intrigue, and, beyond that, it is pertinent to some of the themes of the poem. Draw a linear chart of the narrative, grouping the books of the epic together according to the character on which they focus, and according to whether they feature third-person or first-person narratives (e.g. Books I IV, Telemachus, thirdperson narrative). One such theme is that of heroism, which obviously features largely in the epic. The poem begins with a focus on Telemachus, the boy who is becoming a man, and who therefore needs heroic models. But these 14

20 Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey are in very short supply, since the male environment surrounding him consists almost entirely of the dissolute suitors. He thus faces not only the debilitation of his family, house and the kingdom, but also the loss and absence of his father, which makes the suitors behaviour possible. Telemachus s response is to try to fill in the vacuum of the absent father by reconstructing that father from the stories about him provided by Nestor, Menelaus and Helen. In this activity and the associated forays into the heroic world of his father s friends, Telemachus already begins to act like the very role model that he is building. No matter how much Telemachus approximates his father in himself, however, he cannot replace his father until his father, ironically, returns. As is indicated by the narrative sequencing their returns, Telemachus cannot get back to Ithaca until Odysseus does. Given that Telemachus has gone as far as he possibly can in finding, and making, his father, the narrative switches to Odysseus himself, at the start of Book V, as we finally encounter the great sacker of cities, the hero of the Trojan Horse, even more fearsome in the lethal power of his mind than in his formidable prowess as a warrior. But how does he first appear in The Odyssey? He is weeping like a woman, as the patriarchal stereotype of ancient Greek culture has it, and on Calypso s island he is indeed losing his heroic masculinity because he is captive to a female whom he does not even desire any more. He makes good his escape, but then Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, intervenes, smashing the raft and reducing Odysseus to the status of a castaway. When he meets the beautiful Nausicaa on the Phaeacian beach, he has been reduced to the literal bare minimum of humanity. How does Odysseus reacquire heroic status after this dramatic fall? In the first instance, Odysseus excels in the competitive games that the Phaeacians stage in Book VIII. More important than this physical prowess, however, is his accomplishment at the ensuing feast, when his host Alcinous asks him who he is. Alcinous is prompted by the tears Odysseus sheds at hearing the story of the Trojan War sung by the court bard, but when Odysseus takes over the storytelling, to recount his own history, he rebuilds his heroic identity, reliving, reinventing and recognising himself in the autobiographical narrative. Frustrated though he is in his quest to return home, he now knows fully who he once was, as well as who he now is, and he can link both these versions of himself in a devastating but ultimately enabling chain of narration. As important as this self-rediscovery is, there is another consequence of Odysseus s story of himself which is just as important as this one. The Phaeacians are so moved that they bestow on Odysseus not merely as much treasure as he took from Troy, and then lost on the way, but more such treasure. Not only his heroism but also his art is amply compensated. Odysseus s first-person narrative arguably also develops a new, postwar version of heroism. It shows him engaging with the various hazards that thronged his route home, such as the cannibal Laestrygonians, the soporific Lotus-Eaters, the sorceress Circe who turns men into pigs, and the monster Cyclops. On the way back from the Trojan War he puts his famous intelligence to the service of guile, deception and disguise, as he develops an identity characterised less by traditional military heroism and more by the flexibility, indeed opportunism, of a survivor. 15

21 Explorations in Literature Two moments sum up this development. In the cave of the Cyclops he escapes by using the trick of calling himself Nobody, but when he then announces to the wounded monster his real heroic name and lineage, he accidentally enables the Cyclops to curse him with Poseidon s wrath. In the Underworld, the shade of Achilles counsels him in the necessity of survival at any cost by showing that it is preferable to be a poor man alive than a great hero among the dead. Alone, having lost all his men, and in the disguise of a beggar, Odysseus will be that poor man when he successfully takes on the suitors. Discuss the ways in which The Odyssey represents heroism. To what extent is Odysseus a conventional warlike hero, and to what extent is he engaged in a redefinition of heroism? 16 The inset first-person narrative brings Odysseus into contact with a range of figures, and although the focus is on Odysseus s adventures, commentators remark on the wide sympathies of the poem. When Odysseus gets to Ithaca, several low-status characters still make claims on our attention, such as the shepherd Eumaeus and other faithful retainers, and Odysseus s neglected dog. Even the hostile characters like Melanthius and the maids perhaps evoke some pity. More striking still is the prominence of Penelope as the epic nears its end, and the questions that arise about her perception of Odysseus s identity beneath the beggarly disguise: what does she know and when does she know it? Throughout the poem Odysseus encounters a series of formidable females, such as Circe, Calypso and Nausicaa; interest in the female is such that Samuel Butler conjectured the poem s author to be a young woman. The female figures, which present various difficulties to Odysseus, including metamorphosis, death and marriage, are ranged between Helen, the faithless wife of Menelaus, who was one cause of the Trojan War, and Penelope, herself under siege on Ithaca. Lurking in the background is the nightmare figure of Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, supreme commander of the Greek host at Troy. In the Underworld, the ghost of Agamemnon tells Odysseus how he was murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, on his triumphant return from Troy. How Penelope will receive Odysseus thus becomes a crucial question. In the event, her recognition of him comes via two tests, which are to distinguish him from the frauds who have plagued her during the last 10 years. First there is the archery contest, which Odysseus passes with flying colours, after which he massacres the suitors. The second test occurs when Penelope implies that his great bed has been moved from its original place. At this, he remonstrates with Penelope, insisting that no man could move it, because it is constructed out of a tree that is still rooted in the ground. This detail about the bed is a secret shared between husband and wife, and since only Odysseus could know it, Penelope accepts him as the authentic article. The additional significance of this secret is that Penelope has tested Odysseus by tricking him, in particular by suggesting her own infidelity, which matches his liaisons with Circe and Calypso. Finally, the trickster has himself been tricked, into revealing himself not on his terms, but on hers.

22 Chapter 1: Section A single-text study Homer s The Odyssey Compare and contrast the female figures of The Odyssey with each other and with Odysseus. The rooted bed is a sign of Odysseus s organic connection to his wife, house and kingdom, and it is no surprise that he and Penelope retreat to it, in order to share stories as well as to renew their marital acquaintance. But Odysseus also brings danger to his community because he has killed off the young nobles, and their families seek revenge. To prevent this threat of a whole new war, Athena, backed by Zeus, intervenes, and the potentially warring parties are reconciled under a wider settlement. Many readers have found this ending obscurely unsatisfactory perhaps we crave the romantic fade on the reunited couple rather than protracted negotiations with the entire community. If so, The Odyssey is wiser than such readers in its awareness that the adjustment between war and peace is a constant necessity, and that the stories do not end. Learning outcomes Having read The Odyssey, this introduction and the associated secondary literature, you should be able to: give an account of the significance that The Odyssey has had for subsequent epic and related literature give an account of what is meant by oral transmission and its importance for understanding The Odyssey analyse the ways in which the different strands of The Odyssey s plot contribute to an overall understanding of the epic discuss the relationship between Odysseus and Telemachus give an account of the varieties of heroic identity that can be read in The Odyssey give an account of Odysseus s interactions with female characters. Sample examination questions 1. How important is the idea of cunning intelligence for an understanding of The Odyssey? 2. Is The Odyssey more interested in the individual hero, or in the various communities that he encounters? 3. Why is part of The Odyssey told in the first person? 17

23 Explorations in Literature Notes 18

24 Chapter 2: Section A single-text study Shakespeare s Hamlet Chapter 2: Section A single-text study Shakespeare s Hamlet Recommended editions Shakespeare, William Hamlet. Edited by Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor. (London: Arden Shakespeare Third Series, 2005) [ISBN ]. Extremely well annotated (over annotated to some tastes), a lengthy introduction with an emphasis on the critical and theatrical history of the play. Shakespeare, William Hamlet. Edited by G.R. Hibbard. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. A well annotated edition with a helpful, wide ranging introduction and useful illustrations. Shakespeare, William Hamlet. Introduction by Alan Sinfield. (London: Penguin, 1980, 2005) [ISBN ]. Accessible, thoughtprovoking introduction and straightforward notes. Shakespeare, William Hamlet: Shakespeare in Production. Edited by Robert Hapgood. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) [ISBN ]. Not recommended for a first reading of the text but compelling for its insights into how different actors and directors have staged the play. Shakespeare, William Hamlet: The Texts of 1603 and Edited by Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor. (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2007) [ISBN ]. Not recommended for a first reading of the play but valuable for a comparison between the two most influential texts of the play. The 1603 version is longer than the 1623 version, this edition explores the differences between the two texts and their possible significance. Recommended secondary reading Berry, Philippa Shakespeare s Feminine Endings: Disfiguring Death and the Tragedies. (London: Routledge, 1999) [ISBN ]. Bloom, Harold Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2003) [ISBN ]. Bradley, A.C. Shakespearean Tragedy. (1904: London: Penguin, 1991) [ISBN ]. Croall, Jonathan Hamlet Observed: The National Theatre at Work. (London: Royal National Theatre Publications, 2001) [ISBN ]. de Grazia, Margreta Hamlet Without Hamlet. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) [ISBN ]. Erne, Lukas Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) [ISBN ]. Greenblatt, Stephen Hamlet in Purgatory. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002) [ISBN ]. Harris, Jonathan Gil Shakespeare and Literary Theory. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) [ISBN ]. Howard, Tony Women as Hamlet. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) [ISBN ]. 19

25 Explorations in Literature Jardine, Lisa Reading Shakespeare Historically. (London: Routledge, 1996) [ISBN ]. Kyd, Thomas Spanish Tragedy. (London: New Mermaids, 2009) [ISBN ]. Lavender, Andy Hamlet in Pieces. (London: Nick Hern, 2001) [ISBN ]. Maher, Mary Z Modern Hamlets and their Soliloquies. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003) [ISBN ]. McDonald, Russ Shakespeare and the Arts of Language. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) [ISBN ]. Pennington, Michael Hamlet: A User s Guide. (London: Nick Hern, 2008) [ISBN ]. Rutter, Carol Enter the Body: Women and Representation on Shakespeare s Stage. (London: Routledge, 2000) [ISBN ]. Shakespeare, William Titus Andronicus. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN ]. Shapiro, James 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. (London: Faber, 2006) [ISBN ]. Thompson, Ann and Neil Taylor William Shakespeare s Hamlet. (Horndon: Northcote House, 2005) second revised edition [ISBN ]. Wilson, J. Dover What Happens in Hamlet. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) [ISBN ]. Wofford, Suzanne L. (ed.) Hamlet: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. (London: Macmillan, 2011) second revised edition [ISBN ]. Online resources Film versions offers exhaustive line-by-line interpretations as well as longer essays and critical insights. offers a good selection of critical texts. offers some good insights, especially on the influence of Seneca on Hamlet. Hamlet on the Ramparts concentrates on Hamlet s encounters with the ghost. a useful BBC link to clips of film versions. a link to the Royal Shakespeare Company s prominent productions of the play. When approaching the examination paper, you should remember that this is a text-based course and therefore you should not discuss film versions in detail. Films of Hamlet do, however, offer an insight into the importance of directorial interpretation and indicate how each era produces its own version of the text (in Tony Richardson s 1969 version, for instance, Ophelia is played by Marianne Faithful and offers a wry commentary on Flower Power, while Michael Almereyda s film of 2000 relocates the play to contemporary New York against a background of warring business corporations rather than kingdoms). 20