En 121
Literature and Its Readers
Autumn 2019
Thursdays 7-10 p.m.
Prof. Kristine Haugen
215 Dabney Hall
haugen@hss.caltech.edu
Office hours:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-5 p.m., Dabney 215
Book list
(you need to use only the exact editions
listed)
Collaboration
policy (.pdf)
How does a poem become
meteorically famous? And what was life really like in a
traditional European culture where people were taught to value the
past?
This class looks for answers by
tracing the afterlife of Homer's Iliad, one of the first poems
in Western Europe and already a schoolbook for the rest of the ancient
Greeks. Unlike the more famous Odyssey, this sometimes
repetitive story of war can be hard for us to like. Yet
generations of readers were told that it was great, and their encounters
with it are precisely what we want to study. It seems clear that
in each case they asked: what meaning does Homer have for the
modern world?
This is especially remarkable
because people from such diverse times and places found Homer relatable
or relevant. As the reading list below shows, we start with the Iliad
itself, then study later Greece, medieval
England, Scotland and Germany in the 18th century, and North America in
the 20th century, finishing with Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club
(1996).
As an official notice, the Iliad, in particular, is
potentially offensive in so many ways that it would take a lot of thought
to list them all. The interesting element of this for our
discussions is that we can ask whether people in the past were offended by
Homer and what they did about it.
The class' expectations for reading and written work are listed below; it
is completely mandatory to use the exact books in the list that's posted
above, because most of our books are translations that can have very
different wording and flavor, not to mention page numbers. But above
all, this is a discussion class. I hope there will be enough time
for everyone to speak at least once during each class, and to give you a
more open environment to develop your ideas, everyone is also required to
post twice each week, at least twelve hours apart, on our class
forum (enrollment key: haugen). In general, I already know
what I think, so the things I'm most interested in hearing are ideas I
haven't thought of yet.
Reading schedule
October
3 Past and Present
Making Homer
relevant
October 10 The Battle Is Joined
Homer, Iliad,
books 1-6, 9-11
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 1 (click to see assignment)
October
17 How Long Can a Hero
Procrastinate?
Homer, Iliad, books 14-18, 21-24
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 2
October
24 This Is My Favorite Poet?
Ancient
biography of Homer supposed to be by Plutarch (selections); Battle
of the Frogs and Mice supposed to be by Homer; discussion of
heroic lifestyles in Athenaeus' Professors at Dinner (handouts)
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 3
October 31
Fighting Is So Old-School
Geoffrey
Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde
(1380s; handout), books 1-4
Due at 6 p.m.: Problem 4
November 7
No class
November
14 I Like to Take Homer
Hiking
J.
W. von Goethe, The Sorrows of
Young Werther (1774)
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 5
2-part final
project handed out: guidelines, Paper A, Paper B
November 21 In
a Surprise Development, Scotland Also Had a Homer
James
Macpherson, masquerading as "Ossian"
(1762), the poem entitled "Fingal" (pp. 1-85) plus the Preface and
Dissertation on how Macpherson claims to have found the poems (on
unnumbered pages at the beginning of the book)
Link: "Fingal" plot summary
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 6 and first part of final project: bring
printouts to class for each member of your group and me
November 28
No class
December 5
Traveling to Hear Living Oral Poets (last class)
Albert
B. Lord, The Singer of Tales
(2nd ed., 2000; handout), introduction and chapters 1 through 6
(pp. 3-138; you can read quickly through chapters 3 and 4);
chapter 9 (pp. 186-97); appendices (pp. 223-75)
Due at 6
p.m.: Problem 7
Monday of finals week (December 9), 11:59 p.m.: Second part of
final project is due by email