Brown University
Updated for: 2005 
Subjects offered: Classical Civilization
Classical Roots of Western Literature
CL903-3B
Instructor: Mulligan
Most modern literature is influenced in ways great and small by the works of classical antiquity. While it is improbable that you have attended a gladiatorial game, sacrificed to Zeus, or worn a toga to work, chances are your favorite author has been influenced by someone who has. This course has two main goals: to survey the diversity and power of classical literature and to trace how Greek and Roman literature provides a conscious source of inspiration, as well as a subtle but pervasive influence, on authors throughout history.
Our course will begin by investigating the forms and themes of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and how later cultures (Roman, Renaissance, and Modern) engaged, manipulated, and emulated these poems. In a similar way, we will examine the classical roots of drama, satire, history, philosophy, and poetry. We will also explore prominent themes from antiquity and how they influence contemporary literature. For example, we may investigate how Kafka's masterful short story, The Metamorphosis, recreates the transformations in Ovid's Metamorphoses, itself a treasure trove of mythology and arguably one of the most influential works ever written. In our quest to develop a broad appreciation of ancient culture and its influence, we will visit the Boston Museum of Fine Art and (schedule permitting) a theatrical performance.
The course will conclude with a series of faculty-mentored projects in which students will be encouraged to reconsider a favorite work - be it T.S. Eliot or J. K. Rowling - in light of their new-found familiarity with the scope and depth of the classical roots of western literature. In past years, students have explored the works of Eudora Welty, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Sartre, Chinua Achebe, Zora Neale Hurston, and W.H. Auden.
This course is designed for students who are seeking an introduction to classical literature, or those who already have had exposure to classical culture. Readings may include excerpts from, among others: Epic: Homer, Vergil, Dante, Milton, Joyce; Drama: Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plautus, Shakespeare; Poetry: Horace, Juvenal, Swift; Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Montesquieu, Nietzsche; Poetry: Sappho, Horace, Ovid, Keats, Tennyson, Walcot
3B (3B: July 17-August 6) Fee: Three Week Course Fee + $100 Materials Fee
CONTACT INFORMATION
Brown University
Office of Summer & Continuing Studies
42 Charlesfield Street/Box T
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401.863.7900
Fax: 401.863.3916
summer@Brown.edu
