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BRANDEIS HOMEPAGE
CLAS 165A Course Syllabus: Fall 2005
Professor Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow
Office: Rabb 128, tel. (781)-736-2183 (voicemail)
Department Office: Rabb 140, x6-2180
Email: aoko@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Fridays 1:30 - 2:30 p.m., and by appointment.
Class Meets: Block P, Tuesdays and Fridays, 3:10 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
RATIONALE
This course examines a substantial body of Roman literary works from the second century B.C.E. to the second century C.E. (to be read in translation). The texts are analyzed from social, historical, psychological, literary, and religious viewpoints. The principal theme of the course is the growing estrangement of Roman literature from classical ideas and its increasing involvement with exotic, private, and unconscious forces of disruption and decay. The concept of "Roman decadence" is explored and challenged, both by the Roman literary accomplishment itself and by its impact on the literature of subsequent periods. (Students majoring in Classical Studies may choose to read selected passages of these works in Latin, as well as the entire works in translation.)
TEXTS TO PURCHASE (listed mainly in order to be used in course)
1. Catullus: Lee, G. (trans.), Poems of Catullus, Oxford World Classics (019283587-4)
2. Vergil: Mandelbaum, Allen (trans.), The Aeneid of Vergil, Bantam (ISBN 0-553-21041-6) also on reserve: PA 6807 A5 M23
3. Ovid: Humphries, R. (trans.), Metamorphoses, Indiana U. Press (ISBN 0-253-33755-0
4. Ovid: Humphries, R. (trans.), Art of Love, Indiana U. Press (ISBN 025320002-4)
5. Seneca: Watling, E. F., Four Tragedies and Octavia, Viking/Penguin (ISBN 014044174-3
6. Petronius: Arrowsmith, W. (trans.), Satyricon, Viking/Penguin (ISBN 045201005-5)
7. Suetonius: Graves, Robert (trans.), Twelve Caesars, Viking/Penguin (ISBN 014044072-0)
8. Apuleius: Lindsay, Jack. (trans.), The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses (of Apuleius), Indiana Univ. (ISBN 0-253-20036-9)
OTHER TEXTS (posted on WebCT or on Reserve)
1. Plautus: Smith, Peter L. (trans.), Three Comedies: Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus, Rudens, Cornell Press (ISBN 080149594-6).
Also on reserve: PA6570 .A3 S65 1991
2. Terence: Radice, Betty (trans.), The Comedies, Viking/Penguin (ISBN 014044324-X)
3. Lucretius: Humphries, R. (trans.), Lucretius: The Way Things Are, Indiana U. Press (ISBN 025320125-X)
4. Cicero: Grant, M. (trans.), Selected Works, Penguin (014044099-2)
5. Horace: Fuchs, J. (trans.), Satires and Epistles of Horace, Norton (ISBN 039309093-0) also on reserve: PA6396 A2 F8 1977
6. Juvenal: Humphries, R. (trans.), Satires, Midland Ind. U. (ISBN 0253200202)
REQUIREMENTS
Class attendance and participation are not only encouraged, but are necessary for successful completion of the course. More than two absences (without adequate explanation or documentation) WILL have a negative effect on your grade. Students are expected to have read the work(s) assigned before class in order to contribute to the making of rich and worthwhile discussions.
In addition to the assigned readings in the required texts (both those available in the campus bookstore and those posted on WebCT), other "recommended" assignments will be suggested from time to time from books on reserve in the library or from chapters and articles posted on WebCT. Everyone is encouraged to sample, if not to conquer, these suggested pages, especially if they relate to an author on which you are writing an essay yourself.
Every student in the class will be required to make a short public presentation (5-7 minutes) on one of the Roman works read in the course (to be determined by a lottery drawing at the beginning of the term). This presentation may be a mini lecture, a performance of a scene, a dramatic reading, or some other format. You will be rewarded for cleverness, but do not be flip or "cute." Drawing lots from an urn, of course, was the method of selection for Roman forced labor, conscription into the Roman army, deciding the order of gladiator fights in the amphitheater, among many other "delights" from ancient Roman culture.
WRITTEN REQUIREMENTS
1. One short paper: formal directions to follow, but 2-3 computer-generated, double-spaced pages, on textual explication (this paper may be completely rewritten for a new grade if student [and/or professor] are not satisfied);
2. One somewhat longer paper -- 5-6 computer-generated, double-spaced pages -- building on textual explication to develop a more comprehensive literary analysis of a work--or works read--in the course;
3. Short prospectus (1-2 pages) for final essay;
4. Take-home final essay/paper (6-8 typed, double-spaced pages, not including cover page, footnotes, and bibliography).
5. If the class wishes to have a Midterm Exam, this can be arranged.
N.B. Students will lose one grade step (A to A-, A- to B+, B+ to B, etc.) for every day a paper is late unless earlier arrangements are made and approved in advance.
FIRM AND FIXED DUE DATES FOR MAIN WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
(Note: If you choose to rewrite this paper for a new grade, the rewrite due date is Friday, October 7.)
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS FOR FALL SEMESTER (subject to some modification)
* Indicates an important due date for written work or for an exam.
DUE DATE: SEPTEMBER
02, Fri. "Introductions": to your professor, to each other, to the texts, to reading an ancient text, to Roman literature, and to the concept of decadence in literature and life.
Assignment for Sept. 6, Tues.: Buy texts for course. Familiarize yourself with library Reserve.
Read Plautus' Miles Gloriosus in Smith, Peter L. (trans.), Three Comedies: Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus, Rudens Cornell Press 1991 (ISBN 080149594-6) also on reserve: PA6570 .A3 S65 1991
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 1
06, Tues. "Early Latin, the Roman stage, and Plautus de Man"
Film selections, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," if available.
Required Reading (due today): Plautus' Miles Gloriosus in Smith, (trans.) (ISBN 080149594-6) also on reserve: PA6570 .A3 S65 1991
09, Fri. "Terence Takes Up the Comic Ball"/ Film selections, "Ocean's Eleven," if available.
Required Reading (due today): Terence, The Girl from Andria in The Comedies Radice, (trans.) (ISBN 014044324-X)
Recommended Reading: (1) Slater, Niall, Plautus in Performance, Princeton 1985 chpt. I, "Introduction: The Performance Dimension," 3-18 and chpt. VIII, "Convention and Reaction," 147-167 (Reserve: PA 6585 .S55 1985); (2) Segal, Erich, Roman Laughter The Comedy of Plautus, Harvard 1970 "Introduction," 1-14 and chpt. I. "O Tempora, O Mos Maiorum," 15-41 (Reserve: PA 6585 Z9 S4); (3) Anderson, William, Barbarian Play: Plautus' Roman Comedy, U. of Toronto 1993 chpt. 1 "Plautus and the Deconstruction of Menander," 3-29, chpt. 3 "Plautus' Plotting: The Lover Upstaged," 60-87, and chpt. 6 "Plautus and His Audience: The Roman Connection," 133-151 (Reserve: PA6585 .A63 1993); (4) Watling, E. F. (trans.), Plautus: The Pot of Gold and other Plays, Penguin 1987 (Reserve: PA6570 .A3 W28 1965)--if you would like to read other plays of Plautus; or (5) Plautus' Pseudolus or Rudens in Smith, Peter L. (trans.) (Reserve: PA6570 .A3 S65 1991), both of which are some of Plautus' finest writing.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 2
13, Tues. "On the Nature of Things"
Required Reading (due today): Lucretius Bk. II, "Movements and Shapes of Atoms"; Bk. III, "Life and Mind"; and Bk. IV, "Sensation and Sex" in The Way Things Are: The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus, Humphries (trans.) (ISBN 025320125-X)
16, Fri. "On Friendship, Old Age, and Dying" Required Reading (due today): Cicero, "On Old Age" in Selected Works, Grant (trans.) (ISBN 014044099-2)
Recommended Reading: Cicero, "Against Verres I" in Selected Works, Grant (trans.) (ISBN 014044099-2); Minadeo, R., The Lyre of Science (Reserve: PA 6484 .M5) chpt. II, "The Great Design," 31-54.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 3
20, Tues. "What was Love to a Roman?"
Required Reading (due today): Catullus, 1-116, selections TBA, in The Poems of Catullus, Lee (trans.) (ISBN 019283587-4)
*23, Fri. First Paper Due on Catullus
"Roman Consciousness and the Private Self"
Required Reading (due today): Fuchs, J. (trans.), Satires and Epistles of Horace Norton (ISBN 039309093-0) also on reserve: PA6396 A2 F8 1977 Bk. I Satires 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10; Bk. II Satires 6, 7; Bk. I Epistles 1, 2, 6; Bk. II Epistle 1, 3 (Art of Poetry).
Recommended Reading: (1) Other satires and epistles in Fuchs, J. (trans.), Satires and Epistles of Horace Norton (ISBN 0-393-090-930) also on reserve: PA6396 A2 F8 1977; (2) Armstrong, D., Horace Yale 1989 (Reserve: PA 6411 .A77 1989) chpt. I, "The Young Horace 65-30 B.C.E.," 1-25; chpt. II, "Horace Before Augustus," 26-55; chpt. IV, "Later Life and Works," 117-162.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 4
27, Tues. "The National Ideal and the National Hero"
Required Reading (due today): Vergil, Aeneid 1-4 in Mandelbaum, Allen (trans.), The Aeneid of Vergil, Bantam (ISBN 055321041-6) (Reserve: PA 6807 A5 M23).
Recommended Reading: (1) Camps, W. A., An Introduction to Vergil's Aeneid Oxford 1968 (Reserve: PA6825 .C36 1979) chpt. I "Preliminary" 1-10, chpt. II "The story and its subject: Rome," 11-20, chpt. III "The hero: Aeneas," 21-30; (2) Quinn, Kenneth Virgil's Aeneid A Critical Description, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1968 (Reserve: PA 6825 Q 5 1968) chpt. 1. "The Heroic Impulse," 1-22, chpt. 2. "Genesis--What is Aeneid about? The Task and its Problems? The Problem Solved," 22-58, and chpt. 3. "Structure," 59-98;
30, Fri. "Vergil's Aeneid--Greek? anti-Greek?, Roman?, anti-Roman?"
Required Reading (due today): Vergil, Aeneid 5-8 in Mandelbaum, Allen (trans.) The Aeneid of Vergil Bantam (ISBN 0-553-21041-6) (Reserve: PA 6807 A5 M23).
Recommended Reading: Martindale, Charles (ed.), Virgil and his Influence, (Bimillennial Studies) Bristol Classical Press 1984 (Reserve: PA 6826 .V57 1984) "Introduction" (Martindale) 1-24, "The Poetic Intention of Virgil's Aeneid," (Williams) 25-36, "Virgil in Dante" (Hardie) 37-70, "Virgil in Shakespeare" (Nuttall) 71-94.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 5
DUE DATE: OCTOBER
04, Tues. NO CLASS Rosh Hashanah
*07, Fri. Rewrites of Paper #1 due.
"A New Beginning for Literature or a Bad Ending?"
Required Reading (due today): Vergil, Aeneid 9-12 in Mandelbaum, Allen (trans.) The Aeneid of Vergil Bantam (ISBN 055321041-6) also on reserve: PA 6807 A5 M23.
Recommended Reading: (1) McKay, Alexander G., Virgil's Italy, New York Graphic Society Ltd. 1970 (Reserve: PA6825 M33) chpt. I. "The Achievement of Vergil," 17-54.; (2) Sowerby, Robin (ed.), Dryden's Aeneid A Selection with Commentary, Bristol Classical Press 1986 (Reserve: PA 6807 .A5 D7 1986) 54-160 = translation of Bks. I-VI.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 6
11, Tues. "Divine Intervention or a Hoax?"
Required Reading (due today): Ovid, Metamorphoses (selections, TBA)
14, Fri. "The Mechanization of Pleasure"
Required Reading (due today): Ovid, "Art of Love," Bk. I, 105-129, and Bk. II., 130-152 in Humphries, R. (trans.), Art of Love Indiana U. Press (ISBN 025320002-4).
Recommended Reading: Green, Peter (trans.), Ovid: The Erotic Poems, Penguin 1982 (Reserve: PA 6522 .A2 1982) "Introduction," 15-80.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 7
18, Tues. NO CLASS Sukkot
*21, Fri. Paper #2 due. Film selections, "Catch 22," if available.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 8
25, Tues. NO CLASS Shimini Atzeret
28, Fri. "Love as a Game / Love as a Goal?"
Required Reading (due today): Ovid, "Art of Love," Bk. III, 153-178 in Humphries, R. (trans.) Art of Love Indiana U. Press (ISBN 0-253-200002-4).
Recommended Reading: Myerowitz, Molly, Ovid's Games of Love, Wayne State 1985 (Reserve: PA 6519 .A84 M94 1985) chpt. 1 "Love in the Art of Love," 17-40, and chpt. 6 "The Limits of Ars" 150-174.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 9
DUE DATE: NOVEMBER
01, Tues. "The Baroque Consciousness of Death"
Required Reading (due today): Watling, E. F. Four Tragedies and Octavia Viking/Penguin (ISBN 0-14-044174-3) "Thyestes," 43-93, and "The Trojan Women," 153-204.
Recommended Reading: (1) Boyle, A. J., Tragic Seneca An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition Routledge 1997 (Reserve: PA 6685 .B69 1997) chpt. 1 "The Roman Theater," 3-12; (2) Lucas, F. L., Seneca and Elizabethan Tragedy, Cambridge 1922 (Reserve: PA6675 L8) chpt. III "The Tragedies of Seneca," 53-77; (3) Costa, C. D. N. (ed.), Seneca, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1974 (Reserve: PA 6675 Z9 C67) chpt. IV. "The Tragedies," 96-115 (Costa) and chpt. VI. "Seneca and English Tragedy," (G. K. Hunter) 166-204; (4) Sullivan, J. P. (trans.), The Apocolocyntosis, Penguin 1986 (Reserve: PA 6558 .E5 S8 1986) 209-243; (5) Rouse, W. H. D. (trans.), SenecaÕs Apocolocyntosis, Harvard U. Press 1987 (Reserve: PA 6558 .A2 1975) 437-483.
04, Fri. "Sex and the Anti-Hero"
Required Reading (due today): Arrowsmith, W. (trans.) Satyricon (of Petronius) Viking/Penguin (ISBN 045201005-5) 21-84.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 10
08, Tues. "A Dinner that Eats its Guests"
Required Reading (due today): Arrowsmith, W. (trans.) Satyricon (of Petronius) Viking/Penguin (ISBN 045201005-5) v-xviii, 84-128.
Recommended Reading: (1) Slater, Niall W., Reading Petronius, The John Hopkins Press 1990 (Reserve: PA6559 .S5 1990) I "Introduction: Constructing the Audience," 1-23; II "In media verba," 27-37; III "Sex and Sensibility," 38-49; and IV "A Self-Consuming Cena," 50-86; (2) Sullivan, J. P., The Satyricon of Petronius A Literary Study, Indiana U. Press 1968 (Reserve: PA 6559 S8) II "A Reconstruction of the Satyricon," 34-80; and VI "The Humour of Petronius," 214-231.
11, Fri. "Life's Ship-Wrecks"
Required Reading (due today): Arrowsmith, W. (trans.), Satyricon (of Petronius), Viking/Penguin (ISBN 045201005-5) 128-165.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 11
15, Tues. Film selections, Satyricon by Fellini, if available
18, Fri. "The City of Despair" Film selections, Roma by Fellini, if available
Required Reading (due today): Juvenal, Satires 2, 3, 15 in Humphries, R. (trans.), Satires, Midland Ind. U. (ISBN 025320020-2).
Recommended Reading: (1) Green, Peter (trans.), Juvenal The Sixteen Satires, Penguin 1974 (Reserve: PA 6447 .E5 G7) notes especially recommended; (2) Highet, Gilbert, Juvenal the Satirist A Study, Oxford 1955 (Reserve: PA 6448 H5 C.2 scan table of contents for topics of interest; chpt. I. "Introduction," 2-3; chpt. VI. "Introduction to the Satires," 44-46.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 12
*22, Tues. Prospectus for final paper due today.
"Historical Hindsight?"
Required Reading (due today): Suetonius on Augustus, 54-112, in Graves, Robert (trans.), Twelve Caesars Viking/Penguin (ISBN 014044072-0).
Recommended Reading: Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew, Suetonius The Scholar and his Caesars, Yale 1983 (Reserve: PA 6702 .A5 W3 1984) chpt. 1. "The Man and the Style," 1-25
24-25, Thurs.-Fri. Thanksgiving Break (Please continue reading Apuleius, Golden Ass.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 13
29, Tues. "Or Hysterical Slander?"
Required Reading (due today): Suetonius on Nero, 213-246; Vespasian 278-291; and Domitian, 299-314, in Graves, Robert (trans.) Twelve Caesars Viking/Penguin (ISBN 014044072-0).
DUE DATE: DECEMBER
02, Fri. "Escape or Damnation?"
Required Reading (due today): Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Intro, 5-29, Bks. 1-4, 31-104, in Lindsay, Jack. (trans.), The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses (of Apuleius), (Indiana University) ISBN 0-253-20036-9.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 14
06, Tues. "Love and Soul/ Cupid and Psyche"
Required Reading (due today): Apuleius, Golden Ass, Bks. 4, 5-9, 105-211 in Lindsay, Jack. (trans.), The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses (of Apuleius), (Indiana Univ.) ISBN 0-253-20036-9.
Recommended Reading: (1) Tatum, James, Apuleius and the Golden Ass, Cornell 1979 (Reserve: PA 6217 .T3) 21-91 on Apuleius' original eleven books of Metamorphoses. (2) Winkler, J. J., Auctor and Actor A Narratological Reading of Apuleius' Golden Ass, U. of California 1985 (Reserve: PA 6217 .W5 1985) chpt. 1, "The Question of Reading," 1-22.
09, Fri. "The Savior is Female After All" and "Conclusion/Wrap-up: Our Roman Connection"
Required Reading (due today): Apuleius, Golden Ass, Bk. 10-11, 212-255, in Lindsay, Jack. (trans.), The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses (of Apuleius), (Indiana Univ.) ISBN 0-253-20036-9.
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 15
*13, Tues. Last Class, Take-Home Final Essay due
__________________________________________________________________________________________end week 16
Photographs: [left] Gambling scene, fresco, 1st century C.E. Ôcomic stripÕ [Man on left says: "exsi" while man on right says "non / tria duas / est"], National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Photographic Credit: Barbara McManus, 2003), by courtesy of the vRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/gamblers_painting.jpg;
[second from left] Nero Apollo, wall painting, Apollo citharoede with face of Nero, 1st c. C.E., Pompeii, now housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Photographic Credit: Barbara McManus, 2003), by courtesy of the vRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/nero_apollopainting.jpg;
[second from right] Galatea, detail from relief of Polyphemus and Galatea, 2nd century C.E., Teatro Antico, Nemi, now housed in Museo Massimo, Rome (Photographic Credit: Ann Raia, 1999), by courtesy of the vRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/images/raia_images/polyphemgalatea.jpg;
[right] Sacrifice, fresco of religious procession and sacrifice, 1st century C.E., probably during the Compitalia, found in Edifice B, Moregine, near Pompeii, now housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Photographic Credit: Barbara McManus, 2003), by courtesy of the vRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/compitaliafresco.jpg.
To report broken links, please contact Janet Barry at jbarry@brandeis.edu or x6-2180.
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Department of Classical Studies, 2005.