Ancient Motifs

elective

Course aims:

- to gain knowledge of origins and development of ancient motifs in the modern literature and culture,

- to gain knowledge of the contemporary political, social and cultural meaning of the motifs and themes taken from antiquity,

- to develop the ability of interpretation of the most important literary motifs referring to ancient culture,

- to develop research skills in the field of diverse levels of intertextual and cultural relationships: motifs, themes, topoi, conventions, genres.

General familiarity with antiquity, basic familiarity with the terminology of history of arts and theory of literature.

Lecture with a multimedia presentation, interactive lecture, discussions, sound and/or video demonstration.

4

Course learning content:

- preliminary remarks on the terminology: motifs, topoi, themes,

- universal themes from Homeric epic: heroic war and heroic journey,

- death and afterlife: topography of the unearthly realms, ghosts and the "living dead" motif,

- motif of a labirynth,

- "Animalia": ancient and modern bestiary,

- idyllic images in contemporary literature: ancient and modern Arcadia.

Reading list:

Texts selected by the teaching staff (e.g. W.H. Matthews, Mazes and Labyrinths: Their History and Development. London 1922; E.R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Oxford 2013 [1953]; M. Beard, J. Henderson, Classics. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford 1997; S. Settis, The Future of the Classical. Cambridge-Malden 2006; Living Classics: Greece and Rome in Contemporary Poetry in English. Ed. S.J. Harrison. Oxford 2009; M. Beard, Confronting the Classics. Traditions, adventures and innovations. New York-London 2013; Antiquity in Popular Literature and Culture. Ed. K. Dominas, E. Wesołowska, B. Trocha. Cambridge 2016).

On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:

- describe the research problems and the recent achievements in the field covered by the lecture,

- define the role of the literary motifs drawn from antiquity in the modern cultural life,

- see and evaluate the rules and principles applied in the modern literary works referring to antiquity,

- see and evaluate the evolution of concepts, attitudes and emotions in the literary and artistic works against the background of their times,

- account for the contribution of ancient literature and culture into the formation and development of modern culture.

Grade system:

very good (bdb; 5,0): very good knowledge and understanding of the relationships between ancient and modern culture based on the specific literary motifs; ability to provide relevant examples; very high skill at critical reading and at evaluating the influence of ancient motifs on contemporary culture, as well as their role in individual works.

good plus (+db; 4,5): as above, except for minor inefficiencies and inaccuracies.

good (db; 4,0): good knowledge and understanding of the relationships between ancient and modern culture based on the specific literary motifs; ability to provide relevant examples; rather high skill at critical reading and at evaluating the influence of ancient motifs on contemporary culture, as well as their role in individual works.

satisfactory plus (+dst; 3,5): satisfactory knowledge and understanding of the relationships between ancient and modern culture based on the specific literary motifs; ability to provide relevant examples; satisfactory skill at critical reading and at evaluating the influence of ancient motifs on contemporary culture, as well as their role in individual works.

satisfactory (dst; 3,0): satisfactory knowledge and understanding of the relationships between ancient and modern culture based on the specific literary motifs; ability to provide some relevant examples; satisfactory skill at critical reading and at evaluating the influence of ancient motifs on contemporary culture, as well as their role in individual works.

unsatisfactory (ndst; 2,0): unsatisfactory knowledge and understanding of the relationships between ancient and modern culture based on the specific literary motifs; unsatisfactory skill at critical reading and at evaluating the influence of ancient motifs on contemporary culture, as well as their role in individual works.