Ancient literature, selected problems I: Poetry and society I: The Archaic Age

compulsory

Course aims:

To inform on the main literary texts that characterise the Greek Archaic Age; to inspire reflection on the relationship between mythology, history, and poetic innovation; to illustrate how literary genres develop; to assess critically the reception of some main works of Greek Archaic literature by modern authors; to read and to learn how to interpret Greek poetry.

Basic understanding of technical terms of literary science. Elementary knowledge of European literary history.

Interactive lecture, problem – based lecture, discussions, text-based work, case study work, problem-based learning, creative methods, group work, close reading, using commentaries and making sense of textbooks.

5

Course learning content:

- reading and interpreting Greek texts in translation,

- evaluating the difficulties in understanding,

- articulating own idead in an academic and professional way,

- establishing a clear notion of what defines a literary era,

- can we got a view of a society by analyzing the texts that were around?,

- do authors invent or do they represent?; do they describe or do they narrate?,

- why is ancient, archaic Greek poetry so close to us?; or is it not?.

Reading list:

Homer, Iliad, books 1, 9, 16, 18, 22: the story of Achilles; Odyssey, books 8-12: the story of Odysseus as told by himself.

Selected passages from the Greek lyric poets – from the the so-called monodists (Sappho and Alcaeus), and from the younger the choral poets (Pindar and Bacchylides).

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

- conceive and write an essay on a literary text,

- understand better the characteristics of Greek poetry,

- acknowledge the impact of Classics,

- critically evaluating various methodological perspectives applied to analyzing texts,

- getting extensive factual knowledge in the field covered.

Grade system:

very good (bdb; 5,0): very good familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; very good understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives

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

good (db; 4,0): good familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

satisfactory plus (+dst; 3,5): satisfactory familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; average understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

satisfactory (dst; 3,0): basic familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; shallow understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

unsatisfactory (ndst; 2,0): unsatisfactory familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; no understanding or ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.