Winter 2008 Advance Course Information

This information effective for winter 2008. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Literature

[LIT-61M]

61M Approaches to Myth

Instructor: Professor Karen Bassi
Office: 228 Cowell
Hours: WF 10:00-11:30 and by appointment
Phone: 9-2586
E-mail: bassi@ucsc.edu

Class meetings: MWF 2:00-3:10, Baskin 101

Note: this course is also taught as History 61.

Course Description

This course is designed as an introduction to the study of Classical Greek myth, focused on distinctions between mythological and historical ways of thinking about and describing the world. Beginning with questions of definition (What is myth? What is history?), the course will consist of readings and lectures on a variety of literary forms (epic, didactic, historiographic, dramatic, philosophical) in which mythological figures and events are narrated and/or staged. We will also survey and test the viability of contemporary "approaches" to the study of myth (psychoanalytic, structuralist, anthropological, feminist, queer, etc.).  Topics will include the relationship of myth to war, to religion and ritual, and to scientific discourse. A recurring thematic will be the temporal dimension of myth: can myth be a modern (or post-modern) form?

Assignments

1. Two short papers.
2. Two one-hour in-class examinations.
3. A three-hour final examination. This exam will be cumulative.

The short (3-5 pp.) papers will be based on a choice of topics; students may propose their own topics but these must be approved in advance by their section leaders.  These papers will demonstrate your ability to discuss course concepts and to synthesize material from the readings. They will be judged on the basis of form (grammar, syntax, diction, etc.) and content. Writing competency will be taken very seriously; students are expected to proofread their papers carefully and to make sure they are free of grammatical, syntactical, and spelling errors. If you think your writing skills need attention, please inform your section leader or Professor Bassi early in the quarter. We will help you to find additional resources (college writing tutor, etc.).

N.B. Plagiarism, which includes paraphrasing from undocumented sources, will result in a failing grade for the paper or – in severe cases – a failing grade in the course and disciplinary action. No exceptions. If you are unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, or about how to cite sources in footnotes or parentheses, refer to the guidelines at http://nettrail.ucsc.edu/ethics/index.html. You are also invited to discuss this matter with your section leader or the instructor. Remember that you will receive credit for demonstrating that you have consulted scholarly material in formulating your arguments. Trying to hide the fact by failing to properly acknowledge your sources makes no sense, is against the University's Rules of Conduct, and is dishonest.

ALL PAPERS ARE DUE VIA WEBCT ON THE DATE STIPULATED; NO LATE PAPERS CAN BE ACCEPTED.

All examinations are intended to test your mastery of concepts and terms introduced in the course. They will require knowledge of "factual" information provided in readings and lectures (including names, titles, dates), and ask for responses to a choice of essay questions.

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections will meet weekly. Attendance at all sections is mandatory.  Section leaders may make additional assignments during the quarter. The section leaders for this course are:

1 Cora Gorman
2 Laurel Seely
3 Steve Carter
4 Laura Martin
5 Emily Sloan-Pace

Sections:
1A Monday 5-6:10 PM  Cowell 113
1B Monday 7-8:10 PM  Cowell 113
1C Tuesday 8:30-9:40 AM Cowell 134
1D Tuesday 6-7:10 PM Cowell 113
1E Wednesday 11-12:10 PM Cowell 113

Requirements and Grading Policy

1. Attendance and participation are expected at all sections and at all lectures and will be factored into your final evaluation and grade. Professor Bassi will excuse absences ONLY if you provide appropriate documentation. Your section leader may not excuse an absence. (10%)
2. Papers (30%)
3. In-class examinations (30%)
4. Final exam (30%)

N.B. There will be no make up exams. THERE WILL BE NO INCOMPLETES.

Class protocols: Please turn off your cell phones and leave your computers at home, unless you require a computer for taking notes and have a note to that effect from Student Services.

E-mail protocols: Please make sure that all e-mail correspondence addressed to the professor and teaching staff conforms to standard English usage.

Required Texts

The following books are available at the Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust in downtown Santa Cruz. They are also available on reserve in McHenry Library:

George, Andrew. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. London: Penguin, 2003.

Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony,  trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis and Cambridge, 1993.

Homer, Iliad , trans. Stanley Lombardo. Hackett Publishing, 1997.

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, trans. J. Scully (Oxford 1975).

The Complete Greek Tragedies: Sophocles I. Trans. David Grene (1991).

Euripides, Bacchae. Trans. Steven Esposito. Focus Classical Library (1998).

Great Dialogues of Plato. Trans. W.H.D. Rouse. Signet Classic (1999).

Morales, Helen. Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction . Ed. Very Short Introductions: Oxford University Press, 2007. Xxx.

WebCT

Additional readings are on the course WebCT site or online as indicated in the Weekly Schedule. You will find the syllabus, the ERes readings, and your grades on this site.  You will also turn in your papers on this site.  Instructions for using WebCT are on the last page of the syllabus.

The ERes password is muthos.

Using WebCT

To use WebCT, your web browser must be compatible. The first thing you should do is click on "Check Browser" at the top of the WebCT screen and follow the instructions to make sure your browser is supported for all the functions of WebCT. Next, make sure you visit our page about preparing your computer settings for WebCT: http://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/browser.php     
                                   
Logging in to WebCT
To log in to WebCT, go to ic.ucsc.edu/webct/. There is a help page to assist students in logging in to WebCT at http://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/login.php           
                                   
WebCT Support for Students
The best way for students to request support for WebCT is to complete the help request form available at http://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/contact.php       
                                   
Students Can Self-Enroll
Student accounts are uploaded to WebCT from your AIS course list at specific intervals during the quarter: first before the first day of instruction, then once a week until the last day to add (usually fifth week of instruction.) Students who are in the process of enrolling in the course and are not on the original AIS course list can add themselves right away at http://ic.ucsc.edu/docs/webct/create-account.php until the last day to add so they will not miss class WebCT activities.           
                                   
WebCT Information for Students
Students may want to consult https://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/student_info.php, which is a comprehensive site for students to get information about WebCT.         

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
(subject to change)

WEEK I
January 9: Introduction to the course. Review of syllabus and readings: sources and handbooks.

Topics: What is myth? What is it good for? Myth, history, literature, truth, ideology. Herodotus and the case of Thermopylae. Thucydides and King Minos of Crete. Pindar's Victory Odes and the mythological exemplum .

Viewing of the trailer for the film "300:" Available online at : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-183229945539387798

Assigned reading:
On ERes:
Reading: Herodotus, Histories , 1.1-13; 7.175-239 (the Battle of Thermopylae)

January 11: Topics: Myth and history II. Language, literature, and myth. Myth and belief. Mythos and logos . Orality, literacy and the question of authority.

Assigned reading:
On ERes:
Paul Veyne. Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths?: An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-26.
Thucydides, History 1.1-22.
Aristotle, Poetics , Chapter 9 (from The Critical Tradition)

Pindar, Tenth Pythian Ode , available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0101%3Aid%3Di2s1

Recommended, Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 1: "Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology"

WEEK II

January 14: Topics: Origins, creations, aetiologies. Myth and religion. Introduction to the Gilgamesh epic.

Assigned reading:
On ERes:
Walter Burkert, Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual , Chapter 1: "The Organization of Myth."
Morford and Lenardon, Classical Mythology , Chapter 2: "Historical Background of Greek Mythology."

January 16 and 18: Topics: Gods and heroes I; the mythic quest for immortality.  Myth, meaning and the transmission of the text. Mythological time and historical time in ancient Mesopotamia.

Assigned reading:
Gilgamesh. The Standard Version, including the Introduction to the text.

Stefan Maul, "The Ancient Middle Eastern Capital City--Reflection and Navel of the World." This essay is available online at: http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/maul/ancientcapitals.html

TRIAL WebCT ASSIGNMENT: Each student is required to submit a trial document on WebCT by Friday, January 18 at 5 PM. This is only a test…

WEEK III

January 21 and 23:  Topics: Theogonies and genealogies; from chaos to cosmos; the Muses and the Olympians. Truth ( alêtheia ) and lies.

Assigned Reading:
Hesiod, Theogony

On ERes:
Marcel Detienne. The Masters of Truth in Archaic Greece. New York: Zone Books, 1996. Chapters 1and 2: "Truth and Society" and "The Memory of the Poet."
Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 3, "Myths of Creation."

January 25: Topics : Aphrodite. Love and war. Versions and revisions of myth.

Assigned reading:
On ERes:
Sappho, "Hymn to Aphrodite," trans. Richmond Latimore.
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. Trans. Apostolos N. Athanassakis.

WEEK IV

JANUARY 28: FIRST ONE-HOUR EXAM.

January 30 and February 1 : Topics: Epic , myth and war I. Orality, literacy, and historical thinking. Heinrich Schliemann, the power of myth, and the origins of Bronze Age archaeology.

Assigned Reading:
Homer, Iliad , Books 1-12.

On ERes:
Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 19: "The Trojan Saga and the Iliad ."
Review Herodotus, Histories 1.1-5.
Review Thucydides, History 1.1-22.

WEEK V

February 4 and 6:  Topics: Epic, myth and war II.
Assigned Reading:
Homer, Iliad , Books 12-24

February 8: Topics: Sappho's revisionist mythology. Love and war.

Assigned reading:
On ERes:
Sappho, "Anaktoria," trans. Richmond Lattimore.

WEEK VI

FEBRUARY 11: FIRST PAPER DUE.
February 11: Topics: Myth and Tragedy I. Introduction to tragedy: historical and cultural contexts.

Assigned Reading:
On ERes:
Review Aristotle, Poetics.

February 13 and 15: Prometheus and Io. Divine and mortal suffering.

Assigned reading:
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound , including the Introduction to the text.

Seymour Hersh, "Torture at Abu Graib, The New Yorker , May 10, 2004. Available at http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact

Review Hesiod, Theogony 490 - 616 on the Prometheus myth.

WEEK VII

February 18: Topics: Myth and Tragedy II: Mystery religions; Dionysiac ecstasy; myth and/as gender.

Assigned Reading:
Euripides, Bacchae.

Viewing of Hermann Nitsch, The Day of Dionysus (available on UbuWeb)

On ERes:
Deborah Lyons. Gender and Immortality, Heroines in Ancient Greek Myth and Cult . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. Chapter 4: "Dionysiac Heroines."

February 20 and 22: Topics : Myth as a cultural and visual construct; the appropriation of images; shifts in the meanings of signs.

Guest lectures by Dr. Janina Darling: Myth and Visual Culture.

WEEK VIII

FEBRUARY 25: SECOND ONE-HOUR EXAM

February 27 : Topics: Myth and Tragedy III; Oedipus and Freud's dreams.

Assigned reading: Sophocles, Oedipus the King
Film viewing (in class): The Story of Oedipus, Performed by Vegetables. This 8 minute production is available online at http://www.newvenue.com/production/.

On ERes:
Sigmund Freud, Selections from Interpretation of Dreams

February 29 : Structuralism: a mythographic science?

On ERes:
Claude Levi-Strauss, C. Lévi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth.” (from The Critical Tradition )

WEEK IX

March 3: Topics: Myth and meaning in philosophical discourse I; the aitiology of desire.

Assigned reading:
Plato, Symposium , with special attention paid to Aristophanes' speech.

On ERes:
Penelope Murray, "What Is a Mythos for Plato." From Myth to Reason? Studies in the Development of Greek Thought. Ed. Richard Buxton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 251-62.

March 5 and 7 : Topics: Myth and meaning in philosophical discourse II: myth and the state. Eschatology and immortality: myth and death. Philosophy and the making of "new" myths. Speech and dialogue.

On ERes:
Plato,  Apology . In Plato. The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, the Apology, Crito, Phaedo . Penguin Classics. Eds. Harold Tarrant and Hugh Tredennick: Penguin, Revised, 1993.

Plato, Republic : The Myth of Er, in Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 15: " Views of the Afterlife."

WEEK X

MARCH 10:  SECOND PAPER DUE.

March 10 and 12: The ends/aims of myth.

Assigned reading: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus.

March 14: Concluding remarks. Viewing of clips from Gospel at Colonus.

On ERes:
Roland Barthes, "Myth Today." In Mythologies . Trans. Annette Lavers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972.

MARCH 17: Final Exam Review

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