CURSO : CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
TRADUCCION : LITERATURA CLASICA Y MEDIEVAL
SIGLA : LET1354
CRÉDITOS : 10
MÓDULOS :
REQUISITOS : SIN REQUISITOS
CARÁCTER : MINIMUM
DISCIPLINA : LITERATURE
I. DESCRIPTION
This course presents a selection of texts from Ancient Greece, Rome, and The Middle Ages in order to
demonstrate the common origins of contemporary Western culture and the role of tradition and canonical
models in contemporary literature and culture. Both the Greek texts and the medieval ones are read in
contemporary English versions.
II. OBJECTIVES
Generals:
1. To acquire the tools to appreciate and evaluate the canonical texts of the past from a cultural and a
literary perspective.
2. To appreciate the links between classical, medieval and contemporary literary manifestations.
Specifics:
1. To analyze a selection from the works of Homer and of the classical playwrights and poets of Greece
and Rome.
2. To give an account of the Classical view of reality from which the works emerge and to recognise the
influence they still have on contemporary Western culture.
3. To analyze a selection from the most important literary works of the Middle Ages with special
emphasis on English Medieval Literature.
4. To recognise the presence and analyze the significance of medieval themes, characters, narrative,
dramatic, and poetic forms in contemporary literature.
III. CONTENTS
1. Homer: selections from The Odyssey or The Iliad will be studied as the first epic poem in the Western
tradition and as the model for medieval epic poems and romances.
2. Classical drama: from ritual to the discovery of individual conscience. The tragedies of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides. The Oresteia will be compared to medieval dramas such as The Mystery of
Adam, as examples of expressions of religious ritual as well as literary works.
3. The dramas of Sophocles and Euripides will be studied with the aim to show the development of
tragedy in Ancient Greece, and also as the representation of the development of individual
consciousness.
4. Classical myths and their transformations in medieval and contemporary literature. A selection from
the Metamorphoses of Ovid will be discussed as the source for medieval narratives and poems and also
for contemporary works.
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Diciembre 2013
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5. The Classical and the Anglo-Saxon traditions in English literature. Medieval authors or works.
5.1 Beowulf.
5.2 Dante, The Divine Comedy.
5.3 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
5.4 Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue and a selection of tales).
5.5 The Romance of Tristan and Iseut.
5.6 Medieval drama: The Mystery of Adam or Everyman.
5.7 Selection of medieval ballads, verse and songs.
IV. METHODOLOGY
- Lectures on certain topics.
- Weekly workshop sessions.
- Group discussions.
- Oral presentations.
V. EVALUATION
- Oral presentation or creative activity: 10%
- Reading controls and/or workshops: 15%
- Test 1 (essay type): 20%
- Test 2 (oral or essay type): 25%
- Final exam (essay type cumulative): 30%
- Attendance: 75%
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reading list:
Aeschylus Eumenides. The Oresteia. Trans. Robert Fagles. Harmondsworth,
Penguin Books, 1983.
Aristophanes The Clouds. Trans. Benjamin Bickley Rogers. Great Books of the
Western World. Vol. 5. Chicago, CHUP, 1952.
Cawley, A. C. (ed.) Everyman. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. London, J. M.
Dent and Sons, 1997.
Chaucer, G. Prologue. The Knight's Tale. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill
Coghill. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1984.
Clark, Barret H. (ed.) The Mystery of Adam. World Drama. Trans. E. N. Stone. Vol. 1.
London, Mayflower Books, 1956, pp. 304-321.
Euripides Electra. Medea and Other Plays. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books,
1995.
Homer The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. New York,
Harper and Row, 1967.
Ovid Metamorphoses. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1955.
Sophocles Antigone. Oedipus the King. The Theban Plays. Harmondsworth,
Penguin Books, 1965.
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Diciembre 2013
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___ Electra. Electra and Other Plays. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books,
1967.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (ed.) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. London, Unwin, 1979.
Selection of medieval ballads:
Barbara Allen.
Get Up and Bar the Door.
King John and the Abbot of Canterbury.
Lord Randall.
Theoretical and criticism texts:
Auerbach, Erich Odysseus Scar. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western
Literature. Princeton, New Jersey, PUP, 1974.
Eliot, T. S. Tradition and the Individual Talent. Selected Essays. London,
Faber and Faber, 1953.
___ What is a Classic?' On Poetry and Poets. London, Faber and Faber,
1961.
Mengham, R. On Parole: Language and Society. Language. London, Fontana
Press, 1995.
Vinaver, E. Medieval Poetry and the Moderns. Barron, W. R. J. (ed.). On Art
and Nature and Other Essays. Whitstable, Kent, Short Run Press,
2000, pp. 59-71.
Theoretical and critical secondary Sources:
Axton, R. European Drama in the Early Middle Ages. London, Hutchinson,
1974.
Denomy, Alexander J. Courtly Love and Courtliness. Text Read at a session of the
Medieval Academy of America. Boston, 1952.
Highet, G. The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western
Culture. Oxford, Oxford UP, 1976.
Kahrl, S. J. Traditions of Medieval English Drama. London, Hutchinson, 1974.
Kirk, Geoffrey S. Los Poemas de Homero. The Songs of Homer. Trans. E. J. Prieto.
Buenos Aires, Paidos, 1968.
Lewis, C. S. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. Oxford,
OUP, 1977.
___ Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge, CUP,
1980.
Robinson, I. Chaucer and the English Tradition. Cambridge, CUP, 1975.
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Diciembre 2013
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