CURSO : CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE TRADUCCION : CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE SIGLA : LET1754 CRÉDITOS : 10 MÓDULOS : REQUISITOS : SIN REQUISITOS CARÁCTER : OPTATIVO DE PROFUNDIZACION 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 analyse 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 analyse 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 analyse 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 / Enero 2014 1 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. - Texts discussions. - Originals presentations (with formal or informal evaluations depending on the size of the class). V. EVALUATION - Oral presentation or creative activity: 10% - Reading controls and/or workshops: 15% - Test One (essay type): 20% - Test Two (oral or essay type): 25% - Final exam (essay type cumulative): 30% - Attendance: 75% VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY Reading list: Barret, H. Clark (ed.) The Mystery of Adam. World Drama. Vol. 1. London, Mayflower Books, 1956, pp. 304-321. Aeschylus Eumenides. The Oresteia. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1983. Aristophanes The Clouds. 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. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1984. Euripides Electra. Medea and Other Plays. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1995. Homer The Odyssey of Homer. New York, Harper and Row, 1967. Ovid Metamorphoses. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1955. Tolkien, J. R. R. (trans.) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. London, Unwin, 1979. Sophocles Antigone or Oedipus the King. The Theban Plays. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1965. PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Enero 2014 2 ___ Electra. Electra and Other Plays. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1967. 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. 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