Epic Tradition

Epic Journeys

Instructor: Dr. John Gruber-Miller, College Hall 312, Ext. 4326

Class Hours: M-F 1-3; some mornings (see daily schedule)

Office Hours: M W F 9-10 a.m., and by appointment

Required Texts:

• Homer. Odyssey. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Harper & Row, 1965.
• Virgil. Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. Vintage 1984.
• Apuleius. Golden Ass. Trans. Jack Lindsay. Indiana 1962.
• Leslie Marmon Silko. Ceremony. Penguin 1977.

Daily Schedule, including links to questions for Reaction papers, study guides.

There is also a rich array of resources available on the World Wide Web. Click on Web Resources to see more.

Goals, Questions, and Themes of the Course

In this course we will read and respond to four works that tell the story of a journey. We read them because they represent four different cultures, because they have each been influential, because they help us understand ourselves in our own journey through life, and because they are just plain fun to read. Where these tales begin and end will concern us, but also how the central characters get there. Are they essentially the story of an individual who battles against all odds or of communities lost and later reformed?

Some questions that we will ponder and attempt to answer throughout the course: first, what does it mean to get back home? How exactly does each work define "home"? Second, how is one's identity defined in each work? What is the role of community in the journey? How do gender and class affect the interaction of characters within each work? Third, what does it mean to tell stories instead of write or read them? Who is authorized to tell stories? Who listens? How does gender affect the way we tell stories, hear them, read them? Fourth, how do humans relate with the supernatural world? What kinds of ceremonies or rituals or events do humans go through to understand themselves and reach harmony with their environment?

What approaches will we use to try to understand what is going on within these works? We will explore ideas of orality and literacy (what does it matter that two of these works [Odyssey and Ceremony] are rooted in an oral tradition rather than a written, literate culture?); performance (how were these works performed and how did audiences receive them?); narratology (how are these stories structured and focused?); gender (how does the gender of the characters affect the actions of the characters within each work and how does an audience that is gendered respond to these characters?); and ritual (what actions and words does a society use to transform the ordinary hum-drum activities from those that are special and commemorated?). From time to time throughout the course, we will be reading articles that help us understand these approaches better.

Finally, why read a novel like Golden Ass or Ceremony in a course entitled Epic Tradition? By reading novels from very different eras, we can begin to get a sense of what has happened to the epic tradition inherited from antiquity, and what distinguishes epic from the novel. In addition, reading a novel like Ceremony, rooted in a non-Western culture, will help us to re-evaluate many of the themes and ideas in the three ancient works from a cross-cultural perspective, will encourage us not to identify with the characters and ideas that coincide with our own values and ideologies. In short, we can understand our own unexamined beliefs and ideologies better when we get outside of ourselves and our culture.

Requirements

Class discussion: I hope to foster an atmosphere in which students are free to speak their minds, both in class and out. Some students are better at speaking in class while others prefer to have more time to reflect and articulate their thoughts. Hence, class participation and reaction papers will help you express your ideas both orally and in writing.

I pledge never to assign grades on the basis of opinions. (Grades will be based on how well you argue for your positions and support them with evidence.) We all (myself included) bring different backgrounds, preparation, theoretical perspectives, and values to this course. We all will learn from many sources: our common readings, each other, our discussions, and our research. It is, therefore, crucial to the success of the course that everyone show respect and courtesy to everyone else in the class, and a willingness to help each other learn and approach this material from new perspectives.

Seven short reaction essays based on class readings (approximately one every other class day). These essays (no more than 800 words) are meant to be a chance to examine your own views, values and biases within the light of various readings. Topics for Reaction Papers

Reaction papers should involve your ideas, thoughts, and reflections on what you have read. The best ones always attempt to answer a question that is interesting or important to you, the writer, within the guidelines of the topic posed in class. Since they are short, you don't have time to explore all your thoughts on a particular text. Pick one idea and develop it so that it will be clear to someone else in the class (your audience) what your idea is and how you support it. Since these reactions are short, your opening paragraph must get to your main point right away. In the rest of the paper, use examples from the text and your own reasoning to show how you answer this question. They may focus exclusively on the text or they may use the incidents in the text as a springboard to reflections on your own experiences.

Role-Plays: In order to understand the characters of the Odyssey, Aeneid, and Golden Ass from their point of view, you will have the opportunity to take that character's part in a discussion or re-enactment of the story. For the Odyssey, you may choose to be Odysseus, Penelope, or Telemachus in the Odyssey Game. Next, in the VRoma MOO, you will take on the role of a character in the Aeneid and discuss the "marriage" of Dido and Aeneas and the murder of Turnus from that character's point of view. Finally, for the Golden Ass, you will collaborate to develop the dialogue for a robot at the Sanctuary of Isis in the VRoma MOO.

Two essays: each essay should be 6-8 pages, typed, double-spaced, documentation in accord with the MLA stylesheet or Kate Turabian. Please read section on plagiarism (pp. 21-22) in the Cornell College Compass. The first will be due the second Friday and the second will be due on the fourth Wednesday. The second will involve an analysis of Ceremony in light of the issues and texts explored throughout the course. A rough draft will be due two days before each final draft. (40%; 20% each)

Grading