First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-1)

Topic

Endless Exile: Home and Homelessness in the Ancien

Instructors

Germán Campos-Muñoz

Meeting Info

University Library 3322: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

The topic of exile—the forced abandonment of the place and world one calls home—captured the imagination of peoples across the ancient Mediterranean. The Greek _Odyssey_ and Roman _Aeneid_, famous accounts of the predicaments of classical exile, were by no means isolated instances. These renowned poems were in conversation with narratives that circulated widely among neighboring Egyptian, Hebrew, Babylonian, Phoenician, and other ancient communities, in stories which not only produced echoes among themselves, but very likely borrowed from each other. In this seminar, we will read and discuss representative accounts of exile from the ancient Mediterranean world, foregrounding their historical and geographical specificity but also reflecting on their treatment of common concerns and themes—such as homelessness and hospitality, longing and belonging, identity and otherness, hosts and guests, refugees and havens, pain and nostalgia, presence and absence, etc. While the seminar will highlight the historical and archaeological coordinates of those narratives, we will also reflect upon their relevance in discussing the very current reality of exilic life in today's world.

Class Materials (Required)

Puchner, Martin et al. (eds.) _Norton Anthology of World Literature_. 4th edition. Volume A. New York: Norton, 2018. ISBN: 978-0393602814


Norris Bookstore strongly encourages all students to place their orders early at their website, www.northwestern.bncollege.com, and not wait until the last minute to purchase.

Class Notes

Please use the following link for Classics Waitlist information: https://classics.northwestern.edu/courses/2023-2024/classics-waitlist.html

Class Attributes

WCAS Writing Seminar

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Weinberg First Year Seminars are only available to first-year students.