Greek and Latin Literature (350-0-2)

Instructors

Marianne I Hopman
847/491-8361
Kresge Hall 4361
Office Hours: Tu/Th from 3:30-4:30pm

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-420: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Romantic love, although a personal and intimate experience, unfolds amidst a system of social norms that guide or regulate many of its aspects, from the identification of a desirable partner to expectations about the outcome of the relationship. The "scripts" to be studied in this course refer both to the material traces of love songs transmitted to us from antiquity to the present, and to the social protocols implied in and through those texts. As we read poems originating from ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome, we will draw on the resources of comparative literary analysis to explore the stories and metaphors through which love has been re-imagined over time in order to de-familiarize contemporary views. Special attention will be given to constructions of the role of each partner, the interplay of love, sex, and reproduction, and the rhetoric and poetic images associated with love.

Class Materials (Required)

Bloch, C. and A. Bloch, transl. 2006. The Song of Songs: The World's First Great Love Poem. Translated with an Introduction and Commentary. New York: The Modern Library. ISBN 9780812976205.

Bing, P. and R. Cohen, eds. 1991. Games of Venus: An Anthology of Greek and Roman Erotic Verse from Sappho to Ovid. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415902618.

Gill, C., ed. and transl. 2003. Plato: The Symposium. New York: Penguin. ISBN 9780140449273.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area