This course will survey creative works inspired by Homer's Odyssey. First we will read through the Odyssey, contextualizing the Homeric epic within the larger story of the Trojan War and the subsequent heroic return in the "Epic Cycle." Then we will study various "receptions" of the Odyssey, ancient and modern. Ancient works will include the satyr play Cyclops by Euripides and portrayals of a love-sick Cyclops in Theocritus and Ovid. In True Story Lucian calls Odysseus a liar but rivals his travel tale with episodes placed on the moon and inside a whale. Modern works include Atwood's Penelopiad, Walcott's stage version of the Odyssey, and the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Themes will include travel literature, truth and lying, localization of the wanderings of Odysseus, culture clash, and the definition of home. All this material, various in date, media, and fidelity to their Homeric source, will provide us with a well-rounded sense of how the Odyssey has been re-imagined over the ages. How? Why? When? In this course, we will consider some of the historical features that may have contributed to its political collapse, and we will consider some modern scholarly analyses from Edward Gibbon (late 18th century) to the present. But we will also investigate “decline and fall” as a narrative trope. Why is this story arc always with us? Who decides what qualifies as “decline”? Is the “fall” of some systems necessarily a bad thing? Among the topics to be considered in the context of the Later Roman Empire are several of relevance in the modern world, not least: climate change, disease, human migration, religious difference, and economic inequality.
This course will survey creative works inspired by Homer's Odyssey. First we will read through the Odyssey, contextualizing the Homeric epic within the larger story of the Trojan War and the subsequent heroic return in the "Epic Cycle." Then we will study various "receptions" of the Odyssey, ancient and modern. Ancient works will include the satyr play Cyclops by Euripides and portrayals of a love-sick Cyclops in Theocritus and Ovid. In True Story Lucian calls Odysseus a liar but rivals his travel tale with episodes placed on the moon and inside a whale. Modern works include Atwood's Penelopiad, Walcott's stage version of the Odyssey, and the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Themes will include travel literature, truth and lying, localization of the wanderings of Odysseus, culture clash, and the definition of home. All this material, various in date, media, and fidelity to their Homeric source, will provide us with a well-rounded sense of how the Odyssey has been re-imagined over the ages. How? Why? When? In this course, we will consider some of the historical features that may have contributed to its political collapse, and we will consider some modern scholarly analyses from Edward Gibbon (late 18th century) to the present. But we will also investigate “decline and fall” as a narrative trope. Why is this story arc always with us? Who decides what qualifies as “decline”? Is the “fall” of some systems necessarily a bad thing? Among the topics to be considered in the context of the Later Roman Empire are several of relevance in the modern world, not least: climate change, disease, human migration, religious difference, and economic inequality.
