Classics 338
The Ancient "Novel"
Full course for one semester. With its absurd plots and apparent
lack of moral depth, its interest in travel and the exotic, its
insistence on positive female protagonists, its longevity, and its
unfavorable critical reception, the Greek "novel" is strikingly
different from other classical genres. This seminar will study
those novels that remain intact (Daphnis and Chloe,
Clitophon and Leucippe, About Callirhoe, and The
Aethiopica), and compare them to their Roman counterparts
(Petronius’ Satyricon and Apuleius’ Golden Ass).
Topics studied will include characterization and narrative
structure; the representation of the foreign; how the genre
responded to its social context and to changes in that context over
the four hundred years or more that it existed; the novels’
precursors, including the Odyssey; and what is at stake in
the designation of these works as novels. All works will be read in
translation. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Conference.
Cross-listed as Literature 338. Not offered 2005-06.
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