Roots of the Western Literary Tradition

Roots of the Western Literary Tradition What is a Myth? Canon A body of texts that are considered central or mandatory to read Works that set the standards The Classics Religious / holy scriptures approved / accepted as such by organized religion (The Lords of the Rings = an canonical example for the fantasy sci/fi) Ho     A story from a polytheistic religion  A story about supernatural events / beings that happened very long ago Opposite of fact / truth Answer to basic questions (philosophical / religious)  A story that everybody knows / A foundation story A narrative explaining a tradition custom ritual The Trojan War Homer th birth of Jesus th 12 c.BC late 8 c.BC th 5 c.BC 4th c.BC The Dark Ages of Greece Classical Greece Europides Plato Aristotle BC = Before Christ. AD = Anno Domini = year of our lord BCE = Before the Common Era CE = Common Era Westen Literary = Canon tradition Ovid The metamorphoses Mythography - How a myth gets written down. The Odyssey – Book 1, book 9, book 12, 10 & 11. Narcissus – the term narcissism in psychology. Hesiod (6th c.BC) Homer - ? Ovid (1st c.BC – 1st c.AC) - A very known source, very detailed and dramatized. A lot of direct speech - a monologue by narcissus. Written in an engaging way. The Metamorphoses - Literary writing. Edith Hamilton (20th c.AC) – a scholar. Wants to give a reliable account – Scholarly writing. Robert Graves - Scholarly writing. Ariadne’s thread The fall of Icarus Hubris – excessive pride Cosmology Techne = art Transformative works (fanfics) Philology – classical, biblical (ancient Greek and roman Autoentonous – origin if humans Culture hero – Orpheus Prometheus Trickster Pandora – and analongy of Eve Riding the Dragon Moment of transition Daenerys places the dragon eggs as a gift for the afterlife before her husband’s cremation, and she walks into the fire wanting to die, but she is unharmed by the fire (and thus proven to be a pureblooded Targaryen), and the dragon eggs hatch. St Margaret was taken to the colosseum to be tortured. The sign of the cross kills the dragon. A lot of paintings show her friendly with the dragon. Protects childbirth. In mythology men fight dragons – women don’t fight them, men guard them, love them, connected to them. Holy women and dragons. Medusa and Medea, Eve and Lilith. The Bible – Eve and the snake. The motive of the women and the dragon, the power of a goddess, fertility / sexuality. Homer The Iliad, Ilium = Troy. The Odyssey Herrative voice Invocation of the Muse Rhapsode – a performer of epic poetry Mnemonic devices The oral-formulaic Hypothesis Paper 10%, Midterm take-home exam 30%, Final exam 60% One page assignment Describing a contemporary work (text, film, comics, commercial) and how it uses an ancient source. Odyssey book 1: Athena Inspires the Prince Polytropos Odyseuss A man of twists and turns Trope – turn (in a narrative) The Telemacheia - The story of Odysseus’s son bks 1-4 Deus ex machina – god out the machine - Forced resolution in the plot page 88 Self -reflective moment – when a text talks about itself Bard = rhapsode performer of poetry Scot-free = unpunished (*re-read book 12 and 1 at home with audio. Know the plot) Poetry (literature) Epic Many voices narrator – introduces and controls all the characters’ voices *movies Lyrical One voice Lyrical persona, the speaker Dramatic Many voices of characters, no narrator (but the chorus) Actors represent characters and enact the plot Imitation –of by action. imitating the real world is imitated, in imitation we can enjoy things we cannot enjoy in real life. Catharsis (of fear and pity) Recognition and reversal Euripides The Bacchae Dionysus (a.k.a. Bacchus) – Grapevine, Grape harvest, Wine, Fertility, Theatre, Ecstasy Elutherios (The liberator, The Twice Born The only god born by a mortal woman, Belong to the house of Cadmus on the maternal line.) Dionysus comes to Thebes to establish himself as a god, he punished the whole city and forces the people to worship it. Maenads – Bacchae (female worshiper of Dionysus) Appolonian vs Dionysian art Pantheon – all the gods together. Pan = all (also a god) Hellas = Greece Bread and wine are the most important supplies given to humans buy the gods Demeter and Dionysus Dionysus is a god who’s being offered to the gods every time humans pour wine. You pour wine = you pour Dionysus himself. *Similarly to Jesus in the New Testament story. Dionysus doesn’t resist being arrested, similarly to Jesus in the New Testament. Dionysus being referred to as the beast. ‘the beast was gentle’ and then treating it with respect *ASSIGNMENT: UPLOAD TO MOODLE* Plato, from The Republic and The Symposium Socrates is a historical figure, a philosopher that lived in Athens, was executed for ‘corrupting the youth’ with poetry. He was Plato’s teacher. We know very little biographical information about him because he wrote nothing. Plato’s Socratic dialogues are a form of philosophical writing. There is a story that Plato wanted to be an author of tragedy plays but never succeeded so he wrote philosophy instead, and that is why his writing is dramatic, like plays. 5th c. BC - Philosophical dialouges One of the most cited works of Plato is The Republic – which discusses an ideal state and what is justice. Poetry was not a legitimate way to ‘get to the truth’. It was considered false. Lies. Philosophy was acceptable. Philosophy was something that was practiced as leisure, It was a pastime – not work. Philosopher = Lover of wisdom for its own sake, ascending the ladder of love Sophist = teacher, rhetoric, maieutics, teaching as midwifery, helping the soul give birth to the truth Book 10: Poetry is poisonous, it needs an antidote. It’s trickery, deception. “A man is not to be reverenced more than the truth” Socrates condemns dramatics – in a dramatic set up. Imitations – since childhood we imitate and we enjoy things being imitated, we like seeing imitations even of negative things we would not enjoy originally. *tragedy Socratic irony – he starts as humble and diminished himself only at first A lot of theology – God as a single, before monotheism and Christianity 1- The ideal of the bed really exists 2- A wooden bed, particular material instance – a work of a carpenter 3- 3rd bed, a picture of a bed – an imitation of a bed: a work of an artist ‘at a second remove from the truth’ *Neoplatonist move – 3->1, an artist can create directly from the ideal Techne = art (or craft) A ‘siren’ kind of charm to artists A Symposium = a drinking party – today: an academic convention Idealistic philosophy = phenomena (what appears to the senses) VS the ideas that really exist For next week read book 1 of the Aeneid Virgil, The Aeneid (1st c.BC), the augustan Rome Augustus Caesar commissioned the Aeneid Aeneas the founder of Rome Carthage (the Punic Wars with Rome) Juno (Hera), Jove/Jupiter (zeus) Book of Job ( Dido ) the queen of Carthage. Refugee from Lyre founded Carthage Love as a disaster Anehises –> Aeneas –> Ascqunius (iulus) Epithet an adjective repeatedly used to characterize an epic hero. Invocation of the Muse, exposition, council of the gods, Aeneas lands at Carthage, Dido is tricked by Venus Aeneas tells his story of escape to Dido Aeaneas s departure, Dido s death games in memory of Anchises Aeneas visit the underworld arrival to hatium, politics / war  The virgin Mary The three wise men of the East (the Magi), they were from Babylon, came to Judea to follow the star and see the newborn, then report the king (Herod). The angel told them not to tell the king and they went home another way. Born in a farm in Bethlehem The word an anglo-saxon word = God[ s] spell. Demotic Greek (koine) = good news Redemption Original sin Jesus genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew: In Judaism fatherhood is only biological, but the whole genealogy is written from Abraham and David to Joseph Mary s husband, even though he wasn t Jesus actual father. Until the 21th century the services in all catholic churches were held in Latin. Rome became a great religious empire and Latin remain dominant throughout the middle ages. Protestants wanted to make it more understandable and translated it to their own languages. Catholics were against it. The moment it s in your own language you actually understand it and then you start asking questions .   (John the Baptist): comes from the Jewish consume of immersion purification of the body. Ministry (service), The apostles (the disciples, followers) After his baptism Jesus has a long period of fasting. Mean should not live by bread alone . Physical food is not the only food that sustains us. The Devil is testing Jesus. The Devil quotes the old testament, offers him kingdom of the entire earth if he worshiped him. After the Devil s tests, angels came to Jesus and ministered onto him (=gave him food).  ) near the sea of Galilei  the Eucharist. Wine = the blood of christ, Bread = the flesh.  Judas betrayal. One of you will betray me, it will be the one I will kisss The question of Judas guilt. Poritius Pilate impressed with the way Jesus talks and doesn t consider him a criminal, but Jesus threatens the Jewish religious authorities. He doesn t make a claim for worldly power but he does make a claim for religious power. The final scene before the crucifixion: I m washing my hands of this I take no responsibility. The people select 1 of 4 criminals condemned to die, and the people chose Barabbas and Jesus is executed. Sings that god is grieving of this event. The curtain in the temples splits into two. Jesus is buried in a jewish costum in a stone volt on a Friday. (That s why Catholics don t east meet on Fridays)  On the 3rd day of his burial the three Marys come to the volt to anoint his body (different costum) and see that the door is open and the volt is empty. Later on Jesus himself appear, not as a ghost, but actually bodily. An example of how everybody will be resurrected at the end of days.  The apocalypse, judgment day. Pastor = shepherd in Latin. People are compared to ship at certain points. A pastor is someone who guides and takes care of the flock. The Shepherd and the flock metaphor is used a lot to talk about the state and justice. It s a familiar metaphor for leadership in the ancient world. - The annunciation, archangel Gabriel telling Mary that she will bear the son of God (more details about Jesus childhood) - More theological, about the creation of the world and how Jesus came to be