Time and History

in Literature

English 1120 / Fall 2024

Professor Timothy H. Wilson

Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius Fleeing Troy (1596)Federico BarocciGalleria Borghese, Rome

Course Details

Course Syllabus and Assignments
Brightspace Page -- to submit assignments and see your grades
Essay Writing Tips -- Includes guides for researching and writing an academic essay, an introduction to literary terms and sample essays
Tuesday 10:00-11:20 (LMX 221); Thursday 8:30-9:50 (LPR 155)
Final Exam

Literary narrative is an important means by which we shape our understanding of our own lives as they unfold in time, as well as our understanding of our communal history.

We will explore the different ways works of literature have charted paths for this understanding. We will begin with classical works of literature wherein time arises as an aspect of a higher ordering principle – dispensed by cosmic or divine forces. We will then read works of literature that are representative of the modern experience of time as something that can be shaped and mastered by humanity.

Historical Perspective

In the modern world we often have a flat sense of history -- without depth or "perspective". For instance, we often think of Shakespeare as a figure from our remote past. In the broader view of our tradition, however, the writing of his Coriolanus (1608) is much closer to us (separated by only 416 years) than:

The time-span separating Shakespeare himself from the composition of Virgil's Aeneid (20-19 BCE) (1627 years of separation), or
The time-span separating Virgil's Aeneid from Homer's Odyssey (750 BCE) (731 years of separation).

Lecture and Reading Schedule

WEEK 1

September 5: Introduction

Lecture Outline:

- Time and History in Literature: An Introduction

An introduction to the main themes of the course. The major terms of the course are defined: "Time", "History", and "Literature". In addition, the role of "Narrative" as unifying thematic is also touched upon.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Time and History in Literature: An Introduction

(from a previous course on Time and History in Literature)

WEEK 2

September 10 / 12: NO CLASS

WEEK 3

September 17 / 19: Homer

Required Reading:

- Homer, The Odyssey, (750 BCE); Book 5 and 11 (pages 77-92, 174-195 in PDF)

Lecture Outline:

- Homer: An Introduction

An introduction to Homer's works, including discussions of: why one should study Homer, the mythical background behind The Iliad and The Odyssey, the "Homeric Question", and the characteristics of Homer's genre: epic.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Homer: An Introduction

(From a previous course on War in Literature)

WEEK 4

September 24 / 26: Homer

Required Reading:

- Homer, The Odyssey, (750 BCE); Books 16 and 17 (pages 263-299 in PDF)

Lecture Outline:

- Homer's Odyssey: Time and the Human Experience

An introduction to Homer's outstanding epic, The Odyssey. The notes begin with a discussion of the "epic cycle" surrounding the Trojan War. Next the notes cover the first four books of the epic, often referred to as the "Telemachy", and the theme of xenia raised there. The notes then discuss our first encounter with Odysseus on the isle of Calypso, where he refuses her offer of immortality. The depictions of Odysseus (Ulysses) by Dante and Tennyson are contrasted with that of Homer. The depiction of the gods, the "deathless ones", in Homer and its connection with the treatment of the human condition is then discussed. Odysseus' arrival at the isle of the Phaeacians and his recounting of his journeys is then discussed. Focus is placed on the discussion of his descent to the underworld. His arrival in Ithaca and the recognition scenes with Telemachus, his dog Argos, Penelope and finally with his father Laertes are discussed.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Homer's Odyssey

WEEK 5

October 1 / 3: Virgil

Required Reading:

- Virgil, Aeneid, Books I and II (29-19 BCE) (Trans. A.S. Kline); or, see the translation by Robert Fagles

Lecture Outline:

- Virgil's Aeneid: Prophecy as Political History

An introduction to Virgil's epic. It presents an overview of the plot, a discussion of who is Aeneas and an introduction to the work and overall intention of Virgil. The notes also cover the cultural and historical background of Virgil's epic: namely, the historical context of the Aeneid in the decline of the Roman Republic and the civil strife of the 1st Century BCE, the ambiguity of Virgil's relation to the Greek tradition and to philosophy, and the question of Virgil's attempt to celebrate the Roman achievement and the "way of the ancestors". The notes concentrate on a discussion of Book 1 (the Opening of the Epic) and Book 2 (the Fall of Troy), Book 4, the Tragedy of Dido, Book 6, Aeneas' Descent into the Underworld, and Book 8, the Shield of Aeneas.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on The Aeneid

(From a previous course on War in Literature)

WEEK 6

October 8 / 10: Virgil

Required Reading:

- Virgil, Aeneid, Books IV and VI (29-19 BCE) (Trans. A.S. Kline); or, see the translation by Robert Fagles

Lecture Outline:

- Virgil's Aeneid: Prophecy as Political History

WEEK 7

October 15 / 17: READING WEEK

WEEK 8

October 22 / 24: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

- N/A

Lecture Outline:

- The Renaissance: An Introduction

An Introduction to the Renaissance context of Shakespeare's works. The lecture begins with a discussion of the legacy of the Roman Empire. Then, the basic features of the Medieval worldview and the defining features of the Renaissance are discussed. Finally, the lecture presents on overview of the shift in thinking ushered in by Niccolo Machiavelli.

- Shakespearean Drama: An Introduction

An introduction to the study of Shakespeare's dramatic works. The lecture discusses the emergence of professional theatres in Elizabethan England, Shakespeare's works and Shakespeare's use of various dramatic genres.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespearean Drama: An Introduction

(from a previous course on British Literature Before 1700)

- Shakespeare's Roman Plays: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's Roman Plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus. The relation of these plays to other genres is discussed. The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed. It is asserted that Shakespeare was able to transcend his own Christian historical horizon and represent different possibilities for human achievement under various political regimes in these plays

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Roman Plays: An Introduction

WEEK 9

October 29 / 31: NO CLASS

No in person class. Students are to view:

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on How to Write a Research Essay

(from a previous course on Time and History in Literature)

Lecture Outlines:

- Research, Think, Write

- Elements of an Excellent Academic Essay

An overview of how to write a research essay, applicable to most Humanities assignments at the University level. A description of what makes for a good: Thesis, Argumentation, Logical Organization, Style and Mechanics.

WEEK 10

November 5 / 7: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

- Coriolanus (1608)

Lecture Outline:

- Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to Shakespeare's relation to classical and modern republican thinking. Coriolanus attempts to be independent of the political community, but ultimately relies on it for his longing for recognition. This leads to Coriolanus' tragic outcome but also points to what could be called "the tragedy of the political" for Shakespeare.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

WEEK 11

November 12 / 14: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

- Coriolanus (1608)

Lecture Outline:

- Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

WEEK 12

November 19 / 21: Woolf

Required Reading:

- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925)

Lecture Outline:

- Modernism: An Introduction

An introduction to the intellectual roots of "Modernism" in such thinkers as Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Finally, an introduction to some of the aesthetic movements of literary modernism -- in particular how Modernism's exploration of the "fragmentation" of meaning and experience was connected with Cubism in the visual arts.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Modernism: An Introduction

(from a previous course on War in Literature)

WEEK 13

November 26 / 28: Woolf

Required Reading:

- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925)

- Tips on the Final Exam

Lecture Outline:

- Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway: An Introduction

An introduction to Mrs. Dalloway, focusing on Woolf's unique articulation of the lived experience of temporality trauma in relation to the experience of World War I.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway: An Introduction

(from a previous course on War in Literature)

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