War in Literature

WEEK 1

Jan 9: Introduction

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

  -  Course Syllabus and Assignments

Jan 12: Introduction

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

  -  War in Literature: An Introduction

The lecture explores at a high level the different ways works of literature have charted paths for the understanding of the meaning of the suffering and loss resulting from war. In classical works of literature, war arises as an arena in which one’s life can be defined by glory, honour and duty. In modern works of literature, war is ultimately meaningless and bereft of any higher significance. 

WEEK 2

Jan 16: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

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.

Jan 19: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  The Iliad, Book 1

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Iliad: Poem of War and Death

An introduction to Homer's Iliad focusing on the inter-related themes of war and death. This lecture covers: honour (time) and glory (kleos) in Book 1 and the nature of Mycenaean warfare as depicted in the epic.  It is argued that the ultimate significance of Homer's poem is the way it sheds light on the human condition and the meaning we can find in finite human existence. 

WEEK 3

Jan 23: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  The Iliad, Books 6, 9 and 16

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Iliad: Poem of War and Death

An introduction to Homer's Iliad focusing on the inter-related themes of war and death. This lecture covers Books 2 to 9, focusing on the nature of the gods in the Iliad.  It is argued that the ultimate significance of Homer's poem is the way it sheds light on the human condition and the meaning we can find in finite human existence.  

Jan 26: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  The Iliad, Books 6, 9 and 16

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Iliad: Poem of War and Death

An introduction to Homer's Iliad focusing on the inter-related themes of war and death. This lecture covers: Books 10 to 17, with particular emphasis on Homer's sense of the greatness of the ancestors, the nature of Homer's epic similes and on the aftermath of the Death of Patroclus. 

WEEK 4

Jan 30: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  The Iliad, Books 18, 22 and 24

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Iliad: Poem of War and Death

An introduction to Homer's Iliad focusing on the inter-related themes of war and death. This lecture covers Books 18 to 21, focusing on the depiction of the Shield of Achilles and on Achilles' Aristeia. 

Feb 2: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  The Iliad, Books 18, 22 and 24

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Iliad: Poem of War and Death

An introduction to Homer's Iliad focusing on the inter-related themes of war and death. This lecture covers Books 22 to 24, focusing on the death of Hector and Priam's journey to ransom Hector's body.  It is argued that the ultimate significance of Homer's poem is the way it sheds light on the human condition and the meaning we can find in finite human existence. 

WEEK 5

Feb 6: Machiavelli

Required Reading:

  - Leo Strauss, "The Three Waves of Modernity" (1975)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Machiavelli and the First Wave of Modernity

Presentation slides for a lecture on the "modern revolution" in thinking that occurred ca 1500 CE. A brief overview of the Medieval worldview is presented in order to highlight the order that was overturned by the moderns. Some of the historical factors contributing to the modern revolution are enumerated: linear perspective in painting, the fall of Constantinople, Gutenberg's Bible, the Voyages of Discovery, modern warfare, Luther's 95 Theses, and the Copernican revolution. The notion of "Three Waves of Modernity", as articulated by Leo Strauss, is briefly presented. Finally, the philosophy of Machiavelli is summarized as a way of understanding the modern shift in thinking. For instance, war is no longer judged as the "right" course of action if it is in accordance with a Providential design (the Medieval view); rather, war is judged as the right course of action if it advances the overall "human designs" of the Machiavellian leader.

Feb 9: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

 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. 

WEEK 6

Feb 13: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Shakespeare's Histories: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's history plays, both the "English Histories" and the "Roman Histories". The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed, as is the historical context of the writing of these plays during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). Finally, Shakespeare's place in the philosophy of history is considered.

Feb 16: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: War and the Modern Political Regime

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

WEEK 7

Feb 20 / 23: READING WEEK

WEEK 8

Feb 27: How to Write a Research Essay

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

 -  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. 

Mar 2: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: War and the Modern Political Regime

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

WEEK 9

Mar 6: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: War and the Modern Political Regime

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

Mar 9: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  -  Henry V  (1599)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: War and the Modern Political Regime

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

WEEK 10

Mar 13: Rousseau, Kant and Hegel

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

  -  The Second Wave of Modernity and the Rise of History

An introduction to the historical context of the "Second Wave" of modernity and the rise of "historical" thinking. This shift in thinking is explored in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel. 

Mar 16: Wordsworth

Required Reading:

  -  William Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey" (1798) 

Lecture Outline:

  -  On Romanticism and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"

An introduction to the various philosophical currents tied to the Romantic movement -- namely, Rousseau's critique of modern political philosophy and Kant's "Copernican Revolution" in epistemology -- as well as an analysis of the various dimensions of Romanticism's Copernican Revolution in aesthetics. Finally, Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" is explored as an exemplary poem of the Romantic movement.

WEEK 11

Mar 20: Wordsworth

Required Reading:

  -  William Wordsworth, "Thanksgiving Ode" (1816) 

Lecture Outline:

  -  Romantic Responses to the Battle of Waterloo

An exploration of various Romantic responses to the culmination of the Napoleonic Wars in the Battle of Waterloo, with particular emphasis on Wordsworth's "Thanksgiving Ode".

Mar 23: Nietzsche

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

  -  The Third Wave of Modernity: Nietzsche's Critique of Historicism

An introduction to the historical context of the "Third Wave" of modernity in the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's critique of historicism in "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" (1874) is discussed in relation to his overall philosophy concerning: the Death of God, the History of Nihilism and the "completion" of the latter in the affirmation of the Eternal Return.

WEEK 12

March 27: World War I and Modernism

Required Reading:

  -  None for this class

Lecture Outline:

  -  World War I Poetry 

A short introduction to the poetry of the World War I "Soldier Poets" and how they departed from the patriotic themes of the previous century. 

March 30: Modernism: An Introduction

Required Reading:

  -  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.

WEEK 13

April 3: Woolf

Required Reading:

  -  Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway: War and Trauma

An introduction to the intellectual and aesthetic context of Virginia Woolf's novel: Mrs. Dalloway.  The radical historicism and relativism of the "Third Wave of Modernity" are related to Modernist aesthetic movements such as Cubism, Imagism and narrative innovations such as "stream of consciousness". Finally, Woolf's unique articulation of the lived experience of temporality trauma in relation to the experience of World War I is discussed. 

April 6: Woolf

Required Reading:

  -  Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway: War and Trauma

An introduction to the intellectual and aesthetic context of Virginia Woolf's novel: Mrs. Dalloway.  The radical historicism and relativism of the "Third Wave of Modernity" are related to Modernist aesthetic movements such as Cubism, Imagism and narrative innovations such as "stream of consciousness". Finally, Woolf's unique articulation of the lived experience of temporality trauma in relation to the experience of World War I is discussed.