CLAS 342 - The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic Tradition

CLAS 342 is a General Education Exploring Perspectives (Humanist) course carrying the Writing and World Cultures and Societies attributes. We will build a community of inquiry into Homeric literature and society using tools like close reading to examine the Homeric characters within the Iliad and Odyssey with a view to what forces--social, divine, individualistic, artistic--inform their thoughts and actions. We will draw parallels and examine contrasts between our own societies and that of the characters within the Iliad and Odyssey, and we will be assisted in these critical analyses by the work of modern scholars who have attempted to understand the world of Homer using interpretive tools like close reading and literary analysis. Students will be invited to use their own experiences as interpretive lenses through which to understand the world of Homer; conversely, students will also be invited to use the world of Homer to understand their own.