The course welcomes all students who have an interest in literature, regardless of their major. First-year students are invited to take the course, if they are ready gfor the challenge of reading and writing about some of the most complex works in the Western tradition. This course serves as the basis for the Comparative Literature major, but it is also an important part of the English Department's curriculum, where it originated.

All three sections of the course will read and discuss the following texts: Homer's Iliad, Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Euripides' The Bacchae, Plato's Symposium, Virgil's Aeneid, and Dante's Divine Comedy. As the list suggests, the focus is on the epic and on tragedy, the two major genres of classical antiquity. The chronological sequence of presentation helps to illuminate the process of literary transmission and transformation, as forms and themes migrate in time across cultural boundaries and each individual author refashions them to express a new vision of the world and human experience.

Some questions that may be addressed: What does it mean when a text is said to belong to the literary canon? What are the cultural values or biases implied by such a designation, and how does contemporary literary theory challenge its authority? What constitutes an "epic" perspective on life, and how does tragedy redefine the notion of the hero or heroine? What does Rome mean for Virgil, and what does Virgil mean for Dante? How does Beatrice's presence in Dante's poem reposition feminine identity within the epic hierarchy?

The course is writing intensive; all students will submit at least twenty pages of written work over the semester. There will be a self-scheduled essay examination.