CLAS 202 The Wake of the Ancient

The object of this course (as the three- or four-fold pun of its title implies) is not only to celebrate Ancient Literature on the occasion of its supposed passing but also to highlight the ways in which Ancient Literature has informed the creation of-- and might yet continue to re- inform our understanding of--many subsequent forms of literary expression. The course will begin therefore with the close textual analysisof one or more ancient literary works and proceed with a comparative study of a text (or texts) drawn from later literary traditions most particularly modern and contemporary treatments (the manifold ways for instance that Joyce draws upon Homer Derrida upon Plato).