G.R.O.U.P. Course Offerings 2009-2010

The Epic: Imagined Communities and the Classical Epic
Charles Altieri, English (altieri@berkeley.edu)
Maura Nolan, English (mnolan@berkeley.edu)
(English 180E)

This course will focus on the classical epic as one important record of how cultures become self-conscious about the relation between their ideals and their practices. Because the epic was the most central text in the culture, each succeeding culture had to remake that form; tracing those revisions in terms of authors' revising an entire imagination of the powers of their distinctive culture can be very exciting. The course will also address how the emotional demands epic texts make on readers change as they revise their predecessors. Moving from the pre-classical Greeks to Romanticism, the class will read and discuss the Iliad, the Odyssey, The Aeneid, two books of the Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, and Wordsworth's Prelude.

Please check the Schedule of Classes for details about the semester offered, class hours, and any course restrictions or prerequisites.