Unit name | Greek Language Level C2 |
---|---|
Unit code | CLASM0031 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Lyndsay Coo |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Classics & Ancient History |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The origins of modern dramatic and literary criticism have often been traced back to Aristophanes, Plato and Aristotle. Their writings on theatre and literature are concerned not only with the ways in which specific texts can/should be read but also with larger issues about the nature and function of representation. Aristophanes' contest of Aeschylus and Euripides in the Frogs, Plato's distrust of theatre and poetry in the Republic, and Aristotle's defence of tragedy and epic poetry in the Poetics provide concepts and lines of argument which have been central to debates about drama and more generally literature and art for generations of critics from the Renaissance onwards. The themes addressed will include the role of genre, parody, representation and responsibility, and the controversies around concepts such as mimesis and katharsis.
Aims:
Upon conclusion of this unit students will have developed knowledge of the issues raised in relation to the texts studied and their interpretation. They will have developed an appreciation of the literary style of the texts studied and improved their fluency in reading and translating of Greek.
On successful completion of this unit students should have:
3 x 1 hour seminars. 30 contact hours; 170 hours independent learning
Mode of assessment for Second, Third years and MAs will be as follows: • 1 essay of 2,500 words (2nd years), 3,000 words (3rd years) or 4,000 words (MAs). Weighted at 50%. • 1 examination of one and a half hours at the end of the relevant Teaching Block, consisting of a passage of 10-12 lines for unseen translation (30% of exam mark) with passage summary, a passage of 10-12 lines for prepared text translation (30% of exam mark), and a passage of 20 lines with specific questions for comment (40% of exam mark). No choice of questions will be offered and no reference texts or dictionaries will be allowed in this exam. Weighted at 50%
To be read in Greek (1000 lines in total):
Aristophanes: Frogs 830-1523. Recommended edition: K. Dover, AristophanesFrogs, Oxford 1993
Murray, Plato on Poetry, Cambridge 1996
Aristotle: Poetics 1447a8-18 (Introduction) and 1449a9-1454b18 (=chs 4-15) Recommended edition: D. W. Lucas, Aristotle: Poetics, Oxford 1968 Students should also read books 2,3 and 10 of Platos Republic in English