ARTS004 Homer and European literature

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Petra Mutlová, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Katarina Petrovićová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Irena Radová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Nicole Votavová Sumelidisová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Irena Radová, Ph.D.
Department of Classical Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Erlebachová
Supplier department: Department of Classical Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 14:00–15:40 B2.13
Prerequisites
!PROGRAM(B-KR_)||(PROGRAM(B-KR_)&&( ARTS001 Cognitive Sciences || ARTS002 Approaches to language || ARTS003 Contemporary culture || ARTS005 Life in cyberspace || ARTS006 The Fall of an Empire || ARTS007 Germanic literatureNobel Prize || ARTS008 Argumentation and Logic || ARTS009 Czech 101 || ARTS010 History of Mongolia and steppe empires || ARTS011 Transformations of Christian Europe: Visions, Critical Analysis and Discussions || ARTS012 Cult. Constr. of Other. || ARTS013 Slavonic Areas || ARTS014 How to read World Literature. || ARTS015 Humans as a cultural species || ARTS016 Medieval Literary Life || ARTS017 Life after Death in Arts || ARTS018 || ARTS019 Shakespeare: Art and Virtue || ARTS020 Digital Humanities || ARTS021 Art and Culture in Cent.Europe ))
No special requirements.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 150 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 27/150, only registered: 0/150, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/150
Course objectives
The epics IliadI and Odyssey, credited to the blind Greek poet Homer, lie at the foundation of European society. It can be said that no work of poetry has influenced the culture of the whole world as much as they have. Both have been (and still are) founts of motifs, character types, and techniques in all varieties and genres of literature since antiquity to this day; by the same measure, they have influenced many other forms of art.
This course consists of lectures introducing the students to the receptions of the Homeric works from various places and periods spanning from antiquity to the medieval era, combined with an outlook into modern literature and other art forms.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students:
- will be able to present the contents of the Iliad and the Odyssey in detail;
- will be able to present the currently prevalent opinion on the origin of these works;
- will be able to describe the evolution of the reception of the Homeric epics from antiquity to the medieval era and place it in a literary context;
- will know about the receptions of the Homeric epics in modern literatures;
- will know about the receptions of the Homeric epics outside of literature;
- will know about the relevant secondary literature.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction;
  • 2. The Iliad;
  • 3. The Odyssey;
  • 4. Homer and the ancient Greeks;
  • 5. Homer and the Romans I;
  • 6. Homer and the Romans II;
  • 7. Homer and the Latin Middle Ages I;
  • 8. Homer and the Latin Middle Ages II;
  • 9. Homer and English renaissance literature;
  • 10. Homer and French literature in the 20th century: There will be no Trojan war;
  • 11. Homer and modern literature in English;
  • 12. Homer and Modern Greek literature;
  • 13. Homer in the cinema;
Literature
    required literature
  • HOMÉROS. Ílias. Translated by Otmar Vaňorný. 12. vyd. Praha: Petr Rezek, 2007, 598 s. ISBN 8086027252. info
  • HOMÉROS. Odysseia. Translated by Otmar Vaňorný. 16. vyd. Praha: Petr Rezek, 2007, 451 s. ISBN 8086027260. info
  • EURIPIDÉS. Trójanky a jiné tragédie. Translated by Ferdinand Stiebitz - Olga Valešová. Vydání I. Praha: Svoboda, 1978, 455 stran. URL info
    recommended literature
  • The Cambridge companion to Homer. Edited by R. L. Fowler. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, xvii, 419. ISBN 0521012465. info
  • GRAZIOSI, Barbara. Inventing Homer : the early reception of epic. 1st publ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, xiii, 285. ISBN 0521809665. info
  • Homer, tragedy and beyond : essays in honour of P.E. Easterling. Edited by Felix Budelmann - Pantelis Michelakis - P. E. Easterling. London: Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 2001, xiii, 262. ISBN 0902984195. info
  • Homeric effects in Vergil's narrative. Edited by Philip R. Hardie - Alessandro Barchiesi, Translated by Ilaria Marchesi. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015, xvi, 193. ISBN 9780691161815. info
  • KIM, Lawrence Young. Homer between history and fiction in imperial Greek literature. First paperback edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, xi, 246. ISBN 9781107485297. info
  • POKORNÝ, Martin. Odezvy a znaky: Homér, Dante a Joyceův Odysseus. Vyd. 1. Praha: Jitro, 2008, 220 s. ISBN 9788086985077. info
  • Homer in the twentieth century : berween world literature and the western canon. Edited by Barbara Graziosi - Emily Greenwood. 1st pub. in pbk. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, xiii, 322. ISBN 9780199591312. info
  • SOLOMON, Jon. The ancient world in the cinema. Rev. and expanded ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001, xix, 364. ISBN 0300083378. info
Teaching methods
Lectures; e-learning; intensive home reading.
Assessment methods
Requirements for credit: passing a written test consisting of multiple-choice questions as well as open answers, minimum pass level 60%. Points will be deducted for wrong answers.
Only students who successfully completed at least 8 interim tests in the ELF-course (min. 80%) will be able to sign up for the final assessment test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
Teacher's information
Notes on literature

Any translation of the Illias and Odyssey can be used for reading, the above-mentioned translations are only possible examples.

One play of own choice can be selected from the Trójanky a jiné tragédie book (with the exception of Medeia).

Further readings of primary source and secondary literature will be assigned in the ELF-course.

The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022.
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