tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post3237015900316234432..comments2024-02-09T17:38:25.502-07:00Comments on Classics and Beyond: Ancient LiteratureAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-57781866520834164792013-10-17T16:54:41.714-06:002013-10-17T16:54:41.714-06:00Wow, I've read so few of those! I've had ...Wow, I've read so few of those! I've had <i>Don Quixote</i> on my shelf for years, but haven't attempted it yet. It, <i>War and Peace</i>, and <i>Moby Dick</i> are all things I'm still working up the courage to try. <br /><br />I've seen <i>She Stoops to Conquer</i> performed back in college, and read all of <i>Gilgamesh</i> and the selections from the Bible. I've read parts of <i>The Inferno</i>, Augustine's <i>Confessions</i>, <i>Song of Roland</i>, <i>The Thousand and One Nights</i>, and <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>. So I would rather take your Restoration and 18th century class, as there's a lot more there that I haven't sampled.Hamlette (Rachel)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11961916847426233995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-61770805151791776332013-10-17T16:50:49.564-06:002013-10-17T16:50:49.564-06:00Yes, that is true sometimes, but not always, which...Yes, that is true sometimes, but not always, which is why I didn't bring it up in the post. The Aeneid, actually, was composed and written down by Virgil (according to what we know), and so was Oedipus the King. Although both were based on ideas that had been passed down from legends and religion. Unfortunately with the Aeneid, the big deal in the writing was that the meter was practically perfect in every way, and of course that's impossible to recreate when it's been translated into English. <br /><br />Your view of it exactly describes my own--I love that aspect of them, but I just can't get attached. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-3081338086877885132013-10-17T16:41:21.577-06:002013-10-17T16:41:21.577-06:00I get that same feeling with some of the art and a...I get that same feeling with some of the art and architecture. That's the kind of stuff that takes my breath away. (Maybe because I don't know a lot about art and architecture...?) For some reason, though, it doesn't impress me as much in writing. But I get why you say that. I really do. And from an intellectual standpoint, I do find myself sometimes awed by the way they approached these issues in writing. I think it's just so far from anything that I can personally relate to, though--strangely immoral/powerful kings searching for the elixir of life? Too distant for an emotional connection, for me. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-4025748103867222712013-10-17T16:32:15.992-06:002013-10-17T16:32:15.992-06:00Oh, and She Stoops to Conquer is by Goldsmith. Oh, and She Stoops to Conquer is by Goldsmith. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-90168661570345008702013-10-17T16:31:28.555-06:002013-10-17T16:31:28.555-06:00Restoration and 18th-century Literature class (not...Restoration and 18th-century Literature class (note, many of the texts are plays): <br />All for Love (Dryden)<br />The Country Wife (Wycherley)<br />The Man of Mode (Etherege)<br />The Rover (Behn)<br />The Conscious Lovers (Steele)<br />She Stoops to Conquer<br />Pamela (novel)<br />Evelina (novel)<br /><br />There are also a number of scholarly essays on the list. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-46529998738615574692013-10-17T16:24:09.849-06:002013-10-17T16:24:09.849-06:00Wow! I didn't realize that would be a subject ...Wow! I didn't realize that would be a subject of interest. Here are the reading lists. The readings for the World Lit class, however, are almost always just selections (sometimes very small) from the entire text. I'll note if it's the full text, if I know. <br /><br />World Literature: <br />Creation stories (from Egypt, the Bible, etc.--I don't remember exactly which ones)<br />The Book of Genesis<br />The Book of Job<br />The Epic of Gilgamesh (full text)<br />Oedipus the King (Sophocles--full text)<br />Aesop's Fables<br />The Aeneid (Virgil)<br />The Bhagavad-gita<br />Classic of Poetry and Analects (Confucius)<br />The Daodejing<br />Zhuangzi<br />The New Testament<br />Confessions (Augustine)<br />Inferno (Dante)<br />The Qur'an<br />Song of Roland<br />Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (I think the full text)<br />The Thousand and One Nights<br />The Tale of Genji (Shikibu)<br />Don Quixote<br />Orlando Furioso (Ariosto)<br /><br />Whew! I'll write another comment for the 18th-century lit. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14777243283548102053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-62436879050530174702013-10-17T15:31:09.873-06:002013-10-17T15:31:09.873-06:00It's probably pointless to point this out, sin...It's probably pointless to point this out, since I'm sure you've discussed it in class, but you didn't bring it up in your post, so I'm going to go ahead and say it here. Stuff like <i>The Iliad</i> and <i>The Odyssey</i>, and I think also <i>The Aeneid</i> were passed along orally -- they didn't get written down right away, and they were composed with a lot of repetition, etc, to make them easier to remember. So yeah... the writing is not what we today particularly enjoy. <br /><br />That said -- they don't thrill me either. I can appreciate them for their historical context, for the window they give us into ancient life and thought, and for the amazing way their themes and character types still work today. But I don't get caught up in them.Hamlette (Rachel)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11961916847426233995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-60526519711576909372013-10-17T15:23:48.985-06:002013-10-17T15:23:48.985-06:00Yes! Reading lists! Please?Yes! Reading lists! Please?Hamlette (Rachel)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11961916847426233995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-72833616540053938312013-10-16T14:58:58.546-06:002013-10-16T14:58:58.546-06:00Oh, lists! I join in the plea! :)Oh, lists! I join in the plea! :)Arenelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08646965847129179304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-58388923130959437792013-10-16T14:57:25.458-06:002013-10-16T14:57:25.458-06:00I like how honest you are :)
For me a lot of pre...I like how honest you are :) <br /><br />For me a lot of pre-19 century stuff is very tiresome. People just seem to have had enormous amounts of time and not a lot of books to read. So I mainly read the "oldies" to understand the references in other books. It really bothers me to see a book mentioned which I haven't read... I'm crazy, I know :) <br /><br />But some of them DID impress me. Like Gilgamesh. If you thing how LONG ago it was written, and yet people were already concerned with such complex problems as immortality, it just takes your breath away. And Greeks are sometimes hilarious and certainly don't lack fantasy, although most of the stuff is really cumbersome... <br /><br />I am a bit jealous of your study plan :) It's tiresome to read the ancients just for fun, but I guess studying them is very interesting :)Arenelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08646965847129179304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1766637615653605306.post-76330343094797984642013-10-16T14:47:57.212-06:002013-10-16T14:47:57.212-06:00Ooo, I can think of lots to say, but I have to tak...Ooo, I can think of lots to say, but I have to take the kids to violin now. Back later...also, can you post the reading list for this class? And the 18th-century one? Enquiring minds want to know!<br />Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.com