World Masterpieces of the Western Tradition

World Masterpieces of the Western Tradition
Dr. Uri S, Cohen

Course Description
The course will provide an introduction to the major literary masterpieces of the Western world and a sustained practice of close reading in them. The course will provide encounters with the major classics of the Western tradition from Greece to Rome through the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance.
 

Course Requirements: Attendance, reading, midterm, final exam at the end of the semester.
Final Grade: 85% final exam; 15% midterm. Both the midterm and final exam are in a "take-home" format.
 

Required Reading: This is an estimated Syllabus; we will finalize it during the semester, allowing the course to take its own unique shape according to the specific dynamics created in class
Week 1-2: On War: Iliad / Homer
- Books: 1, 3, 6, 10, 18, 22, 24
Week 3-4: On Man: Odyssey / Homer
- Books: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 22, 23, 24
Week 5: On the stage: Oresteia
- Oresteia / Aeschylus: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides
Week 6-7: On God: Old and New Testament
- Genesis; Selection
- Book of Judges: Chapters 13 -16 – Story of Samson
- Book of Samuel 1: Chapters 17-18 – David & Goliath, chapters 18-23 – David & Jonathan
- Book of Samuel 2: Chapters 11-24 – Batseba, Absalom, Amnon and Tamar.
- Gospel of Matthew
Week 8: On Rome: Aeneid / Virgil
- Aeneid: books 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12
Week 9: On Christianity: Divine Comedy / Dante
- Divine Comedy: Inferno: Canto 1-5, 9-10, 13, 15, 24-27, 33-34.
Week 10: On (early) Modernity: Hamlet / Shakespeare