Classics 98 (Junior Tutorial): City and Country in Greek and Roman Literature Fall 2011 Instructor: Ryan Samuels Email:
[email protected] Office Hours: by appointment Location: Sever 112 Meeting Time: T. 2:00-4:00 p.m. Description & Aims: Rarely in Greek and Roman literature may city and country be considered in isolation, as one is generally defined against the other (or, in the language of modern theory, “Other”). The countryside is alternately a place of toil and of rest, of backwardness and of purity, while the city on the other hand may represent in turn refinement or excess, high culture or degeneracy. As we trace its ambivalent development across Tale of the town mouse and the country mouse time, space, and genre, the binary discourse of city Woodcut by Giovanni Maria Verdizotti, 1577 and country will serve as a lens through which we The Warburg Institute will also consider such related discursive pairs as page 166 agriculture and commerce, free and slave, male and female,Work Type wealth and illustration poverty, public and private, work and leisure, the active and the contemplativeDate 1577 life , the competing philosophies of Stoicism and Epicureanism, capital and province, indigenous and foreign, past and present, old and young/new, progress and decline. Emphasis will be on the development of familiarity with theoretical approaches to Greek and Latin texts and of practical research skills. Expectations and Policies: Students will give weekly presentations on individual assignments and actively contribute to discussion. Assigned readings and presentations represent a minimum, and students are expected to bring the results of additional primary and secondary research to each class.