KAZANTZAKIS and CRETE Classes: 10.00-12.30, MTWR, Ipitou Bldg Instru
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UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, ATHENS JANUARY 2013 Course: KAZANTZAKIS AND CRETE Classes: 10.00-12.30, M T W R, Ipitou Bldg Instructor: Dr. Constance Tagopoulos Tel (210) 3237-077 Office Hours: 12.30-2.00pm, M-Thr 9 Ipitou St. – First floor E-mail: [email protected] (This is a preliminary syllabus and may be subject to modification) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course affords the student the unique opportunity to study the work of the modern Greek thinker (philosopher, novelist, and poet) Nikos Kazantzakis (1883- 1957) in Athens, and most importantly on the island of Crete, where he was born and is buried. We will focus on the way Kazantzakis was influenced by the cultural circumstances of his country and the “hierophants” who enkindled his soul and ultimately led him, through inconsistencies and retractions, to the definitive shape of his personal world view and ideas, ahead of his time then, and strikingly opportune, globally, today. The class will read and discuss a selection from Kazantzakis philosophical reflections, that grew out of the theories, thought, and life of Henri Bergson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Buddha, Williams James, Homer, and Christ, for the purpose of arriving at his proposed alternative to contemporary man’s existential anguish, disbelief, and fear of death—and at a larger scale, the survival of civilizations. We will sail to Crete aboard a Minoan Ferry. During the four days we will spend on this fascinating island, we will be hosted by the Kazantzakis Museum at Myrtia, the poet’s native town (where the students are free to use all resources for a workshop assignment); we will pay tribute to the poet’s grave in Heraklion, visit the University Library at Rethymnon where the important Prevelakis’s archives are kept, and of course, we will devote a day to admire the oldest treasure of Western civilization: the Minoan Palaces at the close-by archaeological site of Knossos. Crete, likened to “a parent” fierce and tender at the same time, as Kazantzakis says, is a symbol of the creative, ongoing struggle for spiritual freedom inside of man, which makes life worth living. Studying Kazantzakis on Crete, the symbol of his fighting soul and the embodiment of his theory, will be an enriching experience that will guide your heart and mind – our most precious companions– and the last to part from us. Required Reading: Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco, transl. by Peter Bien. London, Boston, Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1973. ISBN 0-571-10359-6. Reader with supplemental reading material compiled by the instructor. Can be purchased by the student upon arrival at a low cost). Books On Reserve at the Univerity Library: 5 Markou Avriliou Street, Plaka Kazantzakis novels Biography Travel books Critical articles Books on Crete and Santorini Books on Minoan and Mycenean Civilizations IMPORTANT: PLEASE START READING FROM REPORT TO GRECO, FOLLOWING YOUR SYLLABUS, BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL. Assignments and Grade Distribution: Class participation 20% (different from attendance alone) Response paper (2nd week) 15% Crete: workshop at Kaz. Museum 25% “ short study at Rethymnon Museum 15% Term paper (take home) 25% SYLLABUS Wedn. Jan. 2, 2013 Arrival, Orientation Thr. Jan. 3 First class: Introductory remarks. Kazantzakis’s intellectual and cultural importance and influences. Read: Prevelakis’s article “Life and Works,” (in Reader) Fri/Sat/Sun Jan. 4 -6 Free Mon. Jan 7 Why El Greco? Bergson & Nietzsche Read from Report to Greco pp. 7-51 (family, land, symbols) Tue Jan 8 pp. 63-131 (adolescent difficulties – liberation). How his thought takes form pp. 154-176 (Pilgrimage through Greece) Wdn. Jan 9 pp. 445-459 (on Zorba the friend)- Thr. Jan 10 What is the “Cretan Glance?” What does Crete Symbolize? Buddha, Christ pp. 305-316 (Nietzsche) pp. 481- 492 (The Cretan Glance) pp. 493-512 (Epilogue) Fri/Sat/Sun Jan. 11-13 Free Mon. Jan 14 From: The Saviors of God – Spiritual Exercises (Askitiki, Kazantzakis’s Manifesto) Excerpts in Reader A manic epistolographer (sample letters in Reader) Tue. Jan 15 Preparation for Crete: Must have read by now: in Report to Greco: (Crete), pp. 317-339 (Crete vs. Turkey) pp. 67-70 Trip to Crete: WEDN. Jan 16 CRETE: HERAKLION, BARBARI, MYRTIA TOUR KAZANTZAKIS MUSEUAND, USE MUSEUM RESOURCES TO DO WORKSHOP ASSIGNMENT (FREE AFTERNOON, LUNCH AND BEACH) THR. JAN. 17 CRETE: TRAVEL TO RETHYMNON TOUR UNIVERSITY OF RETHYMNON VISIT PREVELAKIS ARCHIVES (STUDY WITH LIBRARIAN) FRI. JAN 18 CRETE: BACK TO HERAKLION TOUR HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND VISIT KAZANTZAKIS’S GRAVE FREE AFTERNOON (LUNCH – BEACH) SAT. JAN 19 CRETE: HERAKLION VISIT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF KNOSSOS READ: RETURN TO CRETE, KNOSSOS, (IN REPORT TO GRECO, pp. 141-154). RETURN TO ATHENS Sun. Jan 20 ATHENS, FREE Mon. Jan, 21 Other important writings by Kazanzakis (The Odyssey, a Modern Sequel, Freedom or Death, Zorba the Greek, He who must Die (or Greek Passion), God’s Pauper, Traveling, plays, Correspondence, translations, and more). Tue. Jan 22 Film: The Last Temptation of Christ (Film director Martin Scorcese) Wdn. Jan. 23 Film continued - Conclusions Final paper Thr. Jan. 24 Departure .