<p> The Quester Hero from Classical to Contemporary Literature</p><p>Beginning with Homer’s The Odyssey and ending with Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, we will consider texts from classical, medieval, modern, and contemporary literature. How have the quests of Odysseus, Faust, Dante, and Parzival developed out of their specific cultures? What do their quests tell us? How have both the quest & quester hero changed in medieval, modern, contemporary times? Is the quest a function of an inner need that unfolds to the outer world? Why is this primarily a patriarchal genre? How do the distorted & disjunctive quests of characters from Kafka, Beckett, Virginia Woolf, Faulkner, Jorge Luis Borges, and Cormac McCarthy comment on our contemporary world?</p><p>TEXTS:</p><p>Selections from:</p><p>Homer, The Odyssey Goethe, Faust von Eschenbach, Parzival</p><p>Complete texts:</p><p>Dante, The Inferno Dickinson, Selected Poems Eliot, Selected Poems Kafka, Selected Short Stories Kafka, The Trial Beckett, Waiting for Godot Borges, Complete Fictions Faulkner, As I Lay Dying Cormac McCarthy, The Road</p><p>Films:</p><p>American Beauty Brokeback Mountain Mark Irwin 415 A Taper X3754 Office: T/TH: 12:30-2:00pm University of Southern California Spring 2011</p><p>Arts & Letters 100: The Quester Hero from Classical to Contemporary Literature T/TH 2-3:20 pm</p><p>REQUIRED TEXTS: Dickinson, Selected Poems; Kafka, Selected Short Stories; Kafka, The Trial;Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse; T.S. Eliot: Selected Poems; Beckett, Waiting for Godot; Borges; Complete Fictions; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Cormac McCarthy, The Road</p><p>NOT REQUIRED: Selected & Discussed: Homer, The Odyssey; The Aeneid, von Eschenbach’s, Parzival. Goethe’s Faust.</p><p>WEEK I Selection from The Odyssey: “Descent in to the Underworld”(XI) Aeneid (VI) Read first 13 Cantos. Study the architecture of the 1st Canto (geography, time, place)</p><p>WEEK 2 Finish Dante’s The Inferno </p><p>WEEK 3 Discussion of handout from Parzival. Summary & lecture on Goethe’s Faust. Emily Dickinson’s Poems Quest Due</p><p>WEEK 4 Dickinson Continued & Keats’ “Ode Upon a Grecian Urn” Read Rimbaud’s “The Drunken Boat” & begin Kafka’s The Trial</p><p>WEEK 5 Finish Kafka’s The Trial & Discussion</p><p>WEEK 6 Kafka’s Short Stories: “A Country Doctor,” “The Judgement,” “The Metamorphosis,” “Josephine” & Other selections</p><p>WEEK 7 Finish Kafka Stories Kafka Paper Due & Begin Beckett’s Waiting for Godot MIDTERM EXAM</p><p>WEEK 8 Discuss Exam Finish Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Discussion Read & discuss Eliot’s “Love Song” & “The Wasteland”</p><p>WEEK 9 Begin Borges’ Fictions: “The Circular Ruins,” “Funes the Memorious,” “Three Versions of Judas,” “The Library of Babel,” “The Immortal,” “The God’s Script” & all Parables, especially “Parable of Palace,” “Everything & Nothing.” WEEK 10 Borges: “The Aleph,” “The Book of Sand,” “The Disk,” “The Zahir,” “The Writing of the God,” “Dreamtigers” & 294-300), “Inferno I, 32,” “Borges & I,” “A Prayer,” “His End & His Beginning,” “The Gospel According to Mark,” “Blue Tigers,” “The Rose of Paracelsus,” “Shakespeare’s Memory” & other stories to be assigned.” Parable Due</p><p>WEEK 11 Film: Brokeback Mountain, Adapted from Short Story by Annie Proulx BEGIN GROUP PRESENTATIONS</p><p>WEEK 12 Book of Matthew: Parables & Begin Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying</p><p>WEEK 13 As I Lay Dying</p><p>WEEK 14 Begin Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD</p><p>WEEK 15 finish THE ROAD Final Paper Due</p><p>WEEK 16 Summary of “Quester Hero” Themes</p><p>COURSE EXPECTATIONS</p><p>Arts & Letters 100</p><p>The Quester Hero from Classical to Contemporary Literature</p><p>Students successfully completing this course should understand how the quest has evolved from religious and psychological motives, and how the quest has developed out of specific cultures. In addition to the assigned texts, we will also consider the influence of classical religious heroes, such as Christ, Buddha, and Mohammed. We will consider how quests have shaped the form and content of our social, scientific, and artistic thought. How have radical or non-conformist quests expanded the boundaries of consciousness? Finally we will ask: If the classical quest led toward a deity or deities, or specific goal, where does the contemporary quest into the self ultimately lead?</p><p>“If you find that you no longer believe, try enlarging the temple.”</p><p>--W.S. Merwin</p><p>ATTENDANCE: Any student missing more than three classes, without an excuse, may be asked to leave the class.</p><p>WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: Due on given date, unless you are ill, then due on next class. Any assignment turned in later than the next class after it is due will be given a zero, unless there are extenuating circumstances.</p><p>Your grade for ARLT 100 will be determined in he following manner:</p><p>Class papers & mid-term exam 40% (exam ½)</p><p>Group project 20%</p><p>Final paper 40%</p><p>My job is to ensure that you achieve the highest possible grade. Strong attendance and or class participation may raise a grade up to ½ letter. </p>