Readings

Required Texts

Homer. Iliad. Translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951.

Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt, revised edition. London: Penguin, 1954, 1972.

Sophocles. Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Volume I. Translated by David Grene, 2nd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Propp, Vladimir. The Morphology of the Folk Tale. Edited by Louis A. Wagner. Translated by Laurence Scott. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.

France, Marie de. The Lais of Marie de France. Translated by Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante. Durham: Labyrinth Press, 1978.

Platt, Rutherford Hayes, and J. Alden Brett, eds. "The Acts of Paul and Thecla." In The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden. New York: Plume, 1974.

Bakhtin, Mikhail. "Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel." In The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Edited by Michael Holquist and Vadim Liapunov, Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.

Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote. Translated by J. M. Cohen. London: Penguin, 1950.

Clos, Choderlos de la. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Translated by P. W. K. Stone. New York: Penguin, 1961.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

Freud, Sigmund. "On Dreams" "Family Romances," and "The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex." In The Freud Reader. Edited by Peter Gay. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995, pp. 143-72, 297-300, and 661-66.

Cocteau, Jean, dir. La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast). France, 1946. (Film)

Marx, Karl. "Alienation and Social Classes." In The Marx-Engels Reader. Edited by Robert Tucker. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1978.

Lang, Fritz, dir. Metropolis. Germany, 1926. (Film)

Disney-Pixar. Studios. Toy Story. USA, 1996. (Film)

Wright, Will. The Sims. Maxis-Electronic Arts.

Readings by Class Session

SES # TOPICS READINGS HANDOUTS
1 Introduction: Orality and Literacy   (PDF)
2 Epic Conventions Homer. Iliad. Books 1-6. (PDF)
3 Stories within Stories: The Social Functions of Storytelling Homer. Iliad. Books 7-12. (PDF)
4 Myths of Self and Society: Fates and Fatalism Homer. Iliad. Books 13-20.  
5 Conflict Resolution Homer. Iliad. Books 21-24.  
6 Genre and Ideology I: The Tragic Arc Sophocles. Oedipus Tyrannos. (PDF)
7 Approaches to History: Methods and Materials Herodotus. The Histories. Book I. (PDF)
8 Genre and Ideology II: The Tragic View of History Herodotus. The Histories. Book VII.  
9 Formalist Approaches to Narrative Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the FolkTale.  
10 Character Functions in Adventure Narratives de France, Marie. Lais. (Guigemar, Bisclavret, Lanval, Yonec, Eliduc).  
11 Narrative Perspective and the Categories of time and Space Bakhtin, Mikhail. "Forms of Time and the Chronotope." 

Acts of Paul and Thecla.
(PDF)
12 Perspective and the Novelty of the Novel Cervantes. Don Quixote. Dedication, Prologue, Part I. Chapters 1-17. (PDF)
(PDF)
13 Mediation and the Triangulated Subject Cervantes. Don Quixote. Part I. Chapters 18-35. (PDF)
14 Character Development and the Accumulation of Experience Cervantes. Don Quixote. Part I. Chapters 36-52. (PDF)
15 Realism, Sentiment, and the Epistolary Novel Laclos. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Part 1.  
16 Experience, Experiments, and Enlightenment Epistemology

Laclos. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Part 2.

 
17 The Enlightened Subject Laclos. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Part 3.  
18 Novels of Manners, Novels of Morals: The Bildungsroman Laclos. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Part 4.  
19 Psychology in Gothic Horror and Detective Fiction Poe. "The Cask of Amantillado;" "The Pit and the Pendulum;" "The Imp of the Perverse;" "The Murders in the Rue Morgue;" "The Purloined Letter."  
20 Psychoanalytic Archetypes and Fairy-Tales Freud. "On Dreams," "Family Romances," and "The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex." (PDF)
21 Film Screening I Cocteau. La Belle et la Bête.  
22 Surrealism and the Subject of Psychoanalysis Cocteau. La Belle et la Bête. (cont.)  
23 Film Screening II Lang. Metropolis.  
24 Modernist Ideology: Capitalist Alienation and Class Consciousness Marx. "Alienation and Social Classes."

Lang. Metropolis. (cont.)
 
25 Film Screening III Disney-Pixar. Toy Story.  
26 Late Capitalism, Pastiche, and Post-Modernism Disney-Pixar. Toy Story. (cont.)  
27 Narrative and New Media Wright, Will. Electronic Arts, The Sims. (PDF)