Unit information: Tragedy and Self in 2013/14

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Unit name Tragedy and Self
Unit code CLASM0051
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. Lampe
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

None
Co-requisites

None
School/department Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Why does Iphigenia strike Aristole as an implausible character? When Odysseus asks Sophocles' Philoctetes, "Give me yourself", what is Philoctetes supposed to give? These questions provoke us to think about what makes someone who they are. In fact the reception of Greek tragedy has been instrumental in the formulation of theories of selfhood, subjectivity, and identity. Hence in this unit we will be able simultaneously to develop more sophisticated ways of understanding what makes us who we are and richer enjoyment of some of antiquity's most famous dramas: Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis and Orestes, and Sophocles' Philoctetes and Antigone. We will also explore modern cinema and drama, including Jean-Paul Satre's The Flies, Charles Mee's Orestes 2.0, Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, and Slavoj Zizek's The Perverts Guide to Cinema. (Please note that Mee's Orestes contains graphic material).

Intended Learning Outcomes

  1. gain a basic understanding of central ideas and communicative strategies of the four central texts,
  2. come to appreciate how the texts bear on the unit themes (humanity, the cosmos, and the gods; rationality, persuasion, and the

power of words),

  1. gain sophistication in discussing several sub-themes (e.g. myth, rhetoric, and philosophy; space and time; freedom and necessity; mortality and death; nature and reality; individual and community)
  2. Have abundant opportunities to develop their understanding through written response and seminar discussion
  3. Have the opportunity to develop their skill in formal writing

Teaching Information

Mini-lectures (approximately 30 minutes) and seminars (including short student presentations)

Assessment Information

Summative Assessment: one essay of 4,000 words Formative Assessment: feedback on oral presentation

Reading and References

Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis and Orestes (The preferred translations are the Complete Greek Tragedies series, ed. D. Grene and R. Lattimore, University of Chicago.)

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