|
OVERVIEW
Each text begins with an orientation that links its relevance to the students' lives and identities, and then expands into an exploration of the great questions and issues we continue to debated to this day. The course uses these time-honored texts to initiate a philosophical confrontation with the self that renders human experience in a personal, meaningful way. Among the various themes that emerge throughout the course are:
- Personal identity ("Who am I? Where did I come from?")
- Codes and value systems ("How should I live my life?")
- The challenge of growing up ("What does it mean to be an adult? What do I gain? What do I lose?")
- Issues associated with society
- God and religion
- Illusion and reality
- War and violence
- Art and the artist
These enduring issues come to life in these classics. Each is discussed in turn by Mr. Lynch with an interactive student audience. For added variety and scholarship, the lessons are supplemented with inserted commentaries from world-renowned authors and scholars.
COURSE MATERIALS
Text: NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD MASTERPIECES edited by M. Mack. Sixth Edition, New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1992.
Vol. I, Hardcover (ISBN #: 0-393-96140-0); Softcover (ISBN #: 0-393-96141-9)
Vol. II, Hardcover (ISBN #: 0-393-96142-7); Softcover (ISBN #: 0-393-96143-5)
Teleclass Guide: LIVING LITERATURE: THE CLASSICS AND YOU by J. Lynch. Dubuque,IA: Kendal/Hunt Publishing Company, 1996
Faculty Manual: FACULTY MANUAL FOR LIVING LITERATURE: THE CLASSICS AND YOU, 1995.
PROGRAM LESSON DESCRIPTIONS
Class 1: Genesis, Chapters 1,2, and 3
Lesson 1 examines the creation stories of Chapters 1 and 2, with special emphasis on their differences of language and style, the concept of "deity", the purpose of the text, and the significance of being "made in the image of God". The discussion of Chapter 3 focuses on the enduring vitality of the Adam and Eve story and the Myth of the Fall. Do Adam and Eve assert their basic human dignity in their defiance? What does it mean to be fully human according to the Adam and Eve myth? Why should the gaining of knowledge/experience and the loss of innocence/simplicity require a connection with Sin, Error, and Pain?
Featured interview: Dr. Wil Gaylin, author of Adam and Eve and Pinocchio: On Being and Becoming Human
Class 2: The Book of Job
When innocent people suffer difficult circumstances, does that deny the concept of a just God? Discussion focuses on the knotty philosophical question of theodicy and on Job's personal evolution from despair to faith. How does orthodoxy, in whatever form, keep one from an authentic pursuit of meaning?
Featured interviews: Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and Professor David Clines (University of Sheffield), who authored a critical text on the Book of Job
Classes 3 and 4: Homer, Iliad
Discussion in these two lessons focuses on the nature of epics, the tragedy of Achilles, the nature of the Homeric hero, the relation between humans and gods, and the nature of honor as a motivating principle. Discussion also explores the Iliad as both a celebration of and a protest against war.
Class 5: Sophocles, Oedipus the King
The range of discussion topics in this lesson includes the nature of tragedy, the concept of "moira" (fate) vs. "tuche" (chance), the religious conservatism practiced by Sophocles, and some general speculations about human nature. What besides his own destruction does Oedipus gain? What does it mean to be human? How should one live? Does Oedipus suffer justly? Is the play a celebration of the tragic hero?
Class 6: Sophocles, Antigone
Antigone sparks a debate on the subject of duty: Is a citizen's first duty is to the law of the state or to the law of religion? Who is the tragic protagonist of the play? Who "owns" the tragedy? Are Creon and Antigone equally right and equally wrong? Does Sophocles favor one over the other? The lesson turns to a discussion on how the play might have contemporary applications.
Featured interview:Justice Seymour Simon, Former Justice of the Illinois State Supreme Court
Classes 7, 8, and 9: Virgil, Aeneid
Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil's purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome's greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy ), IV ( The Tragedy of Dido ), and VI ( The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero ).
Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature,and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College–Oxford)
Classes 10 and 11: Dante, Inferno
These two lessons center on the nature of allegory, the law of symbolic retribution, and how the nature of the soul according to St. Thomas Aquinas influenced the structure of Dante's Hell. How should one read Inferno for the first time? To what extent is Dante a new epic hero? To what extend does his journey constitute a new epic "action?" What is Inferno really about, and what was Dante's purpose in writing it? The episode of Paolo and Francesca is singled out for particular attention.
Featured interview: Professor Zyg Baranski (University of Reading)
Classes 12 and 13: Shakespeare, Hamlet
Discussion centers on Hamlet's unique prestige in Western culture as the Mt. Everest of plays, so much so that it is often referred to simply as "The Play". What accounts for this unique prestige? How modern a play is Hamlet? What political issues does it raise? The class considers a feminist and an existential reading of the play, discussing Hamlet’s attitudes toward the sexualized maternal body and the universal fear and disgust it can evoke. "The Play" also poses the question of how to act in the world when one cannot know anything with certainty.
Featured interview: Professor Mick Hattaway (University of Sheffield), author of a critical text on Shakespeare's Hamlet
Class 14: Molière, Tartuffe
Tartuffe perfectly represents the French neo-classical period, and this lesson places particular emphasis on the play’s plot, language style, characterizations and central theme. What is the play about? Why is Orgon so blind to Tartuffe's true nature? Is the character of Tartuffe comic or macabre? Is Orgon "mad," as Dorine claims? What does "madness" mean in the context of this play? What is the significance of the "deus ex machina" ending of the play?
Featured interview: Dr. David Raybin (Eastern Illinois University)
Classes 15 and 16: Milton, Paradise Lost
The class investigates Milton's purpose in singling out the myth of Adam and Eve for such extended attention. What is heroism and who is heroic by Milton's standards? What is "innocence" according to Milton? Is it a desirable trait? What is the role of knowledge in the epic? What does it mean to be "lowly wise?" Of particular attention is the question of Eve as champion of Paradise Lost.
Featured interview: Dr. Rachel Falconer (University of Sheffield)
Class 17: Voltaire, Candide
Does Candide simply recreate "Job in modern dress," as Frederick the Great asserted? What is the theme of Candide ? What is Voltaire's attitude toward metaphysical speculation? What is the role of "work" in Candide ? The lesson focuses on the symbolic concept of "garden" in the work, and discussion touches on the three types of "gardens" (ways of life) that rapidly succeed one another toward the end of the work. The class contemplates Candide as a work that exemplifies humankind's traditional existential dilemma: How does one find meaning in a mad, evil world and create a meaningful existence within it?
Featured interview: Professor Robert Morrissey (University of Chicago)
Class 18: Goethe, Faust
Discussion focuses on Faust as a classic example of European Romanticism that stresses such concepts as individualism, limitless aspiration, and Gothicism, while it reveals Romantic attitudes toward knowledge. Particular attention is paid to the "two souls inhabit my breast" speech and the grasshopper image as emblematic of Faust's personal and philosophical dilemma.
Classes 19 and 20: Flaubert, Madame Bovary
Discussion centers on Flaubert’s realism and his use of point-of-view in Madame Bovary. Students debate the notion that this book is evidence of Flaubert’s feminist leanings. Other questions asked in the lesson: Is the story really about Charles or Emma? Would Emma ever be satisfied with any man? Is the novel meant to be instructive? If the novel has a moral center, why does Charles suffer so? Are we meant to be sympathetic to Emma – to understand her rather than judge her? Is Emma subject to fate and circumstance or responsible for her own downfall?
Featured interview: Dr. Alison Finch, Jesus College (Oxford)
Class 21: Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Discussion topics include Dostoyevsky's unique contribution to the novel form, his interest in the obscure or confused motivations of human action, his interest in multiple personality, and his themes of suffering and spiritual regeneration. What is the "idea" behind the novel? Are the main characters of the novel embodied "ideas?" What are the challenges to accepting the "Epilogue", both from an artistic and psychological perspective?
Featured interview: Professor Ed Wasiolek (University of Chicago)
Class 22: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych
The lesson examines how this work validates the concept of "memento mori" – the forcing of a consciousness of death that compels us to examine the authenticity of our lives. According to Tolstoy, "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and, therefore, most terrible." What does this triad of adjectives mean? What is the tone of the story? Is Ivan's fate a blessing or a curse? What is the role of "Friends?" Of "Family"? Discussion focuses on the imagery at the end of the story as it relates to the story's theme.
Featured interview: Professor Ed Wasiolek (University of Chicago)
Class 23: Kafka, The Metamorphosis
Discussion focuses on the story as a modern parable, suggesting that the reality to which Gregor awakens is the truth of his life. Of what does this truth consist? In what ways can Kafka's story be compared to "The Death of Ivan Ilych?" Students explore the story’s theme and plot, determine its purpose, and debate where the story’s climax lies in the narrative. How do elements such as pose style and tone, use of detail, and point-of-view contribute to the story's effect? To what extent does the "rage to be normal" lead us to treat those who are different from us as non-human?
Class 24: Course Overview
The final episode review the works in the course identifies enduring themes and concerns. Highlighted members of the class choose and justify their favorite works.
|
The Bible (Genesis and Job)
