Sections offered FALL 2020:
#2292
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RICHARD CECIL |
MW 1:10-2:25pm
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FV 256
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CLASS NOTES: IUB GenEd A&H credit; COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit
Above class meets In Person. For more information visit https://fall2020.iu.edu/learning-modes/
This fall we will study quest literature of the ancient world. We will begin with Gilgamesh’s quest for a remedy for death in Gilgamesh, and end with Pilgrim’s quest for salvation in Pilgrim’s Progress. In between, we will study several fictional accounts of quests, as well as one historical one – Xenophon’s Anabasis, which vividly records his quest for home and survival after his small band of mercenaries is stranded in the middle of a huge, hostile Persian army thousands of miles from home. The central work of the course will be Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which the author travels from the bottom of hell to the highest point in heaven while settling old scores with his home town enemies.
Written work for the course will consist of 5 daily written discussion questions, three critical essays of 3-5 pages, and a final 6-10 page creative paper – an original quest story, written by each student, printed and distributed to all members of the class for discussion.
Course texts: Gilgamesh, Homer’s The Odyssey, Virgil’s The Aeneid,
Xenophon’s Anabasis (also called The Persian Expedition), Dante’s Divine Comedy, parts of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.