WLIT 420 - Epic: The Sublime and Terrible in Literature

Institution:

Case Western Reserve University

Subject:

Description:

The course focuses on the epic genre that dominates the dawn of Western literature as well as the literary traditions of much of the rest of the world. From the Homeric epic to the Middle Ages and deep into the Renaissance, there was a collective urge to record both in verse and in prose extraordinary adventures with exceptional heroes as central figures. Thus, the epic genre typically encouraged variations in the aesthetic treatment of the hero that eventually came to define distinct categories within the genre. "Sublime" and "terrible" are common notions in the aesthetics of classicism, from antiquity to the early modern period. Authors studied in the course include such key figures in the creation and development of epic as Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Gotffried von Strassburg, Dante, and Cervantes. The works of these authors exemplify, on the one hand, the aesthetic directions mentioned above and, on the other hand, provide opportunities for using the close engagement with particular texts to illuminate wider cultural fields, in which various aesthetic perceptions of social, political, and religious reality coexist and therefore stimulate remarkable innovations in the standard epic narrative. Offered as CLSC 319, CLSC 419, WLIT 320 and WLIT 420.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.case.edu

Phone Number:

(216) 368-2000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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