Fall, 2005
Instructor: Dr. Jane Chance, English TTH
(Distribution I Course)
Description: This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to a variety of world mythologies and mythmakers, from the beginnings to the modern period. Designed to explore the relationship between a culture and its myths as expressed in specific literary or religious works, “Mythologies” offers a means of understanding cultural difference as well as the fundamental topics of human desire and aspiration (creation and birth, the purpose of life, heroic struggle against nature and death, the hope for rebirth, etc.). Included mythologies: Babylonian, Sumerian, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Irish, Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, Finnish, Mayan, Hopi, and modern (Borges, Philip Glass).
Note: Graduate students can sign up for this course as an English Department Graduate Directed Reading.
(All books/films
will be placed on reserve)
Inanna, Queen of Heavens and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, by Enheduanna, ed. Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Harper and Row 1983 ISBN 0-06-090854-8 (pb) $10.17 (used $2.50) BL1616.I5 W64 1983
The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War, trans. Barbara Stoler Miller, Bantam, 1986 ISBN 0553213652 part of longer version of Mahabarata $5.35 BL1138.62 .E5 1986
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. Raymond O. Faulkner, ed. Carol Andrew, University of Texas/British Museum Press, 1990. ISBN 0292704259 $18.87
Hesiod, Theogony; Works and Days, trans. M.L. West, Oxford U. Press rpt., 1999, ISBN 0192839411, $8.95 PA4010 .E5 T5 1999
Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Rolfe Humphries Indiana U. Press, 1955; rpt. ISBN 025320001-6 $8.95 (used $.49) PA6522.M2 H8
Early Irish Myths and Sagas, trans. Jeffrey Gantz, Penguin USA, rpt. 1982 ISBN 0140443975 $9.56 PB1421 .E27 1981
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, trans. Seamus Heaney, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000 ISBN 0393320974, $11.30 PE1583 .H43 2000
The Kalevala, trans. Elias Lonnrot, Keith Bosley, Albert B. Lord, Oxford U. Press, 1999, ISBN 019283570X $11.96 PH324.E5B63 1999
The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Penguin Classics), trans. Jesse L. Brock, Penguin USA 2000, ISBN 0140447385 $9.56 PT7287 .V7 E5 1999
Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Mayans, trans. Adrien Recinos, University of Oklahoma Press, rpt.1991; ISBN 0806122668 $10.50 F1465 .P814
Book of the Hopi, trans. Frank Waters, Oswald White Bear Fredericks, Viking Press, 1985 ISBN 0140045279 $11.16 E99 .H7 W3 1977
Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings, Norton, 1988 ISBN 0811200124 $9.56 PQ7797 .B635 L3 1986
Whale Rider
(
Recommended
(in order of use):
Jane Caputi, Goddesses and Monsters: Women, Myth, Power, and Popular Culture, U. Wisconsin Press, 2004 ISBN 0-299-19624-0 $24.95 HQ1190 .C368 2004
James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Penguin Putnam, 1996 ISBN 0140189319 $14.95 BL310 .F7 1998
David Leeming and
Jake Page, Myths of the Female Divine,
Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton UP, rpt. 1972 ISBN 0691017840 $12.76 BL313 .C28 1972
Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 2nd ed., Michael Wiese Productions, ISBN 0-941188-70-1 $22.95 PN1996 .V64 1998
Requirements: 1 short paper, 2 exams, and 1 longer paper or project. Papers are revisable and can be submitted as drafts for feedback. Attendance is expected; repeated unexcused absences will count against you. Participation is encouraged and boosts borderline grades.
Read Jane Caputi, Goddesses and Monsters, pp. 3-20.
Aug. 25: Myth, Magic, and Religion
Read: James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A
Study in Magic and Religion, on Magic and Religion (chaps 1-4); Sexes and
Vegetation Myth--chaps 11-13; Balder and Fire festivals--chaps 61-63; Golden
Bough/Nemi etc. chaps 68-69;
also David Leeming and Jake Page, Goddess: Myths of the Female Divine,
pp.111-16, on Hebrew myths of Lilith and Eve
Aug. 28 (Sun. @ 3,
I.
Oriental and Asiatic Mythologies: Akkadian, Sumerian, Hindu
Week 2: Akkadian and Sumerian
Aug. 30: The Epic
of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian
[2000 B.C] (Standard Version, in poetry), pp. 1-100 (12 tablets). )Film
Clips from
Sept. 1: Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, by Enheduanna, pp. 3-9, 12-27, 30-49, and 52-90, “The Huluppu-Tree,” “Inanna and the God of Wisdom,” “The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi,” “The Descent of Inanna”
Read: Jane Caputi, Goddesses and
Monsters, pp. 3-20
Week 3: Hindu
Sept. 6: The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War, part of the longer version of 6th book of Mahabarata (ca. 1200 B.C.), pp. 21-87 (1st-9th teaching)
Sept. 8: The Bhagavad-Gita, pp. 89-154 (10th-18th teaching)
II.
Mediterranean and African Mythologies
Week 4: Egyptian
Sept. 13: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (3000 B.C. –300 AD), pp. 27-36, 38-57, 64-67, 74-79, 90-100, 133-139, and 178-188
Sept. 15: The Hero’s Journey: Read: Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces (chapters 1-3) (film clips, Ancient Egypt, DT61.A53 2002)
Sept. 16: Short Paper #1 Due @
Week 5: Greek
Sept. 20: Hesiod, Theogony
(late 8th c. B.C.), pp. 4-33
Sept. 22: Works and Days, pp. 38-61
Read:
Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces (read chapters 4-6)
Week 6: Roman
Sept. 27: Ovid, Metamorphoses, books 1-5 (1st c. B.C.), esp. The Creation Myth and Fall (1), Phaeton and Europa (2), Actaeon, Tiresias, Echo and Narcissus (3), Pyramus and Thisbe, Salmacis, and Perseus (4); Perseus and Medusa, Proserpina and Pluto (5) (Slides)
Sept. 29: Ovid, Metamorphoses, books 6-10, esp. Arachne and Niobe, Tereus, Procne, and Philomela (6), Jason and Medea (7), Daedalus and Icarus (8), Iphis and Ianthe (9), Orpheus and Euryde, Ganymede, Pygmaliom, Cynras and Myrrha, and Adonis (10) (Film Clips from Jason and the Argonauts, on order)
Week 7: Early Irish
Oct. 4: Early Irish Myths and Sagas (8th c.): “The Wooing of Étaín” (pp. 39-59); “The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulaind” (pp. 153-78)
Oct. 6: “Bricriu’s Feast” (pp. 219-255)
Oct. 7: Exam #1 @
Week 8:
Anglo-Saxon
Oct. 11: Mid-Term Break
Oct. 13: Beowulf
(9th-10th c.)
Weeks 9 &
10: Finnish
Oct. 18:
The Kalevala (10th c.?): The First Väinämöinen Cycle (cantos
1-10, pp. 1-119)
Oct. 20: (cont.) (Finnish folk music from The Kalevala)
Oct. 25: The Kullervo
Cycle (cantos 31-36; pp. 432-96)
Oct. 27: The Marjatta Cycle (canto 50; pp. 649-667)
Nov. 1: The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (13th c.), pp. 35-109
Nov. 3:
IV. North and South American Mythologies: Mayan, Native American, South American
Week 12: Quiché Maya
Nov. 8: Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiché Maya (16th c.?)
Nov. 10: Popol Vuh (film clips from Mayans, F1435.P739 2002)
Week 13:
Native American
Nov. 15: Book of the Hopi (16th c.), Part 1: The Myths of Creation of the Four Worlds, pp. 3-23 and Chap. 13 of Pt. 2: “Commentary: The Hopi Clan” (pp. 113-122)
Nov. 17: Book of the Hopi, Pt. 4: “ The History: The Lost White Brother,” chap. 1: “The Coming of the Castillas” (pp. 251-58); Chap. 3, “Arrival of the Americans,” (pp. 270-78); Chap.9, “The Indian Reorganization Act” (pp. 314-21); chap. 10: “The Flag Still Flies”(pp. 322-28); Chap. 11: “Recommendations and Prophecies” (pp. 329-38). (film clips from Native Americans, CB311.A52 2002)
Week 14:
South American
Nov. 22: Jorge Luis
Borges, Labyrinths (1956-60): “The Garden of Forking Paths,” “The
Circular Ruins,” and ”The Library of
Nov. 23: Project/Paper Due
Nov. 24: Thanksgiving
Vacation
Week 15:
Nov. 29: Borges, Labyrinths: “The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero” (pp. 72-76) “The Secret Miracle” (pp. 88-94); “The House of Asterion” (pp. 138-40); “Borges and I” (246-48)
Dec. 1: Niki Caro, dir., Whale Rider (please see this film before class; available at the Reserve Room for library viewing)
Dec. 2: Second
Exam due @
Paper Requirements:
Pick some aspect of the myth or mythology to be discussed and present its significant features. For your paper, try to focus on the text as a site for contestation and as narrative. You may write on some aspect of the mythological works we have read, or pick a mythology we will not cover and one myth within it to recover the hero’s journey, or some other aspect.
you understand (by the end of the semester) how a myth and mythology might be defined. Accompany it with annotation or gloss explaining how your mythology works within the context of the comparative mythologies we have explored in the course. Other forms of artistry—musical compositions, art, films, weaving, etc.—are also welcome as long as they are accompanied by a gloss.
You may also research a mythology
not covered in class. Students in the past have written about
Both exams and papers can be e-attachments; they are
honor code-bound but rewrites of papers are allowed up to the end of classes
and students may consult the
Office hours:
Office: 235 Herring Hall
Office Hours: 4-5 TTH and by appointment
Office Phone:
Disability Notice:
1. Any
student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or
accommodations is requested to speak with me during the first two weeks of
class. All discussions will remain
confidential. Students with disabilities
will need to contact Disability Support Services in the
2. Any
student with a disability requiring accommodations in this course is encouraged
to contact me after class or during office hours. Additionally, students will need to contact
Disability Support Services in the
3. If you have a
documented disability that will impact your work in this class, please contact
me to discuss your needs. Additionally,
you will need to register with the Disability Support Services Office in the