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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2018/2019

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Classical Literature in Translation

Undergraduate Course: The Ancient Novel (CLTR10001)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course is concerned with the prose fiction of the Graeco-Roman world, with a particular focus on the Greek and Roman novels of the early Roman Imperial period. At least three novels (Greek and Roman) are read and studied in English translation, usually, but not restricted to, Longus, Achilles Tatius and Petronius.
Course description Although the novel is often regarded as a post-Renaissance phenomenon and was not recognised as a high literary form by ancient critics, a number of examples survive from the ancient world, in some cases only fragmentarily. Whereas previously many classicists had regarded the ancient novel as peripheral, since the 1970s it has been attracting ever-increasing scholarly interest, and is now much more widely taught as part of a Classics undergraduate curriculum. The course will concentrate on the rise of the Greek novel and the contingent cultural and literary phenomena of the so-called Second Sophistic, and will examine too the nature, origins and peculiarity of the Roman novel. Students will normally read (in translation) all of Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, all of Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon, all of Petronius' Satyricon and excerpts of the works of Chariton, Lucian and Apuleius.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements A pass in Classical Literature 2: Greek and Roman Epic (CLTR08008) is normally required, or at the discretion of the course organiser.
Additional Costs None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter(at least 2 of which should be in Classical Literature) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, thorough knowledge of the primary texts studied in relation to the novel genre, literary heritage and cultural context;
  2. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon diverse modern scholarship on the Ancient Novel;
  3. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material, from different linguistic cultures and heritages;
  4. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
  5. demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
Reading List
Anderson, G. (1984) Ancient Fiction: The Novel in the Graeco-Roman World London.
Bowersock, G.W. (ed.) (1974) Approaches to the Second Sophistic Pennsylvania.
Bowersock, G.W. (1994) Fiction as History. Nero to Julian Berkeley.
Calame, C. (1999) The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece Princeton.
Doody, M. (1996) The True Story of the Novel New Brunswick.
Hägg, T. (1983) The Novel in Antiquity Oxford.
Harrison, S. ed. (1999) Oxford Readings in the Roman Novel Oxford.
Harrison, S., Pachalis, M., Frangoulidis, S. (eds) (2005) Metaphor and the Ancient Novel Groningen.
Haynes, K. (2003) Fashioning the Feminine in the Greek Novel London.
Holzberg, N. (1995) The Ancient Novel. An Introduction London.
Kim, L. (2010) Homer between History and Fiction in Imperial Greek Literature Cambridge.
König, J. (2009) Greek Literature in the Roman Empire London.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsAncient Novel
Contacts
Course organiserDr Calum MacIver
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: Calum.Maciver@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Elaine Hutchison
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: E.Hutchison@ed.ac.uk
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