Classics 128 - Making Classics: Roman Literature in Translation

What makes a text a classic? Why do certain texts leave a mark, being reread and adapted over and over, but others not so much? This course is an atypical introduction to Roman literary history that pairs better- and lesser-known representatives of Rome’s major literary genres, with an eye to processes of reception and canon formation. In other words: an opportunity to (re)discover famous masterpieces as well as forgotten misfits of Roman literature. Students will also consider modern reinterpretations of some of these texts and try their hand at updating them for a contemporary audience. Topics of discussion will include the role of chance in transmission; translation in and of Roman literature; the connection of literature to empire; and the gendered and ethnic identities of authors. Authors may include Virgil and Silius Italicus (epic), Virgil and Calpurnius Siculus (pastoral), Lucretius and Manilius (didactic), Livy and the Historia Augusta (historiography), Vitruvius and Frontinus (technical literature), Catullus and Sulpicia (lyric), Juvenal and ‘the Other Sulpicia’ (satire).

Three class hours per week. Spring semester. Visiting Assistant Professor Janssen.

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Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Reading Roman source documents in translation; reading contemporary historical and theoretical scholarship; close reading; guided research; writing and revising papers; oral presentation; giving peer feedback.