Special Topics

Independent reading course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Intensive reading, writing

Special Topics

Independent reading course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Intensive reading, writing

Medicine in Antiquity

Ancient Greek and Roman discussions of medicine were highly influential in terms of method on subsequent ages. Even if much of the science has long been superseded, they continue to inform modern conceptions of health and the role of the medical practitioner. This course considers the presence of medicine and healing in the ancient world historically, moving from the evidence of early Greek poetry and philosophy, to the case histories, anatomical texts, and defenses of medicine in the Hippocratic Corpus, through to the writings of core Roman authors.

Making Classics

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.

Greek Civilization

(Offered as CLAS 123 and SWAG 123) We read in English the major authors from Homer in the eighth century BCE to Plato in the fourth century in order to trace the emergence of epic, lyric poetry, tragedy, comedy, history, and philosophy. How did the Greek enlightenment, and through it Western culture, emerge from a few generations of people moving around a rocky archipelago? How did folklore and myth develop into various forms of “rationality”: science, history, and philosophy? What are the implications of male control over public and private life and the written record?

The Bodies of Tragedy

(Offered as CLAS 111 and SWAG 110) Since its invention in Athens, tragic drama has focused upward on the great or mighty as they fall but also outward on the disempowered as they are for once given public voice: women, slaves, and barbarians. The cosmic forces of fate and the gods play out along social fault lines with conflicting viewpoints. We look to a “hero,” but, changing his mask, a Greek actor could go from god to wife to peasant. This multiplicity complicates itself in modern stagings and films as they cast actors with specific gender and racial identities.

Fourth-Year Chinese II

This course, as the continuation of Chinese 401 in the fall semester, is the most advanced class in our Chinese language curriculum. Giving consistent emphasis to listening, speaking, writing, and grammar, the course focuses on advanced reading of authentic and idiomatic texts of Mandarin Chinese. With a balanced consideration to various topics, genres, and speech types, literary works will make up the principal part of the fourth-year reading materials.

Third-Year Chinese II

This course, as the continuation of Chinese 301 in the fall semester, is our third-year class offered for students who have completed the first two years of Mandarin Chinese. We continue to emphasize pronunciation and intonation, practice listening and speaking, and work to improve our command of grammar with more complex syntax structures.

Second-Year Chinese II

This course is a continuation of CHIN 201. By the end of the semester, most of the basic grammatical structures will be addressed. This course continues to help students develop higher proficiency level on the four skills. Class will be conducted mostly in Chinese. There will be three meetings and two drill sessions each week. This course prepares students for CHIN 301.

Requisite: CHIN 201 or equivalent. Spring semester. Senior Lecturer Teng.

How to handle overenrollment: Majors, Amherst seniors, juniors, and then sophomores and first-years

First-Year Chinese II

A continuation of CHIN 101. By the end of the course, students are expected to have a good command of Mandarin pronunciation, the basic grammar structures, an active vocabulary of 700 Chinese characters, and basic reading and writing skills in the Chinese language. The course meets five times per week (lectures on MWF and drill sessions on TTh). This course prepares students for CHIN 201 (Second-year Chinese I).

Requisite: CHIN 101 or equivalent. Spring semester. Senior Lecturer Teng.

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