English 390/488:
HONORS SEMINAR—SELECTED CLASSICS OF EUROPEAN THOUGHT
FALL SEMESTER. 2000. DAVID MYCOFF.
The word classics presents several problems, most of which
arise from the associations that many people make with it, particularly the notion
that the term implies a claim that the “classic” work represents an exclusive
excellence. I would never make such a
claim, simply because there are just too many good books in the world.
For our purposes, a classic is a work that has had broad and
deep influence on European cultures, and in some cases, world cultures. Most of the works selected for study in this
course are, in addition, quite dialogic in nature, even if they are not written
in formal dialogue form. They present a
conversation of perspectives on problems that the culture has found to be
durable, intractable, and important.
And they are books that many people over long periods have loved and
admired, or, just as significantly, feared and hated.
Texts
1. Plato,
Republic. Oxford UP. ISBN
0192833707.
2. Plato, Symposium. Hackett.
ISBN 0872200760.
3. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford
UP. ISBN 019283407X.
4. Augustine, Confessions.
Viking-Penguin. ISBN 014044114X.
5. Three
Early Modern Utopias. Oxford
UP. ISBN 0192838857.
6. Martin Luther, ed. John Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selected Writings.
Anchor-Doubleday. ISBN
0385098766.
7. Montaigne, Essays.
Viking-Penguin. ISBN 0140446028.
8. Voltaire, Candide and Other Stories.
Oxford UP. ISBN 0192834266.
9. Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man.
Hackett. ISBN 0872201473.
10. Goethe, Faust,
Part I. Viking-Penguin. ISBN 0140440127.
11. Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
NAL-Signet. ISBN 0451525264.
12. Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago.
Pantheon-Random House. ISBN
0679774386.
Requirements
·
Punctual and faithful
attendance
·
Punctual completion
of assigned readings
·
Short weekly papers
(more below)
·
One extended formal
essay, minimum ten pages
·
One take-home essay
final exam
Short Weekly Papers
Each of you will write a short paper (2-3
pages) each week responding to the assigned reading. On a regular rotation,
each of you will read your short paper as a means of initiating class
discussion. I will grade these papers
as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. A cumulative grade for the short papers, based on the number
of Satisfactory grades, will be used in computing your final
grade for the course. All Satisfactory grades = 98; all but one =
90; all but two = 85; all but three = 75; all but four = 65. Five or more Unsatisfactory grades will result in a cumulative grade of 55. I will grade these papers on their relevance
to the readings, on how well they pose the problem for discussion, and on their
correctness in usage. I do not expect
elaborately developed arguments in a mere three pages.
Final Grade Computation
·
Cumulative grade on
weekly papers = 50%
·
Grade on longer
formal paper = 25%
·
Grade on final exam =
25%
Guest Seminar Participants and Facilitators
I extend an open invitation to anyone to
participate in the seminar as a guest.
I will expect guests either to have read the assignments freshly or to
be working out of a long and close familiarity with the text.
From time-to-time. other faculty members will be leading our
discussions as “guest facilitators.”
WEEK ONE
M 21 August.
Introduction to the course.
W 23. Plato,
Republic, 3-98.
F 25. Plato, Republic, 98-189.
WEEK TWO
M 28. Plato,
Republic, 190-319.
W 30. Plato,
Republic, 320-379.
WEEK THREE
M 4 September.
Plato, Symposium (all.)
W 6. Plato,
Symposium continued.
F 8. Aristotle, Nicomachean
Ethics, 1-78.
WEEK FOUR
M 11. Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics, 79-191.
W 13. Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics, 192-276.
WEEK FIVE
M 18. Augustine, Confessions,
Book 1-6.
W 20. Augustine,
Confessions, Book 7-9.
F 22. Augustine,
Confessions, Book 10-13.
WEEK SIX
M 25. More, Utopia (all). Bacon, The
New Atlantis (all).
W 27. More and Bacon continued.
WEEK SEVEN
M 2 October.
Luther, Preface
to the Epistle to the Romans, 19-34; Preface
to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, 35-37; The Freedom of a Christian, 42-85.
W 4. Luther, The
Bondage of the Will, 166-203.
F 6. Luther
continued. Montaigne, Essays:
selections to be announced.
WEEK EIGHT
M 9. Montaigne,
Essays:
selections to be announced.
W 11. Montaigne,
Essays:
selections to be announced.
WEEK NINE
M 23. Victor Hugo, Les
Miserables, 1-119.
W 25. Les
Miserables, 120-239.
F 27. Les
Miserables, 239-508.
WEEK TEN
M 30. Les
Miserables, 509-624.
W 1 November.
Les Miserables, 625-935.
WEEK ELEVEN
M 6. Les
Miserables, 935-1147.
W 8. Les
Miserables, 1147-1246.
F 10. Les
Miserables, 1246-1463.
WEEK TWELVE
M 13. Voltaire, Candide (all).
W 15. Candide continued.
WEEK THIRTEEN
M 20. Paine, The
Rights of Man, 2-112.
W 22. No
class. Thanksgiving Break.
F 24. No class. Thanksgiving Break.
WEEK FOURTEEN
M 27. The Rights
of Man, 113-232.
W 29. The Rights
of Man, continued.
WEEK FIFTEEN
M 4 December.
Goethe, Faust, Part One (all).
W 6. Faust, Part One continued.
F 8. Pasternak, Doctor
Zhivago, 3-131.
WEEK SIXTEEN
M 11. Doctor
Zhivago, 132-418.
W 13. Doctor
Zhivago, 419-559.
F 15.
Take-home final exam due.