Latin Core III: History of Literature

Catalog description

Selected coverage of the translation/general reading list, with readings chosen so as to broaden experience beyond Core I-II, and to plac texts from those courses in a broader frame. Overall, this course will help prepare students for translation and general examinations, though naturally it can only gesture in that direction: full preparation is the student's responsibility. Since the aim of Core III will be to place Latin literature in a broader historical context, readings from overviews such as G.B. Conte, Latin Literature: a history and Michael von Albrecht's A History of Roman Literature will be useful. The course will also be wider in scope than Latin Core I-II, and for the sake of efficiency, will be organized by genre, with particular emphasis on Comedy, Satire, and the Novel. Philological commentaries by D. Christenson (Pl. Amph.), S. M. Braund (Juv.), and M. Smith (Petr.) will provide our major reading, along with shorter selections from Terence, Horace, and Apuleius. Course readings will also include some key scholarly works, in order to help students reach a high-level overview of Latin literary history. Limited class time will be devoted to Latin translation and stylistic analysis; discussion will instead emphasize historical developments. Course assessments will include regular writing assignments and several exams, with a view to preparing students for the Latin Literature examination.