Quadrivium: Literature and Culture

OWEN M. SMITH, PH.D.
Course descriptions, Literature and Culture

Literature and Culture Fall 2001
This course was structured around the theme of chaos, divided into three units: Chaos as Dampness, Chaos as Darkness, and Chaos as Disorder, with a broad range of readings for each. Finally, the students came to understand how all the different types of chaos are fundamentally related.

Readings on Chaos as Dampness:

Excerpts from the Enuma Elish, Genesis, the Iliad, the Odyssey, early Greek philosophers
Beowulf (common text chosen by department)

Readings on Chaos as Darkness:

Nikolai Gogol, "Diary of a Madman"
H.G. Wells, "In the Country of the Blind"
Excerpts from Helen Keller, The Story of my Life and Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat
Poems by Susan Mitchell (common text)

Readings on Chaos as Disorder:

Eugene Ionesco, The Chairs
Audio recordings of songs exhibiting different types of nonsense
Excerpts from Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll

Literature and Culture Spring 2001 and Fall 2000
This course revolved, as did the Fall 2000 version, around Plato's Ladder of Beauty, with readings and assignments that addressed each of the levels of beauty.

Physical Beauty:

Excerpts from Ovid's Metamorphoses
Excerpts from Shakespeare's sonnets
Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"
George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

The Beauty of Souls:

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Beauty of Laws and Institutions:

Fall 2000: Tom Perrotta, Election; Spring 2001: Ha Jin, Waiting (common texts)

The Beauty of Knowledge:

Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
Excerpts from The Aesthetic Dimension of Science

Beauty Itself:

Excerpts from Dante's Paradiso
St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul
Additional excerpts from accounts of introversive mystical experience

Literature and Culture, Fall 1999: Plague and Human Identity
Numerous proverbs emphasize the key role of stress and conflict in the formation of a person's character. The spectre of a plague affords a unique occasion for individuals to address issues central to the core of their being: self-identity, societal obligations, and the apparent meaninglessness of suffering. Every age is afflicted with its plagues, and by examining critically the literature of different ages in which blight, epidemic, or plague plays a prominent role, we shall explore a variety of responses to these issues and witness the heroism and ignominy of which we all are capable.

Readings: Oedipus the King; Arthurian myths of the Fisher King; Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year; Camus' The Plague; Boland's In a Time of Violence (common text); Doty's Heaven's Coast.

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OWEN M. SMITH, PH.D. Course descriptions, Literature and Culture Literature and Culture Fall 2001 This course was structured around the theme of chaos, divided into three units: Chaos as Dampness, Chaos as Darkness, and Chaos as Disorder, with a broad range of readings for each. Finally, the students came to understand how all the different types of chaos are fundamentally related. Readings on Chaos as Dampness: Excerpts from the Enuma Elish, Genesis, the Iliad, the Odyssey, early Greek philosophers Beowulf (common text chosen by department) Readings on Chaos as Darkness: Nikolai Gogol, "Diary of a Madman" H.G. Wells, "In the Country of the Blind" Excerpts from Helen Keller, The Story of my Life and Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat Poems by Susan Mitchell (common text) Readings on Chaos as Disorder: Eugene Ionesco, The Chairs Audio recordings of songs exhibiting different types of nonsense Excerpts from Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll Literature and Culture Spring 2001 and Fall 2000 This course revolved, as did the Fall 2000 version, around Plato's Ladder of Beauty, with readings and assignments that addressed each of the levels of beauty. Physical Beauty: Excerpts from Ovid's Metamorphoses Excerpts from Shakespeare's sonnets Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion The Beauty of Souls: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray The Beauty of Laws and Institutions: Fall 2000: Tom Perrotta, Election; Spring 2001: Ha Jin, Waiting (common texts) The Beauty of Knowledge: Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game Excerpts from The Aesthetic Dimension of Science Beauty Itself: Excerpts from Dante's Paradiso St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul Additional excerpts from accounts of introversive mystical experience Literature and Culture, Fall 1999: Plague and Human Identity Numerous proverbs emphasize the key role of stress and conflict in the formation of a person's character. The spectre of a plague affords a unique occasion for individuals to address issues central to the core of their being: self-identity, societal obligations, and the apparent meaninglessness of suffering. Every age is afflicted with its plagues, and by examining critically the literature of different ages in which blight, epidemic, or plague plays a prominent role, we shall explore a variety of responses to these issues and witness the heroism and ignominy of which we all are capable. Readings: Oedipus the King; Arthurian myths of the Fisher King; Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year; Camus' The Plague; Boland's In a Time of Violence (common text); Doty's Heaven's Coast.
Back to main page Editing/Proofreading services Website Design Up to Speed Computer Assistance Dr. Owen M. Smith Dr. Anne Collins Smith		QEC logo by Logomancy Site design copyright 2003 by Quadrivium Educational Consulting, LLC