1:00-2:15P   MW   BH 140

	This section of H211 will briefly survey Western literature from
its beginnings in the ancient Near East through the early modern era to
about 1600.  Given the extent of the material available--some 2500 years
in a variety of languages (including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, French
and Spanish, not to mention old and middle English)--a single course can
make no claim to be comprehensive.  Rather, we can only sample a few
authors, trusting that an introduction to their work will make us more
familiar with our literary heritage, and appreciative of the sort of
talent that knows no limit of time or place.  Homer, Sophocles, Plato,
Ovid, St. Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Montaigne, and
Cervantes, perhaps no more than  names to you now, will by the end of the
term be writers you recognize and feel competent to discuss.  Keep in mind
that none of them would be included in the syllabus, nor would they have
lasted this long, if they weren't a pleasure to read.
	We will begin with alternative stories of Creation, taking the
occasion to examine in a more general way the book of Genesis  and Ovid's
Metamorphoses.  Then, we will spend 3 to 4 weeks studying the epics of
Homer, reading selections from The  Iliad,  as well as all 24 books of The
Odyssey.  The following two weeks will be devoted to Greek tragedy, a
trilogy by Aeschylus as well as a single play, Medea,  by Euripedes.  The
remainder of the semester will proceed more or less chronologically
through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, examining such works as The
Song of Roland, The Inferno, andThe Canterbury Tales, and selections from
The Prince, the essays of Montaigne, and Don Quixote,  before concluding
with Marlowe's Dr. Faustus.
	During the semester, students can expect to write 5 or 6 papers of
3-4 pages, each, specific assignments to be worked out once we get going.
Quizzes may be given from time to time to make certain that everyone keeps
up with the reading.  I do take attendance.  Repeated absences will result
in a lower grade for the course.