1:00-2:15P  TR BH140

	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.