Loyola University Chicago

CLST 273-WI / WSGS 297-WI:
Classical Tragedy with a focus on Women's Studies and Gender
Writing Intensive

Fall Semester 2010
Dr. Jacqueline Long

 Medea, South-Italian krater, late 5th - early 4th c BC

Schedule of Reading Assignments and Topics

MWF 9:20-10:10 AM
Mundelein Skyscraper 620

The reading assignments yield essential preparation for class meetings and discussions:
complete the reading before the day for which a reading is listed;
review it again as needed.

Texts

M 8/30 Introduction: Feminism and the Challenge of Fifth-Century Athenian Drama
W 9/1 Identifying Dionysus
F 9/3 Gender and Norms
M 9/6 Labor Day
  • No classes
W 9/8 Breaking Illusions: the Mythic Power of Drama
  • Euripides, Bacchae (Morwood, B&OP 69-83)
  • Strunk and White, ch. IV, pp. 39-65 (on-line, first edition Ch. V plus first edition Ch. VI)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Froma I. Zeitlin, "Playing the Other: Theater, Theatricality, and the Feminine in Greek Drama," in John J. Winkler and Froma I. Zeitlin, eds., Nothing to Do with Dionysos?, 63-96 (1990); rpt. in Zeitlin, Playing the Other (1996), 341-374 -- most to our present purposes, pp. 63-69, 74-75, 77-78, 83-87; other sections will be relevant to Agamemnon, Helen, Ajax, Women of Trachis, Hippolytus
F 9/10 Queen's Welcome
M 9/13 Prophecy and Vindication
  • Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Fagles, Or. 141-172)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Victoria Wohl, Intimate Commerce (1990), Part II, pp. 59-117 -- chapter-titles provide guidance for focus
W 9/15 Girl, Interrupted
F 9/17 The Power of Lament
M 9/20 Whose Authority Prevails?
W 9/22 The Strength of Justice
F 9/24 She Stoops to Conquer
  • Euripides, Electra (Morwood, M&OP 81-101)
  • Strunk and White, ch. V, pp. 66-86 (new section not part of the first edition)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Helene P. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (2001), Ch. III.4, -- most to our present purposes, pp. 234-242
M 9/27 After the Fact
W 9/29 Trapped
  • Sophocles, Electra (Burian, E&OP 231-263)
  • Study questions
  • Looking ahead: Study Guide for Exam 1
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Helene P. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (2001), Ch. III.2, pp. 145-171
F 10/1 Help Yourself
M 10/4 Exam I
W 10/6 Begin the Betrayal, Again
F 10/8 A Daughter's Hand
  • Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis (Morwood, B&OP 108-132)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Nicole Loraux, Tragic Ways of Killing a Woman (1987) -- most to our present purposes, pp. 31-48, which will also be relevant to Hecuba
M-T 10/11-12 Fall Break
  • No classes
W 10/13 Beauty Traduced
F 10/15 Woman's Wit Triumphant
  • Euripides, Helen (Morwood, M&OP 145-168)
  • Performance today!
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Helene P. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (2001), Ch. IV, pp. 303-331
M 10/18 Women and War's Victimization: Life Surviving Loss
W 10/20 The Right that is Left after Losing your Rights
  • Euripides, Hecuba (Morwood, TW&OP 18-37)
  • Performance today!
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Nicole Loraux, Tragic Ways of Killing a Woman (1987) -- most to our present purposes, pp. 31-48
    • Judith Mossman, Wild Justice (2nd edn. 1995) -- most to our present purposes, pp. 164-203
F 10/22 The Reckoning: Loss
M 10/25 Lament for Civilization
W 10/27 Power in the Home
F 10/29 Goddess, Whore, Wife, Slave
M 11/1 Deja Vu All Over Again
W 11/3 Escape Plot
F 11/5 Exam II
M 11/8 Warrior Unmanned
W 11/10 Dealing with Grief
  • Sophocles, Ajax (Burian, E&OP 53-80)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Kirk Ormand, Exchange and the Maiden: Marriage in Sophoclean Tragedy (1999), Ch. 5, pp. 104-123
F 11/12 Loss of a Husband's Desire
M 11/15 Transformations of Heroism
  • Sophocles, Women of Trachis (Burian, E&OP 142-168)
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Nicole Loraux, Tragic Ways of Killing a Woman, (1987) -- most to our present purposes, pp. 7-30
    • Victoria Wohl, Intimate Commerce (1990), Part I, pp. 3-56 -- chapter-titles provide guidance for focus
W 11/17 Values of the Family of the State
  • Sophocles, Antigone (Franklin and Harrison 3-57 - the actual play runs on the odd-numbered pages, commentary on facing pages)
  • Study questions
F 11/19 Consequences
  • Sophocles, Antigone (Franklin and Harrison 59-103)
  • Writing-Exercise 3 due today: synopsis of published scholarship
  • Study questions
  • optional ancillary reading you might find stimulating to browse:
    • Helene P. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (2001), Ch. III.3, pp. 172-200
M 11/22 R-E-S-P-E-C-T
W-F 11/24-26 Thanksgiving Break
  • No classes
M 11/29 Where Goddesses Get You
W 12/1 The Problem with Euripides: a Contemporary Comic Look
  • Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., lines 1-433 (this translation is provided by the Perseus Digital Library: to navigate through the text, click the successive line-spans in the "Table of Contents" box on the left-hand side of the screen)
  • Study questions
F 12/3 Pentetration, Exposure, Parody
  • Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., lines 434-829 (again, to navigate click the successive line-spans in the "Table of Contents" box on the left-hand side of the screen)
  • Froma I. Zeitlin, "Travesties of Gender and Genre in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazousae," in Helene P. Foley, ed., Reflections of Women in Antiquity, 169-86 and notes (1981); rpt. in Zeitlin, Playing the Other (1996), 375-416
  • Study questions
M 12/6 Travesties of Gender and Genre
  • Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., lines 830-1230 (again, to navigate click the successive line-spans in the "Table of Contents" box on the left-hand side of the screen)
  • Froma I. Zeitlin, "Travesties of Gender and Genre in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazousae," in Helene P. Foley, ed., Reflections of Women in Antiquity, 186-211 and notes (1981)
  • Study questions
  • Looking ahead: Study Guide for the Final Exam
W 12/8 Rejected Wife and the Claims of Heroic Endeavor
F 12/10 Revenge on the Point of Gender-Difference
W 12/15 Study Day
Sa 11/18
1:00-3:00
 Final examination.
"Optional" here really does mean, no strings: do it if you feel like it. Don't even feel you need to read the whole section I mention. Certainly, don't feel you need to agree with these scholars' views -- indeed, it is the whole point of education that you form your own views, for reasons you think out carefully, rather than that you should take someone else's ideas on trust or wholesale. But because these essays offer material interesting to think about and have made important contributions to the evolving scholarly discussion about the study of women and gender in Classical tragedy in which our course is participating, I wanted to call them to your attention. Take a look, see what's interesting, and consider how well the plays seem to you to bear out the scholar's observations, or whether you can refine and advance their insights.
Note also that these suggestions don't mean to close out other scholars' views, either -- they too offer interesting things to consider, again at your option. Good routes of access are through Diotima, books on reserve for this course, and their footnotes and bibliographies.

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Revised 7 November 2010 by jlong1@luc.edu
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