CLST 273G - Classical Tragedy - Women and Gender Focus Fall Semester 2019

Our work will pursue four main aims (plus the fifth, of having fun with all of them):

• Gaining literary knowledge, we will study a selection of extant Classical Athenian tragedies, powerful literary works, as a means of exploring human experience and understanding the creative process. These plays were applauded in their own day. They have become cornerstones of Western theatrical tradition in Europe and beyond. And they can still blow your mind.
• Mastering intellectual tools, we will identify literary-critical concepts and technical vocabulary relating to literary productions, Classical Athenian culture, and crucial ideas of feminist inquiry. We will apply these concepts and this terminology to describing, analyzing, and formulating arguments about our plays as cultural artifacts. We will consider how the tensions between women's position in the mythology the plays depict, in ancient Athenian traditions of theatrical representation, and in real Athenian life compare with tensions in women's and men's lives, gender-ideologies, and artistic representations in Classical Athenian and other cultures, including our own.
• Thinking critically, we will assess how literary techniques and formal qualities of literary productions shape our plays, and thus also the ways the plays re-interpret traditional stories for new cultural moments. Dramatists of all periods seek to solicit and challenge their audiences through literary means.
• Synthesizing literary understanding through discussion, writing, and performance, we will explore plays' multiple interpretive possibilities. We will investigate texts' indications of how poets and their audiences lived in their world, what they understood and believed about it, and the values they thought important. Literature, legend, religion, history, and art operate all together, in Classical antiquity just as they do now. Classical Studies foster skills of multidimensional inquiry and integrative analysis; feminist criticism calls for application of such skills to relationships of power and identity, both women's and men's, that shape every aspect of our lives.

• Robert Bagg and James Scully, tr., The Complete Plays of Sophocles: a New Translation (Harper Perennial 2011)
• Robert Fagles, tr., Aeschylus: Oresteia (Penguin Classics, 1966, 1967, 1975, 1977, 1984)
• James Morwood, tr., Euripides: Bacchae and Other Plays (Oxford University Press 1999, 2008)
• James Morwood, tr., Euripides: Medea and Other Plays (Oxford University Press 1997, 1998, 2009)
• James Morwood, tr., Euripides: The Trojan Women and Other Plays (Oxford University Press 2000, 2009)
• additional resources on-line and in the library

Basics of Academic Life: Studying and introductory Research and Writing

• First-Step Notetaking
• SQ3R for Primary-Source Coursework: a method for effective studying
• Guide to Writing Academic Papers: a strategic checklist devised by your instructor (hint, hint)
• Guide to Beginning Research on Topics in Classical Studies: suggestions and resources
• Loyola Libraries' Subject Guide to Classical Studies, prepared by Classical Studies Bibliographer Jane Currie: a research guide to help identify and access core research resources relating to Classical Civilization, ancient Greek, or Latin.
• Oxford Bibliographies Online - Classics: annotated bibliographies compiled by leading scholars; some bibliographies focus on individual plays we are reading, as well as on our playwrights and other topics relevant to theatre production and to Athenian culture.
• Loyola Writing Program's Statement of Grading Standards. It credits the Rhetoric Program of the University of Illinois at Urbana. Other universities also observe similar criteria: these expectations are held widely.
• Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, guide to confusions of words and English grammar the author, a retired professor of English at Washington State University, dispatches graciously.
• Style Sheet: Mundane Good Habits of Competent Writers
• 1st edn. (1918) of William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style: print editions have been updated and it's well worth getting a copy if you don't own one already, but in whatever edition you use it, Strunk and White is the classic guide to desirable American prose style.
• How to use apostrophes, or else.
• The the impotence of proofreading by Taylor Mali.

• Diotima: a clearing-house of resources on the Internet for the study of women and gender in the ancient world, including much specifically relevant to Classical Athenian tragedy.
• Didaskalia: The Journal for Ancient Performance: dedicated to the study of all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman performance (drama, dance, and music). Advisory and Editorial Boards of scholars in Classics and Theater. Published by University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
• Living Poets: index of sources and scholarship relating to ancient and modern representations of ancient poets including Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Project directed by Prof. Barbara Graziosi, funded by the European Research Council, and published from Durham University.
• Dates of extant Classical Athenian tragedies.
• Dr. J's Illustrated Greek Theater: images and explanation of the parts of a Greek theater, by Dr. Janice Siegel of Illinois State University.
• Roman Theatres: Roman theaters and discussions are relevant to us because the Romans appropriated Greek culture for their own. (Note well the explanation about the difference between theatres and amphitheatres: confusing them would be a shameful error in this class.) The photographs presently included in the page are of Italian and African locations, but many Greek theaters too continued to be used and were rebuilt during the Roman period. Part of Lacus Curtius, a treasurehouse of on-line resources for Roman archaeology, compiled by Bill Thayer.
• Perseus Project: an evolving digital library for the study of the Greek and Roman worlds, especially texts, language, and visual representations.

• Academic Advising & Support Services, Sullivan Center, Suite 260, 6339 Sheridan Rd., LSC; 773-508-7714, fsyadvising@luc.edu
• Campus Safety: general, 6427 N Sheridan Road and asksafety@luc.edu; Campus Safety Dispatcher, 773-508-6039; on-campus emergency x4-4911; City of Chicago emergency 911
  • Campus Safety satellite station (joint endeavor with the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Transit Authority) near the Granville Redline Station: can be accessed via valid LUC ID card 24/7, and has emergency phones outside and inside connecting with the Campus Safety dispatch center
• Center for Student Assistance and Advocacy: offers support, coordinated case-management, and referrals to appropriate resources for student concerns across the University. The website can direct students and members of faculty and staff to pertinent explanations and resources, including online reporting-forms for first, second, or third parties. Coverage includes severally
  • equity & Title IX concerns
  • behavioral concerns
  • academic concerns
  • personal concerns
  • student conflict & conduct concerns
  • general student concerns
  • BUT, in any case of crisis or imminent harm call Campus Safety first, 773-508-6039
• Dean of Students, Division of Student Development, Damen Student Center, South Wing, Suite 300, LSC; 773-508-8840, deanofstudents@luc.edu
• Information Technology Services, 773-508-4ITS, ITSservicedesk@luc.edu or helpdesk@luc.edu
• Student Accessibility Center, Student Academic Services, Sullivan Center, Suite 117, LSC, 773-508-3700 and Lewis Towers 1240, WTC (MTTh only), 312-915-8960; sac@luc.edu
• Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution, Damen Student Center, Suite 300, LSC, 773-508-8890, osccr@luc.edu
• Student Services Hub, Sullivan Center First Floor, LSC; 773-508-7700; 8:30am-5:00pm M-F
• Tutoring Center, Sullivan Center Room 245, LSC; 773-508-7708; tutoringcenter@luc.edu
• University Libraries: Cudahy Library, LSC: IC 773-508-8000, Circulation 773-508-2632, Reference Desk 773-508-2654; Lewis Library, 25 E Pearson, WTC, Circulation 312-915-6622, Reference Desk 312-915-6631; Ask a Librarian
• Wellness Center: Granada Center Suite 310, 6439 N Sheridan Rd, LSC, 773-508-2530; Terry Student Center Suite 250, 26 E Pearson, WTC, 312-915-6360; for medical appointments call Dial-a-Nurse at 773-508-8883 (live registered nurse during Wellness Center hours and confidential voice mail after hours; you must leave voice mail including your phone number in order to have your call returned); phone-consultations outside Wellness Center hours are also available at the NurseLine, 877-257-7075, but note the Advice Nurses are not able to access Wellness Center health or appointment records, they cannot make or cancel appointments, and they cannot give test results or refill prescriptions; mental health triage appointments may be scheduled online or by calling 773-508-2530
• Writing Program and Writing Center, Loyola Hall, LSC, 773-508-8468, writingctr@luc.edu

Revised 20 August 2019 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/