LIBERAL STUDIES 210 CVS2: IN SEARCH OF THE TROJAN WAR
North Island College Winter 20
25Meeting Time:
Tues 10:00 am - 12:45 pmMeeting Place: Discovery 205
Instructor: Dan Hinman-Smith
Office: Trades Building 112
Office Hours: Tues. 4:00 - 5:00 pm; F 11:30 am - 12:50 pm (or by appointment)
Office Phone: 334-5000, Extension 4024
Web- Site for Course: https://www.misterdann.com/contentsinsearchoftrojanwar.htm
E-Mail: dan.hinmansmith@nic.bc.ca
North Island College is honoured to acknowledge the traditional territories of the combined 35 First Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw and Coast Salish traditions, on whose traditional and unceded territories the college's campuses are situated. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report calls for 94 actions toward restoring a balanced relationship between indigenous peoples and settler communities in this country.
Course Description And Learning Outcomes
LIB 210 CVS2 uses an intensive engagement with the stories of the Trojan War as an entry point into the study of Greek mythology and history. The course will be organized around a series of core texts and collaborative seminars. The reading demands for this course will be quite heavy, with a series of eight ancient and modern texts resting at the centre of the curriculum. Those students who have taken other editions of Topics In World Civilization are not eligible to take this particular version of the course for credit.
The course is designed to:
(1) Provide students with an integrated understanding of a particular global culture or theme.
(2) Push students to analyze important and challenging texts and to assess the connections between those works and the civilizations in which they were produced.
(3) Help students to further develop their critical thinking, writing and speaking skills.
(4) Encourage students to participate within a learning community and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an intensive, collaborative seminar model.
Texts
Required Books
Madeline Miller.
Song Of Achilles. New York: Ecco, 2012.Homer.
Odyssey, trans. Emily Wilson. New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.Daniel Mendelsohn.
An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, And An Epic. New York: Signal, 2017.Natalie Haynes.
A Thousand Ships: A Novel. New York: Harper Collins, 2021.***It is important that you acquire these four books. They will play an important role in our course and will serve as the focus both for six in-class seminar sessions and for assignments. The books are available for purchase through the NIC Bookstore at a total cost of $90. I have also provided links to purchasable e-text editions of the books above. There are two copies apiece of Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey and of Mendelsohn's memoir available on short-term Reserve at the Comox Valley Branch of the NIC Library.
PDF Copies Of The Greek Tragedies
Euripides,
Iphigenia In Aulis (c. 407 BCE)Aeschylus,
Agamemnon (458 BCE)Sophocles,
Ajax (442 BCE)Euripides,
Trojan Women (415 BCE)Four of our weekly seminars will be organized around individual fifth-century tragedies that are connected in one way or another to the Trojan War theme. PDF links to our particular editions of these plays will be provided here and embedded within the syllabus schedule as well.
Comox Valley Territory Acknowledgement
Tentative Class Schedule
Week 1
Tuesday, January 7
a) Course Introduction
Week 2
Tuesday, January 14
a) Discussion:
Iphigenia In AulisJanuary 14: Reflections On Entering LIB 210 Due (1%)
Class Preparation For January 14
Do the following before Tuesday's class:
1) Carefully read the PDF version of Euripides' Iphigenia In Aulis listed below and come to class ready to discuss.
2) Write down a few random notes and thoughts either as you proceed or after you have finished reading the tragedy. This small assignment will not be graded but you will be expected to hand it in and it will be the first installment in your weekly Jottings. It should include one carefully constructed question that you think could serve as a topic for in-class discussion. You are welcome to include any notes on the Optional Extras as well, but such additional note-taking and indeed even accessing any of the Optional Extras is certainly not required.
3) Complete your Letter of Introduction/Reflections On Entering LIB 210 and either submit that through Brightspace or bring it with you to class.
You ultimately will be responsible for short thought-pieces (500+ words apiece) on five out of our ten weekly core readings. Iphigenia In Aulis is our first such reading and as such could be a focus for your first seminar note. That is an option rather than a requirement, however. I have opened up a drop box for any Iphigenia In Aulis seminar notes on Brightspace with an announced due date of Saturday, January 18th. As we will discuss in class, while there is a logic to that target date, it is really not a deadline and there will be great flexibility in regards to when you can submit individual seminar notes. I will accept any first-half seminar notes up through Sunday, February 18th. This is in part to accommodate the heavy reading demands in this class. I will expect you to arrive at each class session ready to discuss that week's text.
Reading Assignment
Optional Extras
"Episode
13 -- Stephen Fry And Troy,"
The Rest Is History, January 2021 (61 mins)
"Iphigenia"
(1977) [129 mins]: Michael Cacoyannis's film adaptation of Euripides'
tragedy.
Week 3
Tuesday, January 21
a) Discussion:
Agamemnonb) Video: "Helen Of Troy," Part 1, PBS, 2008. [120 mins]
Reading Assignment
Aeschylus
Bethany Williams, "Agamemnon
And His Family: The Cycle Of Blood,"
The Collector, June 5, 2022.
Optional Extras
"Introduction To Agamemnon And The Oresteia" (pp. 3-37)
"Clytemnestra,"
Episode 4, Series 7, Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics, June 28, 2021.
(27 mins)
"The
Oresteia," In Our
Time, BBC Radio 4, December 29, 2005: Melvynn Bragg and his BBC guests
talks about Aeschylus's trilogy.
Week 4
Tuesday, January 28
a) Discussion:
Song Of Achillesb) Lecture: '"Sing, Goddess, Of The Wrath Of Achilles" -- The Myths Of The Trojan War (1)
Reading Assignment
Madeline Miller
Optional Extras
"
The Song Of Achilles: Virtual Book Club With Madeline Miller," The Hellenic American Leadership Council, May 13, 2020. (53 mins)
"An
Epic Conversation With Madeline Miller
Week 5
Tuesday, February 4
Class Cancelled: Snow Day
Week 6
Tuesday, February 11
a) Lecture: "Sing, Goddess, Of The Wrath Of Achilles" -- The Myths Of The Trojan War (2)
b Discussion: Ajax
c) Discussion: Theater Of War
Reading Assignment
Sophocles
Browse extensively in Theater Of War Seminar Topic
Optional Extras
Rhianna Padman, "Who
Was Achilles: Greek Mythology's Greatest Warrior?,"
The Collector, November 21, 2023.
***Tuesday, February 18: Deadline For Any Remaining First-Half Seminar Notes
***Family Day And Reading Break, February 17-21: No Class This Week
Week
7Tuesday, February 25
a) Discussion: Odyssey (1)
b) Video: "Helen Of Troy," Part 2, PBS, 2008. [120 mins]
Reading Assignment
Optional Extras
Juan Piquero, "Odysseus:
Return Of The King,"
National Geographic History Magazine (March/April 2023): 34-47.
Week
8Tuesday, March 4
a) Discussion: Odyssey (2)
b) Lecture: Achilles In History And Myth
c) Possible Video: "The Odyssey," Invitation To World Literature, Annenberg Lerner. (27 mins)
Reading Assignment
Homer, Odyssey, trans.
Emily Wilson (Books 13-24)
Optional Extras
"Penelope,"
Episode 4, Series 6, Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics, June 13, 2020.
(27 mins)
"Homer,"
Episode 205, The Ancients, May 18, 2022.
Week 9
Tuesday, March 11
a) Discussion: The Iliad
b) Lecture: "The Meaning Of An Ithaca": Myth And Memory In The Land Of Oedipus And Odysseus
c) Video: "Akala's Odyssey," BBC Four, 2018 (58 mins)
Reading Assignment
Michael Arnold, "Homer's
'Iliad': The Epic Tale Of The Trojan War,"
The Collector, August 14, 2021.
Viewing And Listening
"The Iliad," Extra Mythology:
Episode 1, "Prelude
To War," June 3,
2020. (8 mins)
Episode 2, "Prizes
And Prejudice,"
June 17, 2020. (8 mins)
Episode 3, "Deadly
Destiny," July 15,
2020. (7 mins)
Episode 4, "End
Game," July 29,
2020. (8 mins)
Optional Extras
"The
Iliad: Beauty, Brutes And Battles,"
The Forum, BBC World Service, December 6, 2016. (41 mins)
Caroline Alexander, "Achilles Against Hector: Arms And Armor In 'The Iliad,'" National Geographic History Magazine (January/February 2021): 28-39.
Great Greek Myths -- Iliad,
Arte France, 2019 (Available through NIC's Films On Demand):
Episode 1, Apple Of Discord (26 mins)
Episode 2, Time For Sacrifice (26 mins)
Episode 3, Wrath Of Achilles (26 mins)
Episode 4, Blood Of The Goddess (26 mins)
Episode 5, Sword And The Scales (26 mins)
Episode 6, Hera's Plan (26 mins)
Episode 7, Patroclus And The Myrmidons (26 mins)
Episode 8, Achilles' Revenge (26 mins)
Episode 9, Vanquish Or Die (26 mins)
Episode 10, Trojan Horse (26 mins)
Week 10
Tuesday, March 18
a) Discussion:
An Odyssey: A Father, A Son And An Epic (1)b) Video: "Bacchus Uncovered: Ancient God Of Ecstasy," BBC Four, 2018. [58 mins]
Reading Assignment
Daniel Mendelsohn
Week 11
Tuesday, March 25
a) Discussion:
An Odyssey: A Father, A Son And An Epic (2)b) Lecture: Representations -- The Trojan War In Myth And Memory
Reading Assignment
Daniel Mendelsohn,
An Odyssey: A Father, A Son And An Epic (From the beginning of the "Apologoi
(Adventures)" through to the end of the book)
Optional Extras
Charlotte Higgins, "From
Carnage To A Camp Beauty Contest: The Endless Allure Of Troy,"
Guardian, November 13, 2019.
"The
Legacy Of The Trojan War,"
Free Thinking, BBC Radio 4, November 21, 2019. (44 mins)
"The
Trojan Horse Has Bolted,"
Twenty Minutes, BBC Radio 3, July 22, 2012. (30 mins)
Week 12
Tuesday, April 1
a) Discussion:
Trojan Womenb) Lecture: "I Have Gazed Upon The Face Of Agamemnon" -- The Quest For The Historical Troy
Reading Assignment
Euripides,
Trojan Women
Daisy Dunn, "Did
The Trojan War Actually Happen?,"
BBC Culture, January 9, 2020.
Joshua Hammer, "In
Search Of Troy,"
Smithsonian (March 2022).
Listening And Viewing
"Women
Of Troy: The First Anti-War Play?,"
Art Works, ABC Arts, March 27, 2023. (7 mins)
Einav Zamir Dembin, "Did
Ancient Troy Really Exist?,"
TED-Ed, July 31, 2018. (5 mins)
Optional Extras
Meilan Solly, "The
Many Myths Of The Man Who 'Discovered' -- And Nearly Destroyed -- Troy,"
Smithsonian, May 17, 2022.
Lorraine Boissoneault, "The
Man Who Brought The Swastika To Germany, And How The Nazis Stole It,"
Smithsonian, April 6, 2017.
Natalie Haynes, "Helen
Of Troy: The Greek Epics Are Not Just About War -- They're About Women,"
Observer, November 16, 2019.
"Penthesilia,
Amazon Warrior Queen,"
Episode 2, Series 6, Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics, May 30, 2020.
(28 mins)
Week 13
Tuesday, April 8
a) Discussion:
A Thousand ShipsReading Assignment
Eva Ontiveros, "The
Authors Reclaiming The Forgotten Voices Of Ancient Women,"
BBC News, March 7, 2020.
Optional Extras
"The Sunday Read: 'He Wants To Save The Classics From Whiteness,'" New York Times, May 2021. [58 mins]
***Saturday, April 12: Deadline For Any Remaining Second-Half Seminar Notes
Evaluation
Reflections On Entering LIB 210 |
1% |
Seminar Notes (5 x 12%) |
60% |
First Half Seminar Contributions and Jottings |
19% |
Second Half Seminar Contributions and Jottings |
20% |
a) Reflections On Entering LIB 210 (1%)
Write a short Reflections Letter to me at the beginning of the semester. This should be at least one hundred words in length and is designed to give me a beginning idea of who you are and how I might best serve you as a teacher, and to provide me with an opening snapshot of the class as a whole. The letter should accomplish two things.
1) It should introduce you to me as a person and as a student or tell me something new if you have been in a class with me before: Here are some possible questions. Who are you? Where are you from? How might you begin to describe your community and what life is like there if you've come to NIC from far away? What are your interests? What are you studying? How long have you been at college and how do you see your studies as connecting to your own current and future life path? What other courses are you taking this semester and what are your other responsibilities, including employment? What challenges do you think this will present and how do you plan to meet these?
2) It should offer some thoughts and reflections about LIB 210 and about Greek Mythology more generally: Why are you taking this course? How does it fit into your overall course of study? How familiar are you already with the myths of the Trojan War? Are there topics associated with the course that you know will be of particular interest? Do you have any questions or concerns as you start the course? What about suggestions? Does the idea of a course structured around intensive reading and seminar discussion appeal to you?
Submit your Reflections Letter to me in class or through the course Brightspace site. If you are taking more than one class with me this semester, I would like you to focus in on this Reflections Letter. It then will also count as your Letter of Introduction for HIS 120.
b) Seminar Notes (5 x 12%) = 60%
Seminar notes are commentaries of at least two double-spaced pages apiece (500+ words) upon core course readings The purpose of these reflective reading responses is to provide you with the opportunity to organize your thoughts after several of our major readings and is also designed to facilitate thoughtful group discussion. The notes should be analytical in nature and should highlight key themes from the reading.
Your own interpretations must be at the centre of each seminar note. I want to see you engaging directly with the text rather than paraphrasing someone else's review or relying in any way upon Artificial Intelligence. You need not summarize the reading nor include all your thoughts about the text. But you should enter into a close and thoughtful conversation with one or more of its core themes.
Although you should write concisely, it is great if one or more of your seminar notes are considerably longer than the recommended length. Seminar Notes can be typed or hand-written, though for either format you should take some notes and carefully organize your thoughts before attempting to write your paper. I encourage you to hand in these rough notes with your completed Seminar Note if you indeed have these.
You will be responsible for completing 5 seminar notes during semester, drawn from 10 different possibilities (Iphigenia In Aulis, Agamemnon, Song Of Achilles, Ajax, Odyssey [1], Odyssey [2], An Odyssey -- A Father, A Son, And An Epic [1], An Odyssey -- A Father, A Son, And An Epic [2], Trojan Women, and A Thousand Ships). In the case of the Wilson and Mendelsohn texts, it's also possible to choose to do a seminar note on the entire book rather than just half of it. A due date of the Saturday following our seminar discussion is listed on Brightspace, but there is great flexibility here. Such flexibility is provided as an accommodation for our intensive reading schedule and also is in response to the recognition that it may not be easy to decide which texts to choose for your seminar notes. Although you should work on seminar notes throughout the semester, I will accept any first-half seminar notes up through Sunday, February 18th, and any second-half seminar notes up through Saturday, April 12th.
You must complete at least two first-half seminar notes and at least two second-half seminar notes. It is fine to complete more than five seminar notes. In that case, I will choose the top five when calculating your grade.
The excellent seminar note will probe chosen themes in an original, organized, and analytical manner. The commentary will effectively connect together your larger ideas with the particularities of the reading, using examples and specific text to accentuate your writing. A good seminar note will show evidence of attentive reading and of engagement with the text. You will organize your thoughts coherently and demonstrate the ability to explain and to explore key themes that you highlight from the text. The satisfactory seminar note will offer evidence that you have engaged directly with the text and drawn something of larger meaning from it. Your ideas may not be fully developed or as clearly stated as might be the case, but you do demonstrate that you have taken something away from your encounter with the book. An unsatisfactory seminar note is one in which you either seem to rely entirely upon secondary sources and thus do not engage with the text, or in which you do not demonstrate any understanding of the text.
Rather than being graded on a letter scale, the seminar notes will be evaluated on a check, check-plus, check-plus+, and check-minus basis:
Check: A fully satisfactory seminar note (7.3/10, B) -- The seminar note offers evidence that you have engaged directly and substantially with the text and drawn something of larger meaning from it. Your ideas may not be fully developed or as clearly stated as might be the case, but you do demonstrate that you have taken something away from your encounter with the book.
Check-Plus: A strong seminar note (8.6/10, A) -- The strong seminar note will offer thoughtful analysis and/or a well-developed commentary upon the text. It will probe chosen themes in an original, organized, and analytical manner. The commentary with effectively connect together your larger ideas with the particularities of the reading, using examples and specific text to accentuate your writing.
Check-Plus+: An outstanding seminar note (9.5, A+) -- Such a note pushes far beyond the basic expectations for this assignment in terms of both its originality and the extent to which it probes the reading.
Check-Minus: A weak seminar note (6.1, C) -- The seminar note includes some material of relevance and evidence of direct engagement with the text. However, it seems to be based upon limited reading and/or a lack of understanding of the book's core themes.
Check-Minus-Minus: An unsatisfactory seminar note. (0, F) A note in which it is impossible to tell whether there was any direct engagement with the text. The assignment seems to have relied entirely upon secondary sources and/or to have been completed using Artificial Intelligence tools.
There typically will not be the opportunity to revise Seminar Notes and submit them a second time.
c) Seminar Contributions (19% + 20%) = 39%
The seminar experience is a fundamental component of Liberal Studies. Seminars are designed to provide you with the opportunity to develop, deepen and consider alternatives to your own interpretation of the texts. The seminar is a study group where all of us meet to discuss a work that we have read thoughtfully before we arrive or a topic that has been explored.
I will evaluate your seminar contributions at the end of the first six weeks of the semester and then again at the end of the course, assigning a grade here both for the first half and then the second half of the course. Those students who approach the course in good faith and with demonstrated consistent effort should do well in this component of the course.
Some important aspects of seminar participation are the quality and quantity of your contributions to discussion; your helpfulness to others in maintaining a successful conversation within the seminar; and your ability to listen as well as to talk.
Good participation is not a matter of how much you say but of the value of what you say as a contribution to shared understanding. Dominating the discussion will not allow others to examine your ideas. Never having much to say will deprive the seminar of your valuable ideas and critical abilities. Straying too quickly off topic and speaking without listening can derail what might otherwise be a profitable discussion. Good seminar participation involves not only having an idea to share but also gently encouraging quiet colleagues to speak; politely but firmly requesting dominating members to let others respond; pointing out when the focus has switched too abruptly or is missing; and asking for clarification when you can't remember or figure out what's being talked about.
The most important components in the assessment of your performance in the seminar discussions are the following: attendance, preparation for the seminar (thoughtful completion of the required reading or study topic before the class session), and the quality and quantity of your participation in the seminar discussions.
Here is a rough scale for evaluating individual seminar sessions:
A range: Is clearly well-prepared and makes a major contribution to the seminar discussion.
B range: Is prepared and makes a meaningful contribution to the discussion.
C range: Is present but does not offer evidence of successful engagement with the text or study topic.
D: Is physically present but seems otherwise absent.
F: Is physically absent without a valid reason.
d) Jottings
You will be asked to hand in a few short notes and thoughts on a weekly basis. These can be hand-written or typed and should include one carefully constructed question each week that you think could serve as a topic for in-class discussion. These small assignments will not be graded and are designed to help you to prepare for our seminar discussion. You are welcome to include notes on any Optional Extras, though this is not expected. I will collect your Jottings in individual physical file folders as the course proceeds and will examine them when evaluating your First-Half and Second-Half Seminar Contributions. Particularly shy students may want to devote extra attention to their Jottings.
Time Commitment
Although the time it takes individual students to complete course responsibilities varies individually, I have set up the course with the expectation that you will probably need to devote five hours a week to this course outside of class time on a regular basis right from the start of the semester to gain full value from it. Please stay in close communication with me and let me know if you are experiencing challenges in keeping up with the curriculum.
Attendance
This course is not for you if other obligations prevent you from attending the entire class session on a very regular basis. This seminar-based course is organized around collaborative discussion. If you are not present in class and well-prepared in regards to your pre-class responsibilities, you will not be able to succeed academically nor to contribute to the creation of a meaningful learning community.
Late Policy
As is outlined in the description of Seminar Notes above, there is considerable flexibility in regards to when those assignments will be accepted. Although the Saturday following our respective class discussions is listed as the due date for each seminar note, First-Half Seminar Notes will be accepted without academic penalty up through Sunday, February 18th, while Second-Half Notes will be accepted without academic penalty up through Saturday, April 12th.
There is far less flexibility in regards to your Readings and your Jottings. It is expected that you will arrive for each week's discussion having completed the core Reading and ready to submit your Jottings.
Writing Support And Peer Tutoring
Writing Support is available to all students at no additional cost. Go to Writing Support for any or all of your assignments. Every visit is a step toward becoming a better writer. Use Writing Support as many times as you like, and at any point in your writing process. The writing support faculty can help you understand the assignment, develop your ideas, outlines, thesis, and revision -- and anything else in-between. Book your appointment through the library website, or visit the library desk to inquire about drop-ins. There's also WriteAway, an online tutoring platform that allows you to upload your papers and assignments for detailed written feedback. Both services may be found at https://libguides.nic.bc.ca/WritingSupport .
Peer Tutoring is available at no additional cost for a wide range of courses offered at NIC. Students are hired and trained to tutor in a wide variety of content areas, in addition to supporting other students with basic study skills. These students have been successful in the courses they have taken and can help support other students become successful in their own courses. To see the list of tutors currently available, request a tutor in a course, or apply to become a tutor, please visit the library website: https://libcal.nic.bc.ca/appointments/ .
Student Technical Services
Our Student Technical Service team is available to help you with any technical issues that you may be experiencing as a student. Please go to https://library.nic.bc.ca/studenttech for more information.
Learn Anywhere
NIC's Learn Anywhere website is geared to provide a collection of information that will help you be successful learning digitally by covering area such as: What is digital learning? How to be a digital learner while using NIC-supported technologies during your studies? A list of key skills and knowledge all students should have for successful learning in today's world, knowing your rights and responsibilities and Technology Readiness Checklists. More details at: https://learnanywhere.opened.ca/
Community Supports (24/7)
There are several supports available to help any student in distress. If you are in distress, please reach out for support.
Vancouver Island Crisis Line: 24/7 1-888-494-3888 (
Available to students located on Vancouver Island only)Crisis Suicide helpline: 24/7 1-800-784-2433 (
Available to students located in Canada only)BC 211: Full list of community services available across BC. Dial 2-1-1 on BC cellphone (
Available to students located in BC only).Here2Talk: 24/7 counselling support for post-secondary students: 1-877-857-3397 (
Available to students located in Canada and offshore).Related Policy
Community Code of Academic, Personal and Professional Conduct (3-06)
Instructional Accommodation and Access Services for Students with Disabilities (3-17)
Student Complaint Resolution Policy (3-31)
Evaluation of Student Performance Policy (3-33)
Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy (3-34)
Academic Standing and Progression (3-37)
Welcome To The Course