"Littera" and "litterae", with the shift from the singular to the plural in the nominative case, illustrate the continuous line that the ancients drew between grammar and poetry. Is it possible to disregard this historical and social heritage in a time when the past is often condemned as a whole?
Therefore, through the commentary of some of the most significant works, we will analyze during the course the main literary genres that have shaped and characterized Western culture?such as epic and novel, historiography, lyric poetry, and drama.
The ultimate aim is to highlight the imprint these cultural practices have left on the imagination and sensibility of contemporary humanity, as well as on the creative works that are still being produced today.
UNIT 1: THE CLASSICAL WORLD TODAY
Topic 1: Western Civilization between Myth and Logos
1.1. The historical significance of classical studies: The Western canon and the great books.
1.2. The political and social crisis of the classical world.
1.3. The West?A mythopoetic civilization?
________________________________________
UNIT 2: THE CULTURE OF WORD AND IMAGE
Topic 2: Epic ? From Troy to Rome
2.1. Narrative as a source of historical and poetic knowledge.
2.2. Mythological origins: Homer and Hesiod.
2.3. The continuity of epic storytelling: The Odyssey, The Aeneid, and? Ulysses. From Homer and Virgil to James Joyce.
2.4. The iconographic legacy of Greco-Roman mythology.
Topic 3: History ? From the Polis to the Empire
3.1. History or poetry? The rhetorical dimension of classical historiography.
3.2. War and civic virtue. Cruelty and compassion in the ancient world.
3.3. Herodotus and Thucydides: The Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War.
3.4. Caesar, Suetonius, and Tacitus: The Roman Empire.
3.5. The classical legacy of modern historiography.
Topic 4: Lyric Poetry ? Elegy, Ode, and Hymn
4.1. Poetics and its enunciative modes.
4.2. Praise and commemoration: Pindar.
4.3. Emotion and passion: Sappho and Callimachus.
4.4. Eroticism and satire: Horace and Ovid.
4.5. Classicist realism in contemporary poetry.
Topic 5: Dramatic Mimesis
5.1. Aristotle and tragedy.
5.2. From Attic to Roman tragedy: Sophocles and Seneca.
5.3. Comedy, between philosophy and entertainment: Aristophanes and Plautus.
5.4. Does modern tragedy exist? William Shakespeare and Jean Anouilh.
Homero, Odisea. Madrid: Gredos, 2014.
Ovidio, Tristes. Pónticas. Madrid: Gredos, 2001.
Sófocles, Tragedias. Madrid: Gredos, 2000.
Auerbach, Erich. Mímesis: La representación de la realidad en la literatura occidental. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2016.
Guillén, Claudio. Múltiples moradas. Ensayos de literatura comparada. Barcelona: Tusquets, 1998.
Steiner, George. Antígonas. La travesía de un mito universal por la historia de Occidente. Barceloina: Gedisa, 201