LNW 6933: Roman Poets (Propertian Elegy) Dr.
Tim Johnson; Dauer Hall 143
WEB: 5274 tjohnson@classics.ufl.edu
tscottjohn@hotmail.com
Course Objectives:
To
read Propertius’ elegies and to explore the basic interpretative questions that
the text presents. When the student completes the course, it should be possible
for s/he to frame an intelligent and thoughtful answer to the question, 'What
is Propertian elegy?'.
Course Approach:
Criticism is not polemic. One
does not lean over the text and beat meaning out of it with one critical
approach and then another. The purpose
of criticism is not to reduce the text to its lowest value and so strip it of
any significant meaning. Instead, as
Martin Buber argues, the text should be embraced as a living element with
transforming powers. Sense comes when the world of the text contacts our own
and together produce an idea. Critical approaches do offer different vantage
points for understanding and appreciating the multiple senses of the text, but
they are tools and not art. Further there is no clear division between textual
and literary criticism: nothing replaces a close reading of the text,
and all methods/approaches support a rich dialogue between the text and the
reader. To learn to think outside the
boxes, you must know what the boxes are.
Propertius
is recognized as the quintessential Roman elegist, at least Roman elegy as it
has been transmitted to us through the surviving authors. Although meter is a
primary characteristic in identifying a genre, meter alone does not define
genre. Elegy also includes matters of theme and tone. Propertius explodes the
elegiac spirit into every song he writes, constantly promoting the individual
voice and experience that is the essence of elegy. If Propertius can be said to
accentuate the personal voice so that it becomes privatized, then this emphasis
on the individual and independence violates the heart of Augustus' tota
Italia and its insistence on society as community, which is reflected in
the lyrics of Horace and Vergil's Aeneid. I would suggest that the
Propertian power in individual expression which envalues the person within
community and without regard to basic distinctions, such as age, gender, and
social status, is the "modern flavor" in his poetry that has begun to
bring to him a new-found popularity.
Texts: The best single reading commentaries on Propertius
are unfortunately out of print and not easily obtained. We will have to resort
to putting together reading commentaries on the individual books.
Required:
Title: Sexti Properti
Carmina (This text is in the Oxford Classical Text Series and will be our
primary text.)
Author: Propertius
Editor: E. A. Barber
Publisher: Oxford
Year: 1990
ISBN: 0-19-814630-2
Title: Propertius: Elegies
I
Author: Propertius
Editors: Hodge and Buttimore
Publisher: Duckworth
Year: 2002
ISBN: 1853996513
Title: Propertius:
Elegies, Book I
Author: Propertius
Editor: W. A. Camps
Publisher: Cambridge
Year: 1977
ISBN: 0521292107
Title: Propertius:
Elegies, Book IV
Author: Propertius
Editor: W. A. Camps
Publisher: Ayer
Year: 1965
ISBN: 0405115970
If you do not have access
to these texts, any text and reading commentary on Propertius’ elegies will be
acceptable. One should not, however, read out of the LOEB. Some copies of the
required texts are available on amazon.com.
Optional:
Title: Propertius:
Elegies, Book II (This has just been listed out of print, but may still be
available from web sources)
Author: Propertius
Editor: W. A. Camps
Publisher: Duckworth
Year: 1985
ISBN: 0862921481
Title: Propertius:
Elegies, Book III
Author: Propertius
Editor: W. A. Camps
Publisher: Duckworth
Year: 1985
ISBN: 0862921163
Title: Studies in Greek
Elegy and Iambus
Author: M. L. West
Publisher: De Gruyter
Year: 1974
ISBN: 3-11-004585-0
Title: Latin Erotic Elegy (The commentary in this anthology is marginal, but it
does offer a nice introduction and a good overview
Author: Paul Allen Miller collection of articles at the end. For
teaching it will probably prove a very useful text.)
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2002
ISBN: 0-415-24372-6
.
***Activities***: The
class will be based on reading and discussion. (1) Each week you should read
the assigned poems thoroughly. (2) Once WEBCT is operational (in 2-3 weeks),
I will meet with you once a week in cyberspace on Wednesday evenings to answer
any questions on the poems. I will also set one discussion question per week on
the poems to which you should post your answers and interact with your peers.
You may post to the discussion board at any time during the week, but I will be
interacting with your answers and conversation on Wednesday nights. You will find it helpful to set out time on
Wednesday evenings to interact and dialogue with the class on-line. Until WEBCT becomes operational, you should direct all questions to my personal account for
this class (tscottjohn@hotmail.com). I will again make sure to
answer questions when I am online Wednesdays evenings beginning around 7:30 PM.
Grading:
45% Reading and Discussion
45% Exams (Midterm and Final)
10% Secondary Reading
Primary Reading: The preparation for this class will concentrate
strongly on reading the Latin text. Not all of the material assigned can be
reviewed word for word by translation, and therefore students are encouraged
ask grammatical questions over items they can not construe. The editions and
commentaries will be helpful as they are available. I understand that you
might have access to very few of these, if any, but this will give you an idea
of some of the more recent publications.
Secondary Reading: The secondary reading is designed to provide the
student with an introduction to Propertian elegy. Please choose two of these
works, preferably one complete book and one article. Read the book and
article and write a one page summery and review on each. You may email these
reviews to me at any time, but they are due at latest the end of March. I
have tried to keep to standard works so that they will be more readily
available.
Barber,
E.A. (ed.) (1960) Propertius: Carmina (Oxford)
Butrica,
J.L. (1984) The Manuscript Tradition of Propertius (Toronto).
Cairns,
F. (1979) Tibullus: a Hellenistic Poet at Rome (Cambridge).
Classes,
C.J. (2002) “Propertius The Historian,” in Levene, D.S. and Nelis, D.P. (edd.) Clio
and the Poets (Leiden).
Debrohun,
J.B. (2003) Roman Propertius and the Reinvention of Elegy (Ann Arbor).
Fredrick,
“Reading Broken Skin: Violence in Roman Elegy,” reprinted in Miller (2002) Latin Erotic
Elegy (Routledge).
Greene,
Ellen (1998) The Erotics of Domination: Male Desire and the Mistress in
Latin Love Elegy (Baltimore).
Griffin,
J. (1985) Latin Poets and Roman Life (London).
Harrauer,
Hermann (1973) A Bibliography to Propertius (Hildesheim).
Hubbard,
M. (1974) Propertius (London).
Janan,
M.W. (2001) The Politics of Desire (Berkeley).
Kennedy,
Duncan (1993) The Arts of Love: Five Studies in the Discourse of Roman Elegy
(Cambridge).
Lefèvre,
E. (1966) Propertius ludibundus (Heidelberg).
Luck,
Georg (1959) The Latin Love Elegy (London).
McKeown,
J.C. (1979) “Augustan Elegy and Mime,” PCPhS 25: 71-84.
. (1987) Ovid: Amores,
Volume 1 (Liverpool):
Chapter 1
Newman, J.K. (1997) Augustan Propertius: The
Recapitulation of a Genre (Hildesheim).
Richardson, L. Jr. (ed.) (1977) Elegies I-IV,
Propertius Edited with Introduction and Commentary (Norman, OK).
Sullivan, J.P. (1976) Propertius: A Critical
Introduction (Cambridge).
. “The Politics of Elegy,”
reprinted in Miller (2002) Latin Erotic Elegy (Routledge).
Stahl, Hans-Peter (1985) Propertius: “Love” and
“War”: Individual and State under Augustus (Berkeley).
Veyne, P. “The Pastoral in City Clothes,” reprinted
in Miller (2002) Latin Erotic Elegy (Routledge).
Warden, J. (1980) Fallax Opus: Poet and Reader in
the Elegies of Propertius (Toronto).
West, M.L. (1974) Studies in Greek Elegy and
Iambus (De Gruyter).
Wyke, M. “Mistress and Metaphor in Augustan Elegy,”
reprinted in Miller (2002) Latin Erotic Elegy (Routledge).
Postgate: Introduction,
Propertian Style and Meter
Zanker, Apollo's Temple on the
Palatine and Augustan Imaging: excepts from The Power of Images in the
Age of Augustus (1988 Ann Arbor).
Exams: There will be two exams for the course that I will make
available on-line through the links below during the specified week. The exams
will be straightforward: translation of Propertian poems that have been
assigned to that date and grammatical questions on the poems. There will also
be one short essay on a problem that we have hit on in our discussions. A
week before each exam I will post specific instructions for the exam.
Reading Schedule
*Week 1 (Jan. 10-14): Reading:
Carmina 1.1-5
*Week 2 (Jan. 17-21):Reading:
Carmina 1.6-9
Week 3 (Jan. 24-28):Reading :
Carmina 1.10-15
Week 4 (Jan. 31-Feb. 4):Reading: Carmina 1.16-19
Week 5 (Feb. 7-11):Reading:
Carmina 1.20-2.4
Week 6 (Feb. 14-18): Reading:
Carmina 2.33-3.1
Week 7 (Feb. 21-25) : Midterm
Week 8 (Feb.
28-Mar. 4): Reading: Carmina 3.21-25
Week 9 (Mar. 7-11):Reading:
Carmina 4.1-2
Week 10 (Mar. 14-18):Reading:
Carmina 4.3-4
Week 11 (Mar. 21-25):Reading:
Carmina 4.5-6
Week 12 (Mar. 28-April 1):Reading:
Carmina 4.7-9
Vacation
Break (April 4-8)
Week 13 (April 11-15):Reading:
Carmina 4.10-11
Week 14 (April 18-20): Open Reading Days
Final (April 21-25 )