All literature is read in translation.
Language students may read the original texts, but the classes are intended primarily for non-foreign language majors. A central focus of the course is the interplay of literary form, historical context, and the emergence of classical ideas about nature, society and self. A survey of the major Greek myths and dominant approaches to understanding them. The myths are read primarily within the context of classical tragedy, epic and lyric poetry. Class discussion treats their function in literature and the historical, psychoanalytic and structural views of myth as a mode of thought.