Undergraduate Course: Roman Satire (CLTR10020)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Roman satire is an important and entertaining literary genre that the Romans claimed as their own invention. This course will survey the genre from its precursors in the Greek comic and invective traditions to the Roman development of ¿Menippean¿ and verse satire by Lucilius and Varro. The principal authors under consideration will be the early imperial satirists Horace, Seneca, Persius, and Juvenal. Modern descendants of the genre (e.g., Samuel Johnson and Swift) will also feature. The course will evaluate ancient and modern theories of satire and attempt to situate the genre in relation to comedy, farce, burlesque, and parody. Alongside these literary and generic questions, attention will be given to satire¿s historical and sociopolitical contexts: themes of satire, and so of this course, include society, morality, class, politics, authority, patronage, literature, food, sex, and obscenity. In considering satire in relation to these literary and historical contexts, the course will explore in what sense satire can indeed be seen as a distinctly Roman creation.
|
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Horace
Week 3: Horace
Week 4: Seneca
Week 5: Seneca
Week 6: Persius
Week 7: Persius
Week 8: Juvenal
Week 9: Juvenal
Week 10: Juvenal
Week 11: The satiric stradition
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | c. £25 |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter (at least 2 of which should be in Classical Literature) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses.
|
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 26 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 15,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment for this course will be by written coursework (40%; c. 3,500 words) and a written degree examination (60%; 2 hours). |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
Students who complete the course successfully will have demonstrated the following Learning Outcomes through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination:
- knowledge of the principal features of Roman Satire (specifically its authors and texts; origins and development; conventions and themes; generic identity; literary, philosophical and historical contexts);
- the ability to comment critically and incisively on passages selected with a degree of unpredictability, and to relate these to the wider literary and historical framework;
- a critical understanding of the principal approaches to Roman Satire, and how these have changed and developed over time (e.g., literary-critical, 'new historical', gendered, intertextual);
- a detailed knowledge of how Roman Satire reflects the contexts (especially literary, philosophical, social and political) in which it was produced;
- the ability to apply suitable specialist methodologies to reading Roman Satire, and to evolve coherent and well-researched written and oral interpretations of the text on topics chosen with a degree of unpredictability.
|
Reading List
Braund, S.H. (1996) The Roman Satirists and their Masks. Bristol.
Braund, S.H. (1996) Juvenal Satires Book I. Cambridge.
Braund, S.H. (1992) Roman Verse Satire (Greece and Rome 23). Oxford.
Coffey, M. (1976) Roman Satire. London, NY.
Dominik, W.J. and Wehrle, W.T. (edd.) (1999) Roman Verse Satire. Lucilius to Juvenal. Wauconda, IL.
Freudenburg, K. (2001) Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal. Cambridge.
Freudenburg, K. (ed.) (2005) The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire. Cambridge.
Gowers, E. (1993) The Loaded Table. Representations of Food in Roman Literature. Oxford.
Gowers, E. (2012) Horace. Satires. Book 1. Cambridge.
Hutchinson, G.O. (1993) Latin Literature from Seneca to Juvenal: a Critical Study. Oxford.
Jones, F. (2007) Juvenal and the Satiric Genre. Duckworth.
Keane, C. (2006) Figuring Genre in Roman Satire. Oxford.
Morgan, Ll. (2005) ¿Satire¿ in S.J. Harrison (ed.) A Companion to Latin Literature. Blackwell. 174-88.
Plaza, M. (2006) The function of humour in Roman verse satire: laughing and lying. Oxford.
Quintero, R. (2007) (ed.) A Companion to Satire Ancient and Modern. Blackwell: Malden & Oxford.
Richlin, A. (1992) The Garden of Priapus. NY, Oxford.
Rosen, R.M. (2007) Making Mockery: The Poetics of Ancient Satire. Oxford.
Rudd, N. (1986) Themes in Roman Satire. London.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Further to the ILOs identified above, students who complete the course successfully will have demonstrated a number of transferable skills, including:
- the ability to review critically and to consolidate knowledge and skills in a given area;
- the ability to identify, define and analyse complex concepts;
- written and verbal communication skills;
- the ability to digest large quantities of textual material;
- time-management skills.
|
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Roman Satire |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Donncha O'Rourke
Tel: (0131 6)50 3771
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Elaine Hutchison
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: |
|
|
University Homepage