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2020/21 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

CLAS3360 Ovid the Innovator

20 creditsClass Size: 24

Module manager: Dr Bev Back
Email: b.back@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2020/21

This module is mutually exclusive with

CLAS2360	Ovid the Innovator
CLAS3361	Ovid the Innovator: Linguistic Pathway

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This 20-credit module is suitable for Level 2 and 3 students with some knowledge of Classical literature. It focuses on three innovative works of Ovid: Heroides, a set of letters from mythical heroines to their absent lovers; Tristia, a series of poems in which the exiled poet laments his plight among savages at Tomis; and Fasti, a poetic treatment of the Roman calendar and its religious festivals in the age of Augustus. The poems are studied in English translation (Heroides, tr. H. Isbell, Penguin 1990; Tristia, tr. P. Green, University of California Press 2005; Fasti, tr. A. Boyle and R. Woodard, Penguin 2000).

Objectives

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- confidently undertake close readings of the translated set texts, and produce critical appreciations of passages from these texts;
- situate the works in their literary, socio-political and historical contexts;
- compare and contrast the texts to one another, versions of the myths written about to their predecessors, and consider other selected works which utilise aspects of the storyline, characters, or imagery shown in Ovid’s works;
- identify and evaluate secondary scholarship and literary critical approaches, especially narratology, considerations of genre, intertextuality and reception theory.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students are expected to be able to:
- demonstrate coherent and detailed subject knowledge and a range of subject-specific skills, including an ability to analyse critically various forms of texts (especially different genres of literature) and relate them to each other where appropriate;
- compare and contrast the three poems under consideration: with each other, their predecessors, and with other works in the Ovidian corpus;
- deploy accurately close reading techniques to produce critical appreciations of passages from these texts;
- identify and evaluate literary critical approaches, especially narratology, intertextuality and reception theory, and be able to describe and comment on particular aspects of current research and scholarship;
- select evidence for, and explore, Ovid's treatment of themes such as gender, gods and cosmology, mythical heroes and Roman kings, and Augustan Rome.
- demonstrate a range of transferable skills, including effective use of the library and other methods of research, written expression, the use of IT resources, time-management, and the organisation of personal study.

Syllabus

This module will focus on three innovative works of Ovid: Heroides, a set of letters from mythical heroines to their absent lovers; Tristia, a series of poems in which the exiled poet laments his plight among savages at Tomis; and Fasti, a poetic treatment of the Roman calendar and its religious festivals in the age of Augustus. But nothing is quite as it seems with Ovid. The mythical heroines in Heroides invite us to question the authority behind 'familiar' myths; the poems in Tristia are so full of poetic flair as to make some doubt whether Ovid was ever exiled at all; and Fasti outwardly celebrates and subtly criticises Augustan Rome in equal measure. These poems will be studied in their own right and, more generally, as a means of assessing Ovid's skill at manipulating myth, his exile and exilic persona, and his troubled relationship with Augustus and Augustan Rome.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	18	1.00	18.00
Seminar	5	1.00	5.00
Private study hours			177.00
Total Contact hours			23.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

3 hours per lecture (3*18) = 54 hours
4 hours per seminar (4*5) = 20 hours
Preparation for assessments = 103 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Student progress will be monitored formatively through their contributions to discussions and through their submission of an essay plan.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	3,000 word commentary	50.00
Essay	3,000 words	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 02/10/2020 13:48:14

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