Description and objectives:

In this course we will explore myths of the hero in prose and poetry.  We will begin our study by considering myth as the reflection of the collective beliefs of a given society, expressed in creation stories from cultures around the world.  We will interpret these stories, which recount acts of creation that take place outside time and are accepted as universal truths, within their historical and geographical framework.  These readings will include the Babylonian version of the Sumerian myth Enuma Elish, a world to which we will return in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris, stories of the Greek pantheon, the Popul Vuh (Book of the People) of the Quiché Mayan civilization and various others.  We will also reflect on the two Old Testament versions of the creation contained in Genesis and some of their contemporary adaptations.  These readings will be supplemented by Bill Moyer’s interviews with Joseph Campbell from The Power of Myth., and as we explore the question of self-realization in relationship to society, nature and the transcendent, our discussions will take into account Campbell’s 4 functions of myth.

We will pursue our study of the individual as hero in a number of literary works, beginning with the Epic of Gilgamesh, long considered the first tale of a mortal hero.  Joseph Campbell's analysis of the archetypal hero's evolution in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Bettina Knapp's Jungian interpretation of the balance of logos and eros in Women in Myth will provide the framework for our study.  In readings such as Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, and selected poems by Alain Bosquet, Emily Dickinson and Andrée Chedid, we will reflect on the figure of the hero or heroine as a prototype of the Self and on the correlation between the mythical or literary hero/heroine and our own role in today’s world.

Attendance and other expectations:

Like any group, this class depends on the dynamic of the whole.  Therefore, you will be expected to attend all class meetings.  An important component of your grade will be determined by your careful preparation of assignments and your intelligent, informed contribution to class discussion.  You will be asked to prepare thematic and reflective questions on the readings, which will count as part of your grade for class preparation.  Short oral presentations where you will be asked to focus on certain sections or aspects of the readings will also contribute to your grade for class preparation, as will occasional quizzes on the readings.  Each absence will result in a direct lowering of your class participation grade by 4%.  In addition, you will be expected to take responsibility for any work missed due to absence.

As this is a class in interpretive reading and writing, you will be asked to express succinctly your reactions to reading assignments in the form of written response papers (3 ½ - 4 pages).  In relating your paper to the readings, it is helpful to organize your ideas around one or more quotations from these readings.  As response implies a dialogue with the text, I will expect you to get into the world of the text and learn its language.  Although your response may stem from a personal experience, I would like you to avoid the purely anecdotal and to keep in mind that universality is the fundamental nature of myth.

In addition to the response papers, you will write a research paper (7-8 pages) on a creation story and its society and an in-class midterm essay in which you will develop one or more aspects of Joseph Campbell’s hero cycle in The Epic of Gilgamesh or Siddhartha.  In all your papers I will expect you to analyze and develop the symbolic content that contributes to a deeper understanding of both the personal and mythical evolution of the hero figures we will study.

Your final project will include both an oral and a written component and will reflect the work covered in the course of the semester.  In groups of two or three, you will interpret the hero cycle as demonstrated in a selected film or literary work and present your project in class.  This exercise is designed as a group learning experience, and those of you who are not presenting will submit a written critique of the work presented.  The second part of your project will take the form of a final paper (9-10 pages) in which you develop in detail the evolution of the hero figure in the work you have presented according to the cycle described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, using quotations from Campbell to frame the various stages of the hero’s development.  Your final presentation and paper will take the place of a final examination.

Evaluation

Class participation and preparation15%

Response papers (4)30%

Research paper on a creation story15%

In-class Midterm Essay15%

Final presentation10%

Final paper15%

Grading scale

A: 93-100

A-: 90-92

B+: 87-89

B: 83-86

B-: 80-82

C+: 77-79

C: 73-76

C-: 70-72

D+:67-69

D: 63-66

D-: 60-62

F: 59 and below

Summary of Writing Assignments:

Response paper 1: Taoism

Response paper 2: An Interpretation of Genesis, Tiamat or Isis

Research paper: A Creation Story and Its Society

Midterm Essay: The Epic of Gilgamesh or Siddhartha

Response paper 3: God’s Torment and/or Poems of Emily Dickinson

Response paper 4: The Prophet and/or Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid

Final paper: The Spiritual Evolution of a Hero

Required texts:

The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff. (Penguin Books, 1982)

What Is Tao? Alan Watts. (New World Library, 2000)

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from around the World, Virginia Hamilton.  (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1988)

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell. (Princeton UP, 1973)

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell interviewed by Bill Moyers. (Doubleday, 1988)

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Ed. N.K. Sanders. (Penguin Books, 1972)

Siddhartha, Herman Hesse. Trans. Joachim Neugroschel.  (Penguin Books, 2003)

God’s Torment: Poems by Alain Bosquet. Trans. Edouard Roditi (Ohio UP, 1996)

Emily Dickinson: Poems. (Everyman's Library, 1995)

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran. (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996)

Readings on Electronic Reserve (ERES)

Parabola (Fall 2004), “The Devil in the Way,” Stephen Batchelor, 6-11.

Kaleidoscope: The Way of Woman and Other Essays.  Helen M. Luke.  “Demeter and Kore,” 16-32.  Parabola Books, 1992.

The Reader’s Bible, Genesis. Chs.1-4.

Symposium, The Dialogues of Plato, Vol.1. Trans. B. Jowett. (Random House, 1937)

Women in Myth, Bettina L. Knapp. (SUNY Press 1997). Introduction + Chs. 1-2.

“The New Adam and Eve,” Nathaniel Hawthorne. Tales (Penguin Books).

Acts of Light, Poems of Emily Dickinson. (Little, Brown & Co., 1980). Appreciation by Jane Langton.

Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid. Trans. & Ed. Judy Cochran. (The Mellen Press, 1995). Introduction + selected poems.

On Library Reserve at the Circulation Desk

Women in Myth, Bettina L. Knapp. (SUNY Press 1997)

Acts of Light, Poems of Emily Dickinson, appreciation by Jane Langton. (Little, Brown & Co., 1980)

Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid. Trans. & Ed. Judy Cochran. (The Mellen Press, 1995)

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Statement of University Policies

Disability

Any student who feels that he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should meet with me personally to discuss his or her specific needs. I rely on the Office of Academic Support & Enrichment Center in 104 Doane to verify the need for reasonable accommodations based on documentation on file in their office.

Academic Integrity

The students and faculty of Denison University and the Honors Program are committed to academic integrity and will not tolerate any violation of this principle. Academic honesty, the cornerstone of teaching and learning, lays the foundation for lifelong integrity.

Academic dishonesty is, in most cases, intellectual theft, whether inadvertent or intended. It includes, but is not limited to, providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for evaluation. This standard applies to all work ranging from daily homework assignments to major exams and papers. Students must clearly cite any sources consulted—not only for quoted phrases but also for ideas and information that are not common knowledge. Neither ignorance nor carelessness is an acceptable defense in cases of plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to follow the appropriate format for citations.

As is indicated in Denison’s Student Handbook available through mydenison.edu, instructors must refer every act of academic dishonesty to the Associate Provost and violations may result in failure in the course, suspension, or expulsion. (For further information, see http://www.denison.edu/student-affairs/handbook/article7.html.)

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SYLLABUS

I.January 14-18

1.   Introduction. The Power of Myth: Myth and the Modern World + Masks of Eternity

2.   What Is Tao? ix-50, Alan Watts. Article from Parabola: “The Devil in the Way.”

3.   What Is Tao? 51-92. The Tao of Pooh, 1-90, Benjamin Hoff.

II.January 21-25

1.Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observed: no class.

2.The Tao of Pooh, 91-158. The Power of Myth: The Journey Inward.

3.In the Beginning: 3-7 (Raven the Creator); 9-13 (Quat the Creator); 25-7 (Old Man    the Creator), 35-41 (Earth Starter the Creator). The Power of Myth: The First Storytellers.

 

III.January 28-February 1

1. Library research session.

2.  In the Beginning: 43-5 (Mawu-Lisa the Creators); 59-63 (Divine Woman the Creator); 73-7 (Olorun the Creator).  The Power of Myth: The Gift of the Goddess.

3.    In the Beginning: 79-85 (Apsu and Tiamat the Creators); Supplementary Reading from Women in Myth, ch.2 (Enuma Elish: The Feminine Maligned). (ERes)

*Response paper 1: The “Way of Things” as illustrated in The Tao

IV.February 4-8

1.In the Beginning: 111-115 (Ra the Creator); Supplementary Readings from: Women in Myth: ch.1 (Isis: Harmony of Flesh/Spirit/Logos) and Kaleidoscope: The Way of Woman and Other Essays, “Demeter and Kore.” (ERes)

2.In the Beginning: 87-99 (Maker and Feathered Serpent the Creators); 127-31 (Greek Creators); 133-37 (Prometheus).]

3.In the Beginning: 123-25 (Yahweh the Creator); 139-47 (Pandora); 149-53 (Elohim the Creator). Supplementary Readings from Genesis (ERes) Plato’s Symposium (Aristophanes’ discourse on love) (ERes).

V.February 11-15

1.Andrée Chedid’s “After the Garden” (hand-out) and Hawthorne’s “The New Adam and Eve” (ERes)

2.  The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Prologue: The Monomyth 3-46. The Power of Myth: The Hero’s Adventure.

3.The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Part I, Ch.1 Departure 49-94. Excerpts from Star Wars.

*Response paper 2: Genesis, Isis or Tiamat

VI.February 18-22

      1.The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Part I, Ch.2 Initiation 97-192. Star Wars (excerpts).

2.The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Part I, Ch.3 Return 193-251. Star Wars (excerpts).

3.   The Epic of Gilgamesh, Prologue, chs.1-3chs.

VII.February 25-29

1.The Epic of Gilgamesh, chs. 4-6.

2.Discussion: The Hero’s Adventure in The Epic of Gilgamesh.

3.Discussion: The Hero’s Adventure in The Epic of Gilgamesh.

**Research paper: A Creation Story and Its Society

VIII.March 3-7

1.Hesse, Siddhartha, Introduction + 1-56.

2.Hesse, Siddhartha, 57-132.

3.Discussion: The Hero’s Adventure in Siddhartha. The Power of Myth: Sacrifice and Bliss.

SPRING BREAK

IX.March 17-21

1.  Discussion: The Hero’s Adventure in Siddhartha.

2.  *Midterm Exam

3.   Bosquet, God’s Torment 1-35.

X.March 24-28

1.  Bosquet, God’s Torment 36-71.

2.  Acts of Light: Introduction to Emily Dickinson (ERes). The Power of Myth: Tales of Love and Marriage.

3.  Poems of Emily Dickinson.

XI.March 31-April 4

1.  Poems of Emily Dickinson.

2.  Gibran, The Prophet, 3-46.

3.  Gibran, The Prophet, 47-96.

*Response paper 3: Bosquet / Dickinson

XII.April 7-11

1.   Introduction to Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid (ERes).

2.Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid.

3.   Selected Poems of Andrée Chedid.

XIII.April 14-18

1.   Final Presentations.

2.   Final Presentations.

3.   Final Presentations.

*Response paper 4: Gibran / Chedid

XIV.April 21-25

1.   Final Presentations.

2.Final Presentations.

3. 3.Final Presentations.
   

4. 
   

XV.April 28

1.   Final Presentations.

**Final paper due by 2pm, Thursday, May 1.