CLAS1110-Brooklyn College-SummerII-2022

Here's the recording of our brief meeting this morning .

You can watch it here .

I stumbled across this piece on children and narcissists in Psychology Today, and I couldn't help but think of the passage in the Iliad (1.354-427) where Achilles recounts the preceding 350 lines to his mother, Thetis (who, as a goodess, would likely know everything in advance). W. Thomas McCary wrote a book on this ( Childlike Achilles, Ontegony and Phylogeny in the Iliad ) in 1982, and it opened many people's eyes to this aspect of Achilles' behavior. Achilles is guity in this passage of almost all of the 13 characteristics cited by the psychologist: blaming others, saying he had no choice, taking credit, withdrawing from others, etc.). Of course the Greeks might have viewed this not as childish behavior, but as godlike behavior: after all, the Olympian gods do love themselves, rarely admit to doing any wrong, and are easily bullied by Zeus, while at the same time bullying those who have less power.We sahll have to decide whether Achilles in able to break out of this chi...

In framing the theme for this summer’s readings as an inquiry into narcissism as it develops in ancient texts, from Homer to Vergil, I found myself focusing on the character of Narcissus without fully appreciating the context in which Ovid places him (Metamorphosis Bk 3.402ff). What I failed to take into account is the importance of the myth of Echo, with which the story of Narcissus is coupled. Echo is politically silenced by Juno: by virtue of her distracting Juno from discovering the infidelities of Zeus, she is made more of a “lackey” than she was in her original form ( “Echo still had a body then and was not merely a voice. But though she was garrulous, she had no other trick of speech than she has now: she can repeat the last words out of many. Juno made her like that, because often when she might have caught the nymphs lying beneath her Jupiter, on the mountain slopes, Echo knowingly held her in long conversations, while the nymphs fled. When Juno realized this she said ‘I shall...

Several people have asked about the grading rubric for essays (out of 8 points each). This is the standard by which I'm grading them: (i) answering the question coherently; (ii) supporting your answer with material from the text, using all parts of the selection; (iii) relating it the overall theme of narcissism; (iv) relating this question to previous essays and authors we've read (in subsequent essays, as the course progresses); and (v - optionally, if you have competling things to say on this score) giving your own opinion and/or personal experiences related to the reading. Underlying all this would be a minimum word count of 400 words, correct grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation.

Dear Students, We begin our course today, and it is my first experience with asynchronous teaching. I look forward to seeing some or all of you on Zoom this coming Monday; I will check email every day from here on in until the end of the course. It would be good for you to sent work to me via two emails: first, the Brooklyn College email, and second, my day-job email (agini@polyprep.org). It would also be good if you could send me the work incrementally, instead of all at the end (although I am requiring a document at the end which includes, in one document, all your essays and video commentaries). Sending things to me periodically will reduce the strain on calculating your grade at the end of the summer. Lastly, I don't want you to think that I'm not working through the course with you; I have said all I can say on the subject of narcissism in these works, but I'm always revisiting them and thinking about them. So you can find new blog posts here that reflect my current th...

Intro to CLAS-Summer Session II Time: Jul 18, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://polyprep-org.zoom.us/j/98799875459 Meeting ID: 987 9987 5459

Please include the following as a final reading: Seneca, Moral Epistles to Lucilius (read #1 - #12) https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius

Prof. Anthony Gini 7/13/22 - 8/18/22 In this course, we will examine some of the most basic and foundational texts of Classical Antiquity, beginning with Homer and ending with the early Roman Empire. I have taught this course, or a version of it, for decades, and each summer I choose a different perspective to apply to the readings. For this summer, I have chosen the idea of narcissism. We will examine how narcissism reveals itself in the earliest literature, and track its development throughout the tradition.  Readings for Summer 2022:   Homer Iliad (5 Meetings) https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Ilhome.php   Read Books 1, 6, 7, 16, 18, 22, 24  Homer Odyssey (4 Meetings) https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Odhome.php  Read Books 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 23, 24  Herodotus Histories (1 Meeting) https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Herodotus_The_Persian_Wars_(Godley)  Read Book 1, sections 1-34; Book 3, sections 1-38  Thucydides Pe...

Here you will find everything you need to complete this course. This blog is our go-to place; I do not use Blackboard. We must communicate through official Brooklyn College email. All work must be submitted by August 18, 2022 . You will have a reading list, which I hope to cover, for the most part, in the lectures. You should try to read the indicated books. They are all available for free, online, through the provided link. You should listen to all the lectures (these were done in real time, for the most part, in Summer I). They are available on Youtube - you should create your own Youtube channel if you don't have one already. The playlist is Gini-CLAS-list You should watch the lectures in order (you can just listen, for most of them), but they start at number 0 and go to 20 (there is no Lecture 16). The work you must submit to me consists of the following: (i) all ten essays (prompts and readings to be provided via BC email) these should be about 400-500 words each; (ii) a s...