CLASSICAL STUDIES
In general terms the project is to describe and assess a modern adaptation of a narrative or a character documented in ancient records of Greek and/or Roman myth.
The modern adaptation may be in any modern artistic or creative medium including, drama (comedy or tragedy), fiction (novel or short story), poetry, music (any genre), painting, sculpture, film, comic books, video games. The modern work should belong to the 20th or the 21st century but works from earlier (modern) centuries may be chosen subject to approval from the instructor.
For the purposes of this project Powell’s text-book is the sole required authority for information on the ancient material. You must, however, specifically acknowledge any relevant authors or works that Powell identifies or cites. (I will provide with pdf for book)
The preliminary steps, not necessarily in this order, are:
1. Select an ancient character or narrative that interests you, e.g. a) the story of Perseus and Andromeda, b) the character Lavinia in Vergil’s Aeneid, c) the story of Cupid and Psyche d) the goddess Aphrodite.
2. Match this with an appropriate and personally interesting reworking of the material in a modern medium, e.g. a) one of the feature films entitled Clash of Titans, b) Ursula Leguin’s novel Lavinia, c) C.M. Lewis’s novella Till We Have Faces, d) the film Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen), d) a statue such as the Ceres in downtown Chicago or the Europa and the Bull by Leo Mol in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, e) etc. etc. (musical comedies, comic books)
Your essay will be constructed following your careful reading/study of the pertinent ancient and modern material. Essential ingredients of the essay will be: a summary description of the modern work with reference to its plot, characters, literary or artistic form, and its authors, composers or artists 3), your own critical assessment, negative and or positive, of the artistic and conceptual success or effectiveness of the adaptation. An optional ingredient is some comment (integrated with your main topic) of an appreciative or critical nature on the general subject of the ongoing practice of reinterpreting ancient material in modern works.
Some miscellaneous points follow.
If you opt to use scholarly or critical material outside of Powell’s text-book, you must be sure to acknowledge such use in a standard format for citations.
