AFRS 209 - From Homer to Omeros

1 unit(s)

(Same as GRST 209) No poet since James Joyce has been as deeply and creatively engaged in a refashioning of Homer as Derek Walcott, the Caribbean poet and 1992 Nobel Laureate. He has authored both a stage version of the Odyssey and a modern epic, Omeros, and in both of them he brings a decidedly postcolonial and decidedly Caribbean idiom to Homer’s ancient tales. In this course we devote ourselves to a close reading of these works alongside the appropriate sections of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Our aim is both to understand the complexities of Walcott’s use of the Homeric models and to discover the new meanings that emerge in Homer when we read him through Walcott’s eyes. Rachel Friedman.

Prerequisite(s): any 100-level Greek and Roman Studies course or one unit of related work or special permission.

Not offered in 2016/17.

Two 75-minute periods.