In this CLAC course, students with some background in ancient Latin will read selections of the extant sources on love and suffering in Roman myth, history, and thought. The sources that we will cover will be drawn from diverse genres and periods: historiography, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and comedy. This diversity will offer a unique opportunity to students to identify and analyze the intersections of age, class, status, gender, and ethnicity and the way they shaped Roman ideology on "love." We will be looking at how cultural practice shapes language, how ideology shapes law, and how literature challenged cultural norms of love and marriage, all the while unpacking and interrogating the Roman belief that love had no place in the citizen life dedicated to serving the state: love produces suffering. In turn, we will reflect on the ideological shift in the last 150 years that has come to dominate "western" beliefs on love and marriage, that is, "all you need is love," over family, friends, and society, despite the obstacles: suffering produces love.
The selections of readings will be drawn primarily from what the students read in translation in the parent course. The final selection will be based on the level of the students. This CLAC is conceived as appropriate for students on the intermediate and advanced level of ancient Latin. |