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CS92PROD
Roman Satire: Juvenal
LAT 281
Spring 2020 not offered

Roman satire, as practiced by Lucilius, Horace, Persius, and Juvenal is a strange hybrid: it combines social criticism, literary parody, philosophical rumination, and obscene burlesque, a self-consciously "humble" genre set in the framework of dactylic hexameter, the meter of high-flown Homeric and Vergilian epic. It is among a small minority of ancient literature which directly addresses itself to the humbler aspects of the everyday lives of Roman citizens. This course on Roman satire will focus on Juvenal, the last practictioner of Roman verse satire. We will begin the course with a selection of short readings from each of the four Roman satirists in order to orient ourselves with standard topics of Roman satire (including dining, country vs. urban life, the body, sex, and gender roles) and differentiate the approaches. We will spend the rest of the semester exploring Juvena's seminal works: his first and second book of Satires, wherein he situates himself as a figure marginalized by a new order of foreign interlopers, powerful gender deviants, and tyrannical patrons and emperors, as well as Satire 10, his caustically philosophical take on the "Vanity of Human Wishes."
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CLAS
Course Format: LanguageGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (CLST)

Last Updated on OCT-06-2024
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