Reading & Composition

Producing the name Odysseus, or Dante or Gilgamesh, poses no problem for one asked to recall a literary hero and/or a great journey. Some of these characters define for us the very meaning of a hero.  However, there are other places where this archetype of the hero on a journey can be found. Not only this, but upon close inspection, we may find that these unexpected places may even form the basis of the archetypal heroic journeys we know and love.  In this class we will ask questions that seek to broaden our perspective and conception of the hero and his or her journey. We will ask: What does the ancient divination practice of the Tarot have in common with Hegel’s master slave dialectic? What happens when Greek mythology gets rewritten, re-gendered and rendered as a modern day comic book? Can a woman embark upon a heroic journey? What changes about the conception of a hero or heroine when she does? What changes about the journey? We will read both the most recognized forms of the heroic journey and attempt to compare them with less likely yet similar forms of the journey. We will complicate our conceptions of the hero and use this complication to produce more profound questions about what the journey means for us today.

Reading List:

Gilgamesh, trans. Stephen Mitchell.

Homer, The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Vol. I: Inferno.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Lispector, Clarice. The Hour of the Star.

Calvino, Italo. The Castle of Crossed Destinies.

Banzhaf, Hajo. Tarot and The Journey of the Hero.

Excerpts from: Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit

Moore, Alan. Promethea.

Borges, Jorge Luis. “Funes the Memorious.”

Film and Television:

Heroes & TBA