Oedipus and His Grandchildren
The Oedipus Motif in Fiction and Film from Ancient to Modern Times
CLCS 593K · Maymester 1992
Mondays through Fridays 1.00-3.10 pm

Class 1 [Mo 11 May]

  • First-day-of-class sheets & welcome to course
  • Greek alphabet lecture & practice
  • Dramatic festivals of Athens
    ASSIGNMENT for Tu: [1] practice the Greek alphabet and be able to write out all the lower-case letters in the proper order. [2] Read Oedipus the King carefully and make a detailed outline of the plot.

    Class 2 [Tu 12 May]

  • Quiz: Greek alphabet
  • Cultural literacy/interpretive communities: Family curses in Greek myth
    ASSIGNMENT for We: read Oedipus at Colonus and pp. 152-160 in Lesky 1983.

    Class 3 [We 13 May]

  • live reading of Oedipus the King
    ASSIGNMENT for Th: read Antigone and pp. 176-184 in Lesky 1983.

    Class 4 [Th 14 May]

  • In-class blocking of play -- entrances and exits
    ASSIGNMENT for Fr: read 'Oedipus the King: Blindness and Sight,' chapter 8 in David Seale, Vision and Stagecraft in Sophocles; 'A Hidden God: Oedipus the King,' chapter 5 in Ruth Scodel, Sophocles; and pp. 133-143 in Lesky 1983.

    Class 5 [Fr 15 May]

  • Problems in interpretation: free-will or destiny? Shame or guilt?
  • language of the play: courtroom terms; medical terms; word-play (especially on Oedipus' name); imagery; the choral odes and characterological role of the chorus
    ASSIGNMENT for Mo: read Aristotle's Poetics carefully in the Janko translation. The text itself is on pp. 1-55; there is a commentary on pp. 66-174, and a glossary of terms on pp. 196-226.

    Class 6 [Mo 18 May]

  • The ancient riddle-contest: chapter 5 of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
  • Russian Formalist notions of plot-construction: fabula and sjuzet.
  • Aristotle's Poetics: Aristotelian analysis of Oedipus the King. The 'six parts' of tragedy. katharsis pathêmatôn; various scholarly theories. 'Plot' (muthos, sunthesis pragmatôn). Simple and complex plots. Recognition, hamartia, and reversal. Aristotelian notions of character.
    ASSIGNMENT for Tu: read carefully ó and outline ó pp. 1-46 in Edmunds 1985.

    Class 7 [Tu 19 May]

  • Aristotle's Poetics (continued).
    ASSIGNMENT for We: read carefully ó and outline ó Richard Caldwell, 'Psychoanalysis,' pp. 342-389 in Edmunds 1990

    Class 8 [We 20 May]

  • Aristotle's Poetics (continued).
    ASSIGNMENT for Th: read pp. 47-88 in Edmunds 1985.

    Class 9 [Th 21 May]

  • Quiz on Aristotle-s Poetics
  • Did Oedipus know all along (Vellacott's theory)?
  • Was Oedipus actually innocent of parricide and incest (Ahl's theory)?
    ASSIGNMENT for Fr: read pp. 89-142 in Edmunds 1985.

    Class 10 [Fr 22 May]

  • The structuralist approach to Sophocles' play: [1] Claude Lévi-Strauss, 'The Structural Study of Myth' (cf. Peradotto in Edmunds 1984); [2] Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale, and 'Oedipus in the Light of Folklore' (pp. 76-121 in Edmunds 1984); [3] Jean-Pierre Vernant, 'Ambiguity and Reversal'; [4] Segal, 'Oedipus Tyrannus'; [4] Claude Calame, 'Structuralism and Semiotics' (chapter 6 in Edmunds 1990).
    ASSIGNMENT for Tu: read pp. 174-178 in Edmunds 1984, and pp. 143-169 in Edmunds 1985.

    {Class 11 [Mo 25 May] Memorial Day. NO CLASS.}

    Class 12 [Tu 26 May]

  • Structuralism (continued). Saussurean semiology and Peircean semiotics.
  • The psychoanalytic approach to Sophocles' play: [1] Sigmund Freud, Die Traumdeutung (selection reprinted in Edmunds 1984, pp. 174-178); [2] Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment (on fairy-tales); [3] George Devereux, 'Why Oedipus Killed Laius: A Note on the Complementary Oedipus Complex in Greek Drama' (pp. 215?233 in Edmunds 1984); [4] Richard Caldwell (as assigned). Also cf. [5] Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence (an oedipal theory of literature).
    ASSIGNMENT for We: read pp. 170-223 in Edmunds 1985.

    Class 13 [We 27 May]

  • The psychoanalytic approach (continued).
  • A postmodern Oedipus: Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus (guest lecture by R. Eric Ramsey).
    ASSIGNMENT for Th: read 'The Indian Oedipus' (pp. 234?261 in Edmunds 1984)

    Class 14 [Th 28 May]

  • The psychoanalytic approach (continued).
    ASSIGNMENT for Fr: [1] Catch up on any reading you may have fallen behind on. [2] Put finishing touches on your oral reports. [3] Select from Edmunds 1985 the three versions that seem to you to be the most different from the Sophoclean: why?

    Class 15 [Fr 29 May]

  • Student report no. 1: A feminist reading of Sophocles.
  • Student report no. 2: A Marxist reading of Sophocles.
  • Student report no. 3: A Lacanian reading of Sophocles.
    ASSIGNMENT for Mo: read pp. 35-75 in Edmunds 1984

    Class 16 [Mo 1 June]

  • Student report no. 4: A neo-Freudian reading of Sophocles: René Girard.
  • Student report no. 5: Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame.
  • Student report no. 6: Cocteau's The Infernal Machine.
    ASSIGNMENT for Tu: read (and outline) pp. 76-121 in Edmunds 1984.

    Class 17 [Tu 2 June]

  • Film: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Edipo re.
    ASSIGNMENT for We: read (and outline) Lowell Edmunds, 'The Sphinx in the Oedipus Legend,' pp. 147-173 in Edmunds 1984.

    Class 18 [We 3 June]

  • Course evaluations.
  • Film: Stephen Frears, The Grifters.
    ASSIGNMENT for Th: study for final examination. Bring any questions to class.

    Class 19 [Th 4 June]

  • Film: Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet.
    ASSIGNMENT for Fr: study for final examination.

    Class 20 [Fr 5 June]

  • Final examination.
  • Nachtrag: PDQ Bach's Oedipus Tex.

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    Preliminary Reading List for CLCS 593K

    C.M. Bowra, 'King Oedipus,' chapter 5 in Sophoclean Tragedy
    Rebecca W. Bushnell, 'Speech and Silence: Oedipus the King,' chapter 4 in Prophesying Tragedy: Sign and Voice in Sophoclesí'Theban Plays
    Teresa de Lauretis, 'Snow on the Oedipal Stage,' and 'Desire in Narrative,' chapters 3 and 5 in Alice Doesn't
    E.R. Dodds, 'On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex,' Greece & Rome 13 1966 37-49
    Lowell Edmunds (1984) and Alan Dundes, edd. Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook
    --- (1985) Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues
    --- (1990) ed. Approaches to Greek Myth
    Simon Goldhill, 'Exegesis: Oedipus (R)ex,' Arethusa 17 1984 177-200
    --- , 'Blindness and Insight,' chapter 8 in Reading Greek Tragedy
    Sandor Goodhart, 'Lêistas Ephaske: Oedipus and Laius' Many Murderers,' diacritics 8 1978 55-71
    John T. Kirby, 'The Riddle of Fate,' chapter 1 in Secret of the Muses Retold
    B.M.W. Knox, 'Why is Oedipus called Tyrannos?,' Classical Journal 50 1954
    --- , 'Sophocles' Oedipus,' in Cleanth Brooks (ed.), Tragic Themes in Western Literature
    Albin Lesky (1983) Greek Tragic Poetry
    Claude Lévi-Strauss, 'The Structural Study of Myth,' in T.A. Sebeok (ed.), Myth: A Symposium (Bloomington 1955), revised and reprinted in Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology (1963; Engl transl. of the French edition of 1958)
    R.G. Lewis, 'The Procedural Basis of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus,' GRBS 30 1989 41-66
    Joel D. Schwartz, 'Human Action and Political Action in Oedipus Tyrannos,' chapter 7 in J. Peter Euben (ed.), Greek Tragedy and Political Theory
    Ruth Scodel, Sophocles
    David Seale, 'Oedipus the King: Blindness and Sight,' chapter 8 in Vision and Stagecraft in Sophocles
    Charles P. Segal, 'Oedipus Tyrannus,' chapter 7 in Tragedy and Civilization
    J.-P. Vernant, 'Ambiguity and Reversal: On the Enigmatic Structure of Oedipus Rex,' New Literary History 9 1977-1978 475-501
    Froma I. Zeitlin, 'Thebes: Theater of Self and Society in Athenian Drama,' chapter 4 in J. Peter Euben (ed.), Greek Tragedy and Political Theory

    Click here for a more extensive bibliography on Oedipus.