Love and Death — Beauty and Battle (the Iliad, Sappho, Alcman) Back to Dialogues main page [ Handouts ] [ Chapter Notes ] [ Scribes’ minutes ]
Performance and Performer: The Role of Tradition in Oral Epic Song. The following video clips are excerpted from two lectures given by Professor Albert B.
Lord. The first was given at Harvard University in July of 1989 as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar for secondary school teachers, directed by Gregory Nagy. The second was given at Skidmore College in 1990. In these lectures Professor Lord illustrates two inseparable aspects of the creation of "oral literature," as exemplified by the ancient Greek epics the Iliad and Odyssey: (1) the role of tradition and (2) the moment of performance. Within this overarching theme he explores a number of other topics including the learning process of traditional singers, the effect of published song books on the South Slavic oral tradition, the comparison of a dictated song and one composed in a traditional performance, and the mythic origins of epic. The Performer and the Performance 4.2 MB Composition in Performance in Oral Traditional Literature Part 1: The Traditional Setting MOV, 33 MB.
CB22x Syllabus. CB22x: The Ancient Greek Hero HarvardX, Spring 2013 Professor: Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature andProfessor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, and Director of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies.
Board of Readers: The teaching staff for this course is led by the Chair of the Board of Readers, Dr. Leonard Muellner, Professor of Classical Studies at Brandeis University and Director of IT and Publications at Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Vice Chair of the Board of Readers, Dr. Kevin McGrath, Associate in Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University. The course's Readers and Editors are listed on the CB22x "About" page. A Basic Statement About Requirements For This Course. There are no prerequisites for the course. A Basic Statement About the Ideals of this Course. What does it mean, to be human? What Will We Read? In these readings, anti-heroic models emerge. Recommended Reading: Important Dates: About CB22x.
Texts. Below are texts, commentaries and more for Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization.
The course is offered as both a Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Division of Continuing Education (DCE) course. This page does not include archival texts content, and only the most recent texts are available here. Within the archival areas of this site, however — for example in the Notes pages — you may find links to older version of course texts. Refer to this page for the current texts. Texts Sourcebook, Volume 1 Last updated 9-7-11 Sourcebook, Volume 2 Last updated 8-30-11 Apobatic moment and Sappho image library Philostratus, On Heroes “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” Libretto (1907) The Tales of Hoffmann (film plus commentary by Gregory Nagy) "The Sand-Man" (Harvard ID and PIN required) Commentaries Introduction 1: Facts about the “Heroes” course (a five-minute sketch) Introduction 2: Relevant facts about ancient Greek history (a five-minute sketch) “Lyric and Greek Myth” by Gregory Nagy.