Class Summaries: 9 JAN 06

This is the first entry of a daily class summary. After each class, I will compose a summary of what we did in class, including any handouts, announcements, graphics, and quizzes. I will explain the focus of the course, the policies, and the intro to mythology. I will divide the class summary into four sections each week: topics, announcements, handouts, and assignments. If you have any questions, please e-mail me (see the link in the title bar). The summaries should be especially valuable to those who are absent, but they also serve as a written record of class.

There are millions of ways to teach this class, but I have selected the most ancient readings of the earliest civilizations. There are many reasons for this. One is that you will be amazed that the oldest stories still pertain to our lives today. The people living 5,000 years ago faced the same human emotions, fears, concerns, and joys as we do in the 21st century. They worried about life and death, they had money problems, fights with their relatives, questions about their purpose in life, etc. Yes, the contexts are different, but the human experience is very similar. You will learn a lot about yourself and about your society through these readings. Also, you will be introduced to the origins of many familiar stories, including many myths from the Bible (Creation, Noah's Flood, Cain and Abel) as well as other classic literature (such as The Odyssey and even nursery rhymes). Let's examine where we as civilized humans came from and see how close or how far away we have traveled in the past 6,000 years.

Finally, here is an important word regarding the approach that I will be using this semester. When we discuss the different titles, I will share with you interpretations of these stories based on years of scholarly research in these areas, including references to psychology, sociology, medicine, law, science, archetecture, astronomy, and philosophy. One of the main voices will be that of the late Joseph Campbell, the pre-eminent 20th century American mythologist. When approaching extinct cultures, I will try to speak with the voice of the ancients and present the material as they might have wanted it to be understood. In sum, the words that leave my mouth will NOT necessarily be my personal opinions, nor the opinions of KSU. In fact, most of the things that I say in class will not reflect personal beliefs. You don't have to "believe in" or "worship" the Big Bad Wolf to understand Little Red Riding Hood. You have to understand what the characters symbolize and how these metaphors relate to your own experiences. Only you can answer that, and Joseph Campbell uses the same approach. He indicates in The Power of Myth that he does not discuss mythology centered around any one "system" of thought, but rather accepts each culture's unique insights and contributions to world literature.

Not every student will like every story this semester. Some of the readings address very blunt realities of life and death, including war and sexuality. I will not "sugar-coat" the messages from these stories (this is not Disney). If you are ever uncomfortable discussing these more serious topics, then I recommend having a conference with me. I also told a story today about a former student who was reluctant to read Gilgamesh, the world's oldest epic. He thought that he would go to Hell if he read the story, so he didn't read it on the assigned day. I asked him to discuss this quandary with his minister, who informed my student that he had read that very title himself in seminary school. After being reassured of its safety, my student read the story, after which he informed me that it was his favorite title that he had read by that time in his life. The literature this semester will be different, and at times very odd, but every one of them will help us to see valuable insights in to what it means to be a human being, no matter the time or place of your existence.

Lastly, I will be highlighting the feminine over the masculine throughout much of the semester. I do this to offer you a different perspective than you might expect from a literature class, since most of the authors that you are familiar with are dead white males. I am a white man myself, so I am not "disrespecting" men at all. We will see shortly that most of the early literature praises both men and women for their unique contributions, but the woman was granted a very special place in the early literature, mostly recognized through symbols. Women give birth to new life, and therefore were viewed as divine (until male-dominated societies effectively squashed their power). And yes, these feminine symbols are everywhere in the Bible, even though women as characters may not always be present. Where is woman during Biblical creation? You'll soon see.

NOTE: One text is still at the printer — my coursepacket, entitled Symbolic Connections in World Literature (7th edition). It should arrive at the KSU Bookstore in the next few weeks. It contains reading guides for every story on the syllabus, helpful background information, and many titles of literature, including every reading for the Egyptian unit. Until these materials become available, I will provide everything that you need in the form of class handouts or hyperlinks on this website. Here is the first one, your course syllabus.

(Note: I will be updating this syllabus because it does not yet contain the new page numbers that pertain to your version of the coursepacket. I'll post the new one in a day or two, so refrain from printing it for the time being).

(Also note that this syllabus differs from the one that my Monday-Wednesday sections will be using.

Today we examined the foundations of mythological thinking, which will allow us to understand the symbols and metaphors that will confront us all semester. Today we reviewed some creation stories from around the world, selected passages from Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, and we were introduced to the concepts of dualism that we will see in nearly every story this semester.

Here are a few links that will explain a few definitions to several key terms that we will use throughout the semester:

Ancient Civilizations Timeline

Introduction to Mythology — a myth is a traditional story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that informs or shapes the world
view of people, as by explaining the aspects of the natural world or outlining the customs or ideals of a society.

Duality — the state of being twofold; existence divided equally between opposing attributes; necessary opposites

Archetypes — a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. In literature, characters, images, and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences, regardless of when or where they live, are considered archetypes. Common literary archetypes include stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the underworld, and ascents to heaven.

To reinforce these ideas, I read an old fable, originally from the far East, called "The Oak and the Reed." The following version of this fable was translated by 17th century French author Jean de la Fontaine:

The Oak and the Reed Jean de la Fontaine (17th cent.) Translated by James Michie
One day the oak said to the reed,
“You have good cause indeed
To accuse Nature of being unkind.
To you a wren must seem
An intolerable burden, and the least puff of wind
That chances to wrinkle the face of the stream
Forces your head low; whereas, I,
Huge as a Caucasian peak, defy
Not only the sun’s glare, but the worst the weather can do.
What seems a breeze to me is a gale for you.
Had you been born in the lee of my leaf-sheltered ground,
You would have suffered less. I should have kept you warm,
But you reeds are usually found
On the moist borders of the kingdom of the storm.
It strikes me that, to you, Nature has been unfair.”

“Your pity,” the plant replied, “springs from a kind heart,
But please don’t be anxious on my part:
Your fear of the winds ought to be greater than mine.
I bend, but I never break. You, till now, have been able to bear
Their fearful buffets without flexing your spine,
But let us wait and see.”

Even as he spoke,
From the horizon’s nethermost gloom,
The worst storm the North had ever bred in its womb
Furiously awoke.
The tree stood firm; the reed began to bend.
The wind redoubled its efforts to blow —
So much so,
That in the end
It uprooted the one that had touched the sky with its head,
But whose feet reached to the region of the dead.

Notice that this story is filled with metaphors. The oak really doesn't speak to the reed — their actions are personified, and their behaviors are metaphorical. I did not have to explain this to you, since it was obvious. However, if you were to read The Bhagavad-Gita, you would see a god (a Christ figure named Krishna, which is the ancient Sanskrit term for "Christ") commanding a human warrior to kill his family on a battlefield. Again, if you look at this behavior literally, you will be angry and bitter with these readings. Once we understand the mythological and cultural contexts, you will see the wisdom and logic of these messages. Many students need a few weeks before these ideas begin to sink in, so please be patient and ask lots of questions!

I will avoid discussing "truth" in this class, since mythology does not address "truth" directly. Instead, we will concentrate on the validity of an argument ("validity" means something that is "reasonably acceptable") . Cavemen looked on the horizon and concluded that the Earth was flat, since that's what their eyes were telling them. Their conclusion was false, of course, when measured as truth, but given their understanding of the world and their limited technology with which to measure it, this answer is quite valid. Let's strive for validity in our interpretations — you don't have to be "right," but you do have to have a strong supporting reason for your interpretations, and they need to match with the intention of the mythological archetypes.

If you missed the first class, I'd love to receive an e-mail from you regarding your entry into class. let me know if I can assist you with anything to bet our semester started.

The following readings are due (to be read before entering class on Wednesday). The documents highlighted in dark red are required readings. Please print them, annotate them, and bring them to class.

The remaining titles are supplemental, and are not required to print or read. I will not quiz or test you on them, but reviewing them will give you a deeper and more complete understanding of the concepts introduced in the main required titles.

	Class Summary: MON 9 JAN 2006
HOME	KSU - English 2110/09, 40 & 42 - Mr. Hagin - Revised: 11 January 2006	WLRC