Women Writing Epic

This course will introduce students to English translations and adaptations of ancient Greek and Roman epics to consider the contemporary politics of representing and publishing women. These poems chronicle men talking with or fighting each other, all in the hopes of reproducing “great” men. Women often function as backgrounded appendages or, if significant, effect something catastrophic. We will revisit these dynamics and explore how literary genre genders authors and readers in relation to war, citizenship, race, class, sexuality and/or celebrity. How does epic negotiate social identities or formations? What needs to happen for women to write epic? What happens when women write epic? Which kind of women does the publishing industry want/allow to write epic now?