21st Century Women Writers: Myths and Mortals

10 weekly sessions on campus, on Tuesdays at 11am - 1pm, starting from Tuesday 6 October

Overview

Homer’s tale of Odysseus’s journey home from Troy to Ithaca is the starting point for this course. Classist Charlotte Higgins describes Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, the first by a woman, as ‘a cultural landmark’. She says of her poetry ‘clarity and cleanness are her watchwords; her epic voice is not one of grandeur or pomposity’. We shall read extracts from this epic and then consider 3 novels by contemporary writers which further explore the mythic world of the Greeks and Trojans. Madeline Miller imagines the life of Circe, a witch who Odysseus meets on his travels. Natalie Haynes and Pat Barker explore the female experience of the Trojan Wars. These novels, rooted in the distant past, resonate with contemporaneity.

This course aims to explore classical narratives through translation and re-imaginings. We will consider the distinctive representations and relations of the mythical and the mortal. We shall discuss the status of ‘the classics’ and what it means to read and re-write these texts in the 21st - century.

This course would suit anyone with an interest in the relationship between classic and contemporary narratives. No prior knowledge is assumed or required. Curiosity is key.

Syllabus

Please note that this is indicative but not definitive. It is possible that there may be some small changes to the format.

Week 1 Introduction - Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey by Homer, 2017 books 1 and 2
Week 2 Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey by Homer - Reading tbc
Week 3 Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey by Homer - Reading tbc
Week 4 Madeline Miller, Circe, 2018
Week 5 Madeline Miller, Circe, 2018
Week 6 Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships, 2019
Week 7 Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships, 2019
Week 8 Pat Barker, The Women of Troy, 2021
Week 9 Pat Barker, The Women of Troy, 2021
Week 10 Conclusion

Course lecturer

At Continuing Education, Dr Shirley Jones currently runs courses on contemporary women's writing, and the thematic strand, The Monthly Novel. They have also taught courses on nineteenth-century authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth. Her Ph.D was a study of the Victorian writer, Margaret Oliphant.

Outside of Continuing Education, they are a member of a writers' group and run the Redbrick Writers, a community writing group at the V G & M.

Course fee

Standard fee: £165
Concession fee: £85