Summer Institute 2009
The "Iambic" Catullus
July 6-17, 2009The Department at the University of Florida has scheduled a two-week intensive summer institute for July 6-17. The course is specifically designed for those students enrolled in the Distance Learning Program in Classics. Students not in the Distance Program must obtain the approval of Dr. Johnson to take the course. Three and six credit options are available at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and summer credits may be combined with the department's distance learning courses (offered in Fall and Spring), and applied towards the M.A., M.L., or Ph.D.
Instructor: Dr. Timothy Johnson
Course Description:
The goal of the seminar will be to read closely Catullus' poetry and to explore the basic interpretative questions that his carmina raise. When the student completes the Institute, it should be possible for s/he to frame a thoughtful answer to the question, "What role does Catullus play within Roman socio-historical and literary perspectives and how does he influence thought for ancient and subsequent readers?" Of course, along the way we will pay close attention to meter and other essentials of the iambic, ancient and modern.Although Catullus has become the paragon of the secondary school AP curriculum, in part because syntactically he is not considered difficult to read, Catullus' poetry does present readers with some complex questions. (1) Foremost, what type of poetry is this (elegy?, iambic?, epigram?) or does Catullus defy any single classification? (2) Do his poems form themselves into a comprehensible poetry book? (3) How does Catullus interact with the revolutionary dynamics developing within Roman society in the first century B.C.? How does he fit within the Roman literary tradition? (4) Exactly how influential was/is Catullus, and does his poetry deserve such a prominent place within the classical canon? These are some of the most basic questions that surround any author, and Catullus remains one of the least understood and most controversial Roman poets. The questions that he forces us to face would predict that his poetry will successfully defend its value - or will it? This question of "value" will be the ultimate question for our seminar this summer.
Books (may be ordered online from bookstores like Amazon; websites for used books will often yield inexpensive copies, e.g. http://www.addall.com):
Texts required:
- Thomson, D.F.S. Catullus: A Critical Edition (Toronto University Press; 2003 revised edition). ISBN: 080208592X
- Garrison, Daniel H. The Student's Catullus, second ed. (University of Oklahoma Press 1995) ISBN: 0-8061-2763-5Secondary Reading:
The secondary reading is designed to provide a basic introduction to Catullus. These books will be available on reserve in the seminar room for the Institute, but you are free to also purchase these from whatever sources you find available.- William Fitzgerald, Catullan Provocations: Lyric Poetry and the Drama of Position (Berkeley 1995).
- H.P. Foley, ed. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays (Princeton 1994).
- S.J. Heyworth, "Catullian Iambics, Catullian Iambi," in A. Cavarzere, A. Aloni, and A. Barchiese, Iambic Ideas (Lanham 2001) 117-140.
Daniel Hooley, The Knotted Thong: Structures of Mimesis in Persius (Michigan 1997).
- Paul Allen Miller, Lyric Texts and Lyric Consciousness: The Birth of A Genre from Archaic Greece to Augustan Rome (London 1994).
- J.K. Newman, Roman Catullus and the Modification of the Alexandrian Sensibility (Hildesheim 1990).
- D.M. O'Higgins, Women and Humor in Classical Greece (Cambridge 2003).
- J. Van Sickle, "The Book-Roll and Some Poetic Conventions of the Poetic Book," Arethusa 13 (1980) 5-42.
- M.L. West, Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique (Stuttgart 1973).
- M.L. West, Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus (Berlin 1974).
- A.L. Wheeler, Catullus and the Traditions of Ancient Poetry (Berkeley 1934).
- David Wray, Catullus and the Poetics of Roman Manhood (Cambridge 2001).
Orientation and Advising:
There will be an orientation for all new distance-learning students. An individual advising session will also be scheduled for all distance-learning students. Details forthcoming.
Registration:
See http://web.classics.ufl.edu/distance/registration.html for registration instructions. Basically, Florida residents register through the Classics Department, and out-of-state students register through DOCE.
Use the following course numbers and sections for registration:
- Graduate students residing in Florida:
LNW6933: Special Topics: Catullus [course]
LNW 6905: Catullus [optional paper]- Graduate students residing outside of Florida:
LNW 6933 (section 4362): Special Topics: Catullus [course]
LNW 6905 (section 5054): Catullus [optional paper]- Undergraduate students:
LNW 4905 (section 5042): Roman Elegy and Lyric
Tuition:
The current in-state tuition rate for graduate courses is $341.29 per credit hour, so 3 credits of LNW 6933 or LNW 6905 would amount to $1023.87. (See http://fa.ufl.edu/ufs/cashiers/fee-tier-20088.asp for details.) Distance Learning students who live outside of Florida will pay a slightly higher rate (usually about $20 more per credit hour, to cover DoCE administrative costs). But at least you're not paying the out-of-state rate of $971.48 per credit hour!
Housing:
Some rooms will be available at the University of Florida Reitz Union hotel, in the middle of campus (no worries about driving or parking!). Also within easy walking distance is the Holiday Inn University Center (http://theuniversityhotel.com; 352-376-1661). There are plenty of low-cost motels off-campus as well; one favorite is the Extended Stayamerica, 3600 SW 42nd St. (352-375-0073).
Parking: more information forthcoming.
Questions? Contact the Distance Graduate Coordinator, Dr. Velvet Yates, at vyates@ufl.edu.
Past Summer Institutes
- View images from the 2007 Christian Authors Institute
- View images from the 2006 Roman Satire Institute
- View images from the 2005 Lucretius Institute
- View images from the 2004 Fasti Institute
- View images from the 2003 Livy Institute
- View images from the 2002 Cicero Institute
- View images from the 1999 Catullus Institute
- View images from the 1998 Latin Institute
