Journeys to the Underworld

What is the course about?

This in-college literature course explores various examples of the journey to the underworld in classical Greek, Roman and modern literature. Odysseus and Aeneas both descend into the underworld in the Odyssey and Aeneid respectively as part of their heroic journeys. The poet-musician Orpheus travels to the underworld to bring back his beloved wife, Eurydice, from death. Persephone is abducted into the underworld by Pluto and is allowed to return to earth for half the year following the embassy of her mother, Demeter. Dionysus leads a comic troupe to the underworld in order to rescue Athens from herself. We will investigate what it means to travel into, and return from, the underworld in each of these texts (via extracts from longer works) and analyse what this journey is made to mean.

We will also explore how twentieth-century and contemporary writers re-visit this classical motif, adapting it to politicised concerns and re-constituting an underworld as, respectively, a site of colonial exploitation and horror (Joseph Conrad); a means of re-writing myth through a feminist perspective (Margaret Atwood); and drawing out the complexities of mother-daughter relationships (Elena Ferrante).

What will we cover?

We will start with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Virgil’s Georgics IV. We will then see how Margaret Atwood re-writes the myth via her ‘Orpheus I’, ‘Orpheus II’ and ‘Eurydice’ poems, casting a distinctively cynical eye over the gendered power dynamics of the original story. We will then explore the heroic epic journeys of Odysseus and Aeneas in book 11 of the Odyssey and book 6 of the Aeneid, before analysing how Joseph Conrad turns the colonial project of the Belgian Congo into a new hell in his Heart of Darkness.

Moving on to the Persephone myth, we will look at how the abduction of Demeter’s daughter appears in the Greek Homeric Hymn to Demeter; and how it is re-written by Ovid in his Metamorphoses for a Roman audience. We will then explore Elena Ferrante’s take on this story of a complicated mother-daughter relationship in her The Lost Daughter. We will end the course with Aristophane’s comic drama, Frogs, with a riotous descent into the underworld that also explores the role of literature and theatre in the nascent Athenian democracy.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

Think critically and comparatively about the literary trope of katabasis or the journey to the underworld and have an understanding of what functions it can play in culture.

Begin to understand the theories around classical reception and intertextuality, and how we can think about the relationships between texts that cross time periods and cultures.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is suitable for anyone with an interest in mythology, poetry and literature and you don’t have to have studied literature formally.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught by tutor presentations/introductions each week followed by small group close readings and full-class discussion. You will be required to do the weekly reading in advance of the class. As there are two novellas and one play, the schedule will intersperse these with shorter poetry weeks to spread the reading. If you can read Heart of Darkness, The Lost Daughter and/or Frogs in advance this would prove helpful to you.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Handouts will be provided for the Orpheus and Eurydice poetry (Ovid, Virgil, Atwood) and the Persephone poetry (Ovid, Homeric Hymn to Demeter). You should arrange to buy or borrow copies of the Odyssey and Aeneid: I would recommend the Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey in Penguin, and the David West translation of The Aeneid in Penguin, or the Frederick Ahl translation of The Aeneid by Oxford. You should also arrange to buy or borrow Aristophanes’ Frogs (Penguin Classics: in The Wasps, The Poet and the Women, and The Frogs), Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Penguin Classics, Vintage or Oxford World Classics) and Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter (Europa Editions, 2006).

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Look for other literature courses under Culture, History and Humanities at www.citylit.ac.uk.