Engl. 555/755

Goddess Myths & Literature


Fall Semester 2011

MWF 11:00-11:50, Grubbs 312

Instructor: Dr. K. Nichols

E-mail: knichols11@cox.net

Reading Schedule

Week One

M 08/22

  • Introduction; visit Computer Lab, Grubbs 100

PREHISTORIC GODDESSES

W 08/24

  • Baring: Ch. 1 Paleolithic Mother Goddess 3-23 [as bird, cave, moon]

F 08/26

  • Baring: Ch. 2 Neolithic Great Goddess 53-56 [Old Europe/Gimbatus]; 70-74 [bear,doe, dog, butterfly, bee]; 82-88 [Catal: birth-giving goddess]; 93-101 [megaliths].

Week Two

BRONZE AGE GODDESSES OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

M 08/29

  • Baring: Ch. 3 Crete 110-12 [Crete, snake goddess]; 112-17 [double-axe]; 118-120 [bee goddess]; 123-26 [bird]; 127-8 [regeneration]; 137-44 [legend of the Minotaur].
  • Baring: Ch. 4 Bronze Age 155-58 [invasions].


W 08/31

  • Baring: Ch. 5 Inanna-Ishtar [Sumeria] 175-78
  • Jaffar: Lit. Texts--"Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" 23-8 and "Descent of Inanna" 28-40
  • Baring: Ch. 5 Inanna-Ishtar (Descent 216-222)

F 09/02


Week Three

M 09/05

  • LABOR DAY HOLIDAY (no class)

W 09/07

  • Baring: Ch. 6 Isis of Egypt 245-66

F 09/09

  • Jaffar: Ch. 3 Tiamat 42-45, and Lit. Text: “Babylonian Creation” 46-65
  • Baring: Ch. 7 Hero Myth 290-6

Week Four

HELLENIC GODDESSES [GREEK/ROMAN]

M 09/12

  • Baring: Ch. 8 Goddesses of Greece [Gaia, Hera, Artemis] 299-332, and Lit. Texts: Homer, “Hymn to Gaia” 303-4 and “Hymn to Artemis” 320-1
  • Online Art: Hera seated on a throne; Artemis Ephesia; Artemis hunting.

  • REPORT #2: Monaghan, Goddesses in World Culture, Vol. II: "Gaia: Dynamic, Diverse, Source and Place of Being," 143-51 (library reserve)

W 09/14


F 09/16

  • Aeschylus, Oresteia: Agamemnon

  • TAKE-HOME EXAM #1 ASSIGNED. Due 9/23.

Week Five

M 09/19

  • Aeschylus, Oresteia: The Libation Bearers

W 09/21

  • Aeschylus, Oresteia: The Eumenides

F 09/23

  • TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE (no class). Submit as an email attachment (.doc or .rtf file), or slide a hard copy under my office door, Grubbs 450.

Week Six

M 09/26


W 09/28

  • Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 1/4 of the novel.

F 09/30

  • Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 1/2 of the novel.

  • *REPORT #4: Womanspirit Rising: Carol P. Christ, Why Women Need the Goddess 273-86 (online or on library reserve)

Week Seven

M 10/03

  • Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 3/4 of the novel.

W 10/05

  • Kate Chopin, The Awakening--finish the novel.

F 10/07


Week Eight

M 10/10


ASIAN GODDESSES

W 10/12


F 10/14


Week Nine

ROMAN GODDESS OF THE IRON AGE

M 10/17

  • Baring: Ch. 10 Cybele 391-405; 405-412 [rites; Attis; Green Man]; 413-15 [sacrifice, mysteries].

  • *REPORT #7: Womanspirit Rising: Starhawk, "Witchcraft and Women's Culture" 259-68 (library reserve).

JUDAISM, ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY: WHERE ARE THE GODDESSES?

W 10/19


F 10/21

  • FALL BREAK (no class)

    NOTE: Grad. students should begin reading their outside novels about now.

Week Ten

M 10/24

  • Baring: Ch. 13 Eve 522-29; 537-43
  • Jaffar: Hawwa 227-32
  • Baring: Ch. 12 Hidden Goddesses of the OT [Asherah/Astarte] 454-66
  • Online Lit. Text/Art: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Astarte Syriaca (image) and Astarte Syriaca (poem)

W 10/26

  • Baring: Ch. 12 [Sophia/Hokhmah/Song of Songs] 470-84
  • Baring: Ch. 15 Gnosticism [Sophia] 617-24; 627-34. Lit. Text: “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” 630-31
  • Baring: Ch. 15 Shekinah 638-43
  • Online Lit. Text: Marge Piercy, Wellfleet Sabbath

  • TAKE-HOME EXAM #2 ASSIGNED. Due 11/02.

  • *REPORT #8: Womanspirit Rising: Pagel, "What Became of God the Mother" 107-117 (library reserve).

F 10/28

  • Baring: Ch. 14 Mary: Return of the Goddess 556-72; Black Virgin 543-47
  • Jaffar: Maryamm 238-40
  • Online Lit. Text: Priscilla Baird Hinkley, Our Mother Who Art in Earth--scroll down to bottom half of page.

  • REPORT #9: Baring, "Sophia: Alchemy, Grail, Cinderella" 647-58 (Baring textbook).

Week Eleven

CELTIC GODDESSES

M 10/31


W 11/02

  • TAKE-HOME EXAM #2 DUE (no class). Submit as an email attachment (.doc or .rtf file), or slide a hard copy under my office door, Grubbs 450.

AFRICAN AND NATIVE AMERICAN GODDESSES

F 11/04


Week Twelve

M 11/07

  • Monaghan, Goddesses in World Culture, Vol. 3: Gran Brijit: Haitian Vodou 123-32 (library reserve)
  • Monaghan, Goddesses in World Culture, Vol. 3: La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre: Cuba's Virgin of Charity 111-19 (library reserve).

    NOTE: Grad. students should begin researching their goddess topics about now.

W 11/09


F 11/11


Week Thirteen

M 11/14


W 11/16

  • Video: Goddess Remembered (54 min)

F 11/18

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp.

Week Fourteen

M 11/21

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp. (1/4 of the novel).

  • PAPER #2 DUE. Place it in my mailbox or slide it under my office door (Grubbs 450).

    NOTE: Grad. students should begin writing their extra papers about now.

W - F 11/23 - 11/27

  • THANKSGIVING VACATION (no class)

Week Fifteen

M 11/28

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp.

W 11/30

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp. (1/2 of the novel).

F 12/02

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp.

Week Sixteen

M 12/05

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp. (3/4 of the novel).

  • TAKE-HOME EXAM #3 ASSIGNED. Due Mon., 12/11.

W 12/07

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp.

F 12/09

  • Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes--read about 58 pp. (finish novel).

  • ENGL 755 PAPER DUE: Today, or by Wed., Dec. 14, at the latest.


FINALS: TAKE-HOME EXAM #3 due Mon., Dec. 12 (or Dec. 13).








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