English
360.301 Comp. Lit 361.401
DRLB 2 C8
David Espey Bennett 203 215-898-7346
despey@english.upenn.edu
Office Hours: T-Th 2-3 and by Appt.
“The grand object of traveling is to see the shores of the
Mediterranean.”
--Dr. Samuel Johnson
“Travelers since the Renaissance have returned to the Mediterranean
as a cultural Eden. And yet…it has been turned into a comparative
desert by
political and industrial fiascos and by the post-World War II influx of
tourists.”
--Robert Eisner, Travelers to an Antique Land
To American, British, and European writers and travelers of the 20th
century, the Mediterranean offered the pleasures of sun, sea, classical
ruins, exotic cultures, erotic excitement, and escape from the
oppressions of modern urban industrial society. This course will
examine fiction and non-fiction about modern travel to the countries of
the Mediterranean. Paul Theroux's travel book, The Pillars of Hercules:
A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean, will provide the route of the
course--from Spain eastward through France, Italy, the Balkan
peninsula, Greece and Turkey, Syra, Israel and Palestine, then
returning westward through North Africa.
We'll focus on the relation of literary modernism to travel; on the
ways that modern writers romanticize Mediterranean culture, landscape,
and the primitive; and on political and cultural issues arising from
travel. Written work for the course will include five short seminar
papers (1-2 pp.), frequent e-mail postings, and mid-term and final
essays which may be revised.
Texts: (House of Our Own Bookstore)
The Pillars of Hercules Paul Theroux Movies:
Mediterraneo
The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
Cinema Paradiso
Giovanni's Room James Baldwin
Zorba the Greek
Bread and Wine Ignazio Silone
Death in Venice Thomas Mann
Turkish Reflections Mary Lee Settle
Mountolive Lawrence Durrell
The Immoralist Andre Gide
The Stranger Albert Camus
Coursepack Campus Copy Center
Tu., Jan. 14 Introduction
Th., Jan 16 Fussell, “That Splendid Enclosure,” “The New
Heliopoly,”
Lawrence, “Sun” Littlewood, “The Cult of the Sun” (Packet) I
Tu., Jan 21 Howe, “The Idea of the Modern” (Packet), II
Hemingway, “A Clean, Well Lighted Place”
Arnold, “Dover Beach” Camus, “Love of Life”
Th., Jan. 23 Theroux, The Pillars of Hercules, 1-81 (Spain)
Fussell, “From Exploration to Travel to
Tourism” III, IV
Capote, “A Train Ride Through Spain” (Packet)
Tu., Jan 28 The Sun Also Rises #1
Th. Jan. 30 The Sun Also Rises
Tu., Feb. 4 Giovanni's Room I
Th., Feb. 6 Giovanni's Room II
Tu., Feb. 11 Theroux, 82-224 (France, Italy) #2
Hemingway, “Cat in the Rain” (Packet)
Tennyson, “Ulysses”
Th., Feb. 13 Mediterraneo (movie) III
Tennyson, “The Lotos Eaters”
Tu., Feb. 18 Death in Venice IV
Th., Feb. 20 Death in Venice I
Tu., Feb. 25 Bread and Wine #3
Th., Feb. 27 Bread and Wine
Tu., Mar. 4 Cinema Paradiso (movie) II
Theroux, 244-288 (Slovenia, Croatia, Albania)
Th., Mar. 6 Theroux, 288-334 (Mediterranean Cruise) III
(First essay due)
Eisner “Quo Vadis Now, Traveler?”
Tu., Mar. 18 Zorba the Greek (movie) IV
Mary Morris, “Women and Travel” (Packet)
Th., Mar 20 Theroux, 334-405 (Istanbul, Alexandria, Israel,
Turkish Cyprus)
Jan Morris, “City of Yok” I
Tu., Mar. 25 Turkish Reflections II
Th., Mar. 27 Turkish Reflections III (First essay revision
due)
“Armenian Holy Site Faces Ruin”
Feiler, from Walking the Bible (Packet)
Tu., Apr. 2 Mountolive, #4
Th., April 4 Mountolive
Tu., April 8 The Immoralist IV
Th., April 10 The Immoralist I, II
Tu., April 15 The Stranger #5
Th., April 17 The Stranger
Tu., April 22 Theroux, 406-482 (Syria, Greek Cyprus, Tunisia) III
Bowles, “Tea on the Mountain” “By the Water,” “A Distant Episode”
Th., April 24 Theroux, 483-509 (Morocco) IV
“Remembering Paul Bowles” (http://peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2002/0201/201wrwr.html)
Constantine Cafavy, “Ithaca” (Packet)
Review, Evaluations
Th., May 8 Final Essay Due (For revision, first draft by May
5)