I will be lecturing on Homer, his Iliad, later this morning. It is one of thirteen classes of a fifteen week course ambitiously titled “European Literature and Thought”… With an introductory lecture to talk about the scope and LIMITATIONS of such an absurdly titled course, and a final class in which the students will give presentations on an author of their choice (subject to approval…)…
So which thirteen writers and works would you include in such a course, bearing in mind the EXPECTED target was Japanese female university students…? (The ACTUAL students turn out to be English-speaking foreign students, so I am scrambling to upgrade the content of my lectures… ;))
My own choices include: 2 Greeks, 1 Roman, 3 Italians, 1 French, 1 Spanish, 4 from the British Isles, and a German-speaking Austro-Hungarian Jew. 11 Male writers and 2 female writers. There is at least one poet, philosopher, political thinker, dramatist and novelist in the bunch.
Apologies to the Russians.