CCIV 272: Reading Roman Decadence

Molly Pasco-Pranger
Fall 2002 MW 2:40-4:00
Science Center 339

e-mail: mpranger@wesleyan.edu
phone: x2082
office: SC 345
office hours: MW 9:30-10:30, F 1-3 or by appointment

objectives and format

schedule

assignments

on-line resources

further reading

Roman Decadence
homepage

MPP's homepage

e-mail MPP

Classics homepage

Wesleyan homepage

Weeks 1-2: Modern Decadence and Rome

Reminder: Each student must complete one response paper during this unit.

Wednesday 9/4

Introduction to the course, expectations, assignments.

First images.

First crack at defining terms: What is "decadence"? When is Roman decadence?

Monday 9/9

READING:

R. Hughes, Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America, pp. 1-10 (reserve).

J. Riggenbach, "The Decay of Authority," 101-111 in In Praise of Decadence. (reserve).

Karl Galinsky, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Are There Modern Parallels?, " pp. 52-73 in Classical and Modern Interactions: Postmodern Architecture, Multiculturalism, Decline, and Other Issues (reserve).

QUESTIONS: To what rhetorical purpose are each of these social critics activating images of Roman decadence? What does decadence entail or mean for each of them?

Further reading.

Wednesday 9/11

READING:

R. Gilman, Decadence: The Strange Life of an Epithet, Ch. 1-2 (reserve).

Livy, preface (called "Front Matter" in this on-line TOC).

Juvenal, Satire 6 (handout).

QUESTIONS: How are ideas of decadence activated in each of the two Roman sources? To what purposes? Is the rhetoric of decadence consistent within or between the sources?
Copyright 2002 Molly Pasco-Pranger. All rights reserved.