Honors World Literature I Summer Reading Assignment / pg. 1

Bergen County Academies
HONORS World Literature I

SUMMER READING


These instructions, and the Summer Reading assignments, are also available at the following address, under Summer Reading/Oedipus and Course Intro:

"Here I am myself—you all know me, the world knows my fame:
I am Oedipus."

BERGEN COUNTY ACADEMIES

HONORS WORLD LITERATURE I
SUMMER 2012 READING/WRITING ASSIGNMENT

TEXT:Sophocles, The Theban Plays.You need to have the translation by Robert Fagles (ISBN: 0140444254).

ReadOedipus the Kingand Antigone, in that order.

Then, read the following materials, all available on under “Summer Reading”:

  • Aristotle, Poetics, parts VI – XI.You may also refer to this website ( to help clarify some of Aristotle’s terms.
  • “The Uses of Fiction”, from The Art Instinct.
  • “Theseus Within the Labyrinth” by Stephen Dobyns,and “A Man Gets Off Work Early” by Thomas Lux

Your writing assignment: write at least 300 words in response to each of the following three prompts. Make sure each response is separate and clearly identifies the prompt you are responding to. You will be extending one of these responses into a formal writing assignment, so make each response thoughtful and include some clear detail to support your ideas.

Prompt 1)

Regarding Poetics:

Aristotle introduces the following concepts: reversal, recognition (otherwise known as epiphany), unity of plot (or unity of action) and the inspiring of pity and fear. Discuss how one of these tragic elements presents itself in either Oedipus the King or Antigone (you may NOT use any example Aristotle himself cites). Be clear and specific when referring to events of the play in question (it may help to assume that your reader has not previously read the play).

Prompt 2)

Regarding “Uses of Fiction”from The Art Instinct

In the chapter “Uses of Fiction” from Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct, Dutton argues that fiction evolved because of the “interests human beings have in love, death, adventure, family, justice, and overcoming adversity”(page 132); these interests helped human beings learn universal life lessons that helped them survive in the world. He also speaks specifically to the things that make Sophocles’s plays so compelling. What universal lessons can Oedipus the King and Antigone teach us about the human condition? How universal are the themes and ideas in the plays? Be specific in your response.

Prompt 3)

Regarding “Theseus within the Labyrinth” by Stephen Dobyns and “A Man Gets off Work Early” by Thomas Lux

Each of these poems comments on an event. The Dobyns poem gives us a new view of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (original version: The Lux poem comments on a popular story (maybe urban legend) of a man who gets scooped up by an airtanker while scuba diving and is subsequently dumped onto a forest fire. Use these poems to consider the Choral passages in Sophocles and how they comment on the events that just occurred. In your response, consider what a more modern Chorus would say about the events of a particular moment in either play. Do our contemporary ideas about fate differ from those presented in the play? Do we have a different perspective about tragedy?