CLSICS 290: Lovers, Slaves, & Shipwrecks: The Origins of the Novel

Novels of adventure, love, fantasy, travel, and social satire originated among the Greeks and Romans. The best known examples from antiquity are the Satyricon of Petronius and The golden Ass of Apuleius, but novels continued to be written in Latin well into the eighteenth century A.D., and were hugely popular. This course will introduce students to this long tradition. The course will focus on deep shifts in gender roles and sexuality, cultures, ethnicity, multiculturalism, fantasy, and science fiction.