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The Classical Tradition in European Literature

Code: 104229
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Ancient Studies OP 3
Ancient Studies OP 4
Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics OP 4
English and Classics Studies OP 3
English and Classics Studies OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Joan Gomez Pallares
Email :
joan.gomez@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites.

Objectives

At the end of the assignment the learner will be able to:

  • Understanding concepts: compression of basic concepts related to literary tradition in general and classical tradition in particular.
  • Understanding literary texts: deep understanding of literary texts inscribed in the Western European tradition of any time, country and/or aesthetic current.
  • Identifying and linking concepts: the identification of the thematic, cliché and genres of classical Greek-Latin literature in later European literature. Identification of interactions between different authors, works and periods in the history of literature and analysis of textual and contextual circumstances.
  • Apply professional methodology: purely instrumental and methodological level and in relation to the student's professional future, introduction to some of the tasks of humanistic activity related to literature: criticism, analysis, commentary, editing, exposure...

Learning outcomes

  1. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  2. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  3. Identify the characteristics of the literary genre to which a Greek or Latin literary text belongs.
  4. Explain the basic characteristics of a Greek or Latin literary text.
  5. Identify the ancient Greco-Latin sources that have inspired artists and literati of the western cultural tradition.
  6. Relate the Greco-Latin literary texts to the cultural context of their period.
  7. Write a commentary on a Greek or Latin literary text based on an analysis of the text itself, its cultural context and its subsequent influence.
  8. Recognise the influence of the Greco-Latin literary genres and works in texts of the post-classical European literary tradition.
  9. Express ideas effectively in formal academic texts by adopting argumentative and textual procedures.
  10. Write text commentaries from a critical standpoint.
  11. Summarise the knowledge acquired about the origin of the various fields within the discipline and the transformations they have undergone.
  12. Critically interpret literary works, taking into account the relationships between the different areas within literature and their relationship to humanistic, artistic and social areas.
  13. Identify the ancient Greco-Latin sources that have inspired artists and literati of the Western cultural tradition.
  14. Detect the degree of cohesion and coherence of the different genres and identify the factors that contribute to these and to their suitability in different contexts.
  15. Identify and explain the fundamentals of the literary communication process in each genre and those of the interpretation process based on questions and theoretical and/or practical activities.
  16. Identify different literary elements and their insertion in different texts and styles of discourse.

Contents

  1. Introduction.
  2. Literary topics: from the Classical catabasis to the Commedia of Dante Alighieri.
  3. Epic: from the epic hero to the legend of Alejandro.
  4. Novel: from the Metamorphose of Apuleius in the Picaresca novel.
  5. Lyrics: from the Roman elegiac poetry to the Canzoniere of Petrarch.
  6. Comedy Theatre: from Plautus comedy to Moliere.
  7. Tragic Theatre: from the Seneca tragedy to Shakespeare.

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Practical works 31.5 1.26
Analysis and debate of readings 6 0.24
Study and personal work 35 1.4 1, 5, 7, 13
Supplementary readings 15 0.6 1, 5, 10, 11
Lectures 30 1.2
Compulsory readings 25 1

This is an on-site course. Students are expected to work throughout its duration. Attendance to the lectures will allow the students to properly contextualise the course readings.

Commentary of the readings and cinema talks are scheduled throughout the course. Although there will be no attendance monitoring, attending to the lectures is key to successfully complete this subject. Students will have to do at the end of each unit of the assignment program, which may be of practical work different nature (assay, commentary, bibliographic review) at the teacher's proposal. This work will be delivered within the time frame set by the teacher. in writing Students will have to hold compulsory readings on each of the topics; they will also have supplementary readings that will be voluntary, although some of them may be used to make the practical part of the subject.

COMPULSORY READINGS:

  • Selection of ancient and later texts (Homer, Virgil, Dante).
  • Selection of fragments of Homer, Pseudo-Calysthenes, Plutarch, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Gautier de Châtillon, Historia de preliis, Life of Alejandro.
  • "The tale of Psique and Cupid", in Apuleius, Metamorphose, 4.28 - 6,24.
  • Selection of Latin and later poems.
  • Selection of ancient and later comedy texts.
  • Selection of ancient and later tragedy texts.

SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS:

  • Cervantes, Quijote, parte II, cap. 22.
  • González Rolán, T. & Saquero Suárez-Somonte, P. (2003), "La imagen polimórfica de Alejandro Magno desde la Antigüedad latina al Medievo hispánico: edición y estudio de las fuentes de un desatendido Libro de Alexandre prosificado", 23, núm. 1, pp. 107-152.
  • "Historia de Ozmín y Daraja", en Mateo Alemán, Guzmán de Alfarache , parte I, cap. 8.
  • Pestano Fariña, R. (2005), "La elegía latina. Origen y caracterización", Revista de filología, 23, pp.231-246.
  • Molière, L'avar.
  • Shakespeare, Hamlet.
Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions 40% 1.5 0.06 1
Practical works 20% 4.5 0.18 1
Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

UNIQUE/SINGLE ASSESSMENT

  • At the beginning of the semester, the stueden can choose the way of a uinie/single assessment in the form of the making and redacting an essay, The essay's topic will be decided between student and professor and carried on during the semester,


CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

  • On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

WEIGHT OF ASSESSABLE ACTIVITIES:

  • 40%: Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions (UNITS 1, 2, 3 & 4). Week 8.
  • 40%: Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions (UNITS 5, 6 & 7). Week 16.
  • 20%: Comment, essay, bibliographic review at the end of each unit at the proposal of the teacher.

IMPORTANT REMARKS

  • Students will obtain a not assessed/not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30 % of the assessment items.
  • For a positive evaluation of the course, the final mark must be 5 or higher, with a rating of at least 4 in both written tests.
  • In the re-evaluation process, students may retake ONE of the two written tests (if the mark is lower than 4 or if the global average is lower than 5), but they cannot retake both.
  • On the first day of the oral presentations, every group must hand over an outline & bibliography of their presentation.
  • Any exception to these remarks must count with the explicit approval of the professor.
  • Untaken tests (due to medical emergencies justifiable with a doctor's note) will be taken during the re-evaluation period.
  • In special circumstances, the possibility of improving the final mark during the re-evaluation process may be considered. It will be necessary to talk previously with the professor, since the re-evaluation tests are intended for students who need to retake one of the assessable activities (for a maximum weight of 40%).
  • Erasmus and exchange students who request to advance an exam must present a document from their home university justifying their request.

PLAGIARISME

  • In the event of a student committing anyirregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final ,regardless of any assessment activities grade for this subject.

VIRTUAL OR HYBRID TEACHING

  • In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB's virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.


To be eligible for the resit assessment, students must have been assessed on 2/3 of the total course assessment.

Bibliography

BEARD, M. (2013). La herencia viva de los clásicos , Barcelona: Crítica.

BAKER, P.; HELMRATH, J.; KALLENDORF, C. (2019). Beyond Reception Renaissance Humanism and the Transformation of Classical Antiquity, Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter.

BRIGGS, W.; KALLENDORF, C. (coords.) (2007). . A companion to the classical tradition, (Massachusetts): Blackwell.

CODOÑER, C. (ed.) (1997). Géneros literarios latinos Malden , Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca. Servicio de Publicaciones.

CODOÑER, C. (ed.), (1997). Historia de la literatura latina , Madrid: Cátedra.

FERRERO HERNÁNDEZ, C. (2006). Textos de literatura europea y tradición clásica, Bellaterra: Publicacions UAB.

GARCÍA PÉREZ, D. (2009), Teatro griego y tradición clásica , México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

GONZÁLEZ ROLÁN, T., SAQUERO, P. & LÓPEZ FONSECA, A. (2002), La tradición clásica en España (siglos XIII-XV). Bases conceptuales y bibliográficas, Madrid:Clásicas.

GENETTE, G. (1989), Palimpsestos. La literatura en segundo grado, Madrid: Taurus.

HARDWICK, L.; STRAY, CH. (2011). A Companion to Classical Receptions, Malden (Massachusetts): John Wiley & Sons.

HARRISON, S.J. (ed.) (2001), Texts, ideas, and the classics: scholarship, theory, and classical literature Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.

HERNÁNDEZ MIGUEL, L.A. (2008), La Tradición Clásica. La transmisión de las literaturas griega y latina antiguas y su recepción en las vernáculas occidentales, Madrid: Liceus.

HIGHET, G. (1954). La tradición clásica, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. 2 vols.

HOWATSON, M. C. (1991). Diccionario de la literatura clásica, Madrid: Alianza.

JENKINS, R. (2015). Madrid: Alianza. Un paseo por la literatura de Grecia y Roma, Barcelona: Crítica.

LIDA DE MALKIEL, M.R. (2017), La tradición clásica en España, Madrid:Centro para la Edición de los Clásicos Españoles.

MIOLA, Robert S. (1992), Press. Shakespeare and Classical Tragedy. The Influence of Seneca, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

SANTANA HENRÍQUEZ, G. (2000), Tradición clásica y literatura española, Las Palmas: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

VON ALBRECHT, M. (1997). Historia de la literatura romana , Barcelona: Herder. 2 vols.

WALDE, Ch. (ed.) (2012). Brill's New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 5: The Reception of Classical Literature, Leiden-Boston: Brill.

WINKLER, M.M. (ed.) (2001). Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema, New York: Oxford University Press


WEB RESOURCES

http://pagines.uab.cat/classichum/

http://www.culturaclasica.com

http://interclassica.um.es

http://www.xtec.cat/~sgiralt/

Software

None.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed