Homer's Odyssey and Gilgamesh

Description

1. Select appropriate evidence from the primary texts. Pick concise quotations that back up your thesis statement. Discuss those quotations used so that you explain exactly how they relate to your thesis. Format the citations in MLA format for each text correctly both in parenthetical in-text citations and on your Works Cited page. You must make an argument, which means that you should have a clear thesis statement, evidence in support of your thesis, counterargument and rebuttal. You should also consider why your argument matters (i.e. the “so what” question).
2. Texts covered must include The Odyssey and at least two of its retellings. You may use all three retellings of the Odyssey if you would like (although you should make sure that you discuss the works in sufficient depth if you choose to include all three retellings.)

Komunyakaa, Yusef, and Chad Gracia. Gilgamesh: a Verse Play. Wesleyan University Press, 2009.
Kovacs, Maureen G. The Epic of Gilgames
Homer. Odyssey. Translated by Stanley Lombardo, Hackett Pub.
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. The Penelopiad: the Myth of Penelope and Odysseus. Canongate Books, 2006
Glück Louise. Meadowlands.

Are the books used.

CHOOSE ONE TOPIC :

1. RETELLINGS & THEMATIC SIGNIFICANCE: The retellings of the Odyssey that we have studied – Meadowlands, The Penelopiad, and O Brother, Where Art Thou – explore various themes from The Odyssey in a new light. For example, the themes of identity, storytelling, love and loss, and homecoming are each explored across the various texts, as are other themes. For this essay topic, choose one of those themes and evaluate it across multiple retellings. Make an argument regarding which adaptation is most successful at exploring a key theme. You will have to explain why you have chosen this adaptation as the most successful, and you may want to consider the different genres that the adaptations are written in as you do so.
   a. Present at least one counterargument, and use two secondary sources as you build this argument.
2. SUCCESSFUL CHARACTER REINTERPRETATIONS: The Penelope that is presented in Atwood’s Penelopiad is strikingly different from the Penelope who appears in The Odyssey in some ways, but she is also deeply rooted in Homer’s text. Similarly, the Telemachus who appears in Glück’s Meadowlands is both grounded in The Odyssey and also a loose interpretation of the character. Lastly, the characters in O Brother, Where Art Thou retain some similarities to the Homeric epic, but they also widely diverge from the source text. Make an argument concerning which of the three retellings is more successful in reinterpreting a central character from the Odyssey. So, for this assignment, you would choose one character from The Odyssey and how he/she has been adapted across at least two of the retellings.
   a. Note that you’ll have to explain how you evaluate these reinterpretations. Textual fidelity does not have to be the primary marker of success here. Present at least one counterargument, and use two secondary sources as you build this argument.
3. GENRES AND ADAPATIONS: Over the course of this semester, we have read two epics, Gilgamesh and The Odyssey. We have also studied multiple genres that retold these epics, ranging from drama, science fiction television, lyric poetry, the novel, and film. Along the way, we have discussed specific features of these genres that would help us understand how the genre helps to shape the story that is being told. Definitions of each of these genres have been collected onto a handout titled “Literary Genre definitions for Essay Question” which has been posted on our Blackboard site where this assignment handout is kept. For this question, you should answer the question: which genre has reshaped the original subject matter in the most successful way, and why?
   a. Consider at least three adaptations of either Gilgamesh or The Odyssey, and make an argument for one of the genres as more successful at shaping an adaptation than the others. Discuss at least three genres, consider how they may be considered successful or unsuccessful through the use of specific evidence, and consider counterarguments. Use two secondary sources as you create this argument.