Rewriting Biblical Myth in English Literature

University of Athens                                                                                      Fall 2013

Department of English                                                                                   Seventh Semester                   Instructor: Dr. A. M. Panaghis

                                     Rewriting Biblical Myth in English Literature

The course deals with texts selected from across the spectrum of English literature: 15^th century to the present, with the aim of underlining the reasons that prompted writers to rewrite biblical myths. To convey their social, political, and religious ideas, authors employed biblical myths in order to expose social tensions, point out political instability, analyze religious controversies, and explain wars. The works under review will show that both religious conformity as well as dissent not only played an important role in English politics it also influenced literature throughout the ages. The course will also outline the manner by which biblical myths provided alternative solutions to political deadlocked situations. Finally, the variety of texts (poetry, fiction, and drama) that will be examined will reveal the multiple literary techniques used by writers to blend biblical myths with their artistic vision.

Introduction
1. Theories of myth: Fraser, Eliade, Jung, Frye
2. Defining and outlining Biblical myth
         i. Old Testament
         ii. New Testament
         iii. The Revelations
3. Principles of interpreting Biblical myth
     1. Religious: Aquinas, St. Augustine
     2. Philosophical: Platonism, Neo-Platonism
         i. The Ideal versus reality
         ii. Eden and the Golden age
         iii. Christianized Platonic theory
         iv. Theocentric versus homocentric
         v. Virtue and morality
     3. Psychological: Freud, Jung
         i. Individuation
         ii. Transformation
     4. Socio-Political: Cassirer,White
         i. Historical background
     5. Artistic: Frye, Blake
4. Function of biblical myth in literature
     1. Convey ideas
         i. The concept of Truth
            a. Biblical truth
            b. Artistic truth
         ii. The Chain of Being
         iii. Macrocosm and Microcosm
         iv. Divinity in man and nature
    2. Comment on social events
    3. Analyze religious controversies
         i. Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.
         ii. Religious conformity
         iii. Religious dissent
    4. Point out political instability: The Divine Right of Kings
    5. Explain wars
    6. Create a world vision
5. Pagan versus Christian myth
    1. Classical heritage 
    2. Parallels
    3. Similarities/dissimilarities
    4. Borrowing and blending elements
    5. Artistic vision based on Biblical myth
6. The function of symbolism
7. The function of allegory: literal, tropological (moral), anagogical
8. Typology as a system of exegesis
9. Typology and myth
10. The quest, pilgrimage, and encounter/union with the Divine
11. Religious concepts
       i. Temptation, Sin, and Fall: Milton, Blake, Wilde
       ii. Birth, Sacrifice, and Resurrection: “The Burning Babe,” “Sunset
             on Calvary”
12. Myth as religion: The Holy Bible
13. Myth as ritual: J. Wesson, M. Eliade
14. Myth as a collection of truths: Doty
15. Myth and mysticism
16. Archetypal patterns
       i. Paradise, Purgatory, Hell: Milton
17. Archetypal experiences:
       i. Creation
       ii. Initiation
       iii. Death
       iv. Rebirth and Return
18. Myths as themes:
      i. The myth of creation: Milton, Traherne
      ii. The myth of the Fall: Milton, Wilde
      iii. The conflicting brothers: Byron’s Cain
      iv. The myth of the Deluge: Noah’s Flood
      v. The myth of David: Dryden, Smart
      vi. The myth of Spiritual Death and Rebirth: Spenser, Crashaw,
            Carlyle
      vii. The myth of Sacrifice and Resurrection: “Sunset on Calvary,”
            Herbert, Thomas, Yeats

Primary Reading:

1. Fifteenth-century:
“Sunset on Calvary”
“Adam Lay Bound”
The Chester Play of Noah's Flood
2. Sixteenth-century:
E. Spenser The Faerie Queene Book I (excerpts)
R. Southwell “The Burning Babe”
3. Seventeenth-century:
E. Cary The Tragedy of Miriam
J. Donne “The Ecstasy”
G. Herbert “Easter Wings,” “Love 3”
H. Vaughan “Regeneration,”
R. Crashaw “The Flaming Heart”
T. Traherne “Eden”
J. Milton Samson Agonistes
J. Dryden “Absalom and Achitophel” (excerpts)
J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress
4. Eighteenth-century:
S. Johnson Rasselas
5. Nineteenth century:
W. Blake “The Lamb,” “A Divine Image”
G. G. Byron Cain
G. Meredith “Lucifer in Starlight”
G. M. Hopkins “God's Grandeur,” “The Windhover”
O. Wilde Salome
6. Twentieth-century:
W. B. Yeats “Adam's Curse,” “The Second Coming”
T. S. Eliot “Journey of the Magi"
D.Thomas “There was a Saviour"
T. Hughes “Theology”
G. Greene The End of the Affair

Secondary Reading:
Critical theories: The Norton Anthology: Theory and Criticism
Plato: Ion, The Republic Bks. II, III, X
Plotinus: from the fifth Ennead
A. Jung: “On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry”
N. Frye: “The Archetypes of Literature”
T. Aquinas: Summa Theologica (excerpts)
St. Augustine: On Christian Doctrine (excerpts)
J. Baudrillard: ”The Precession of Simulacra”
H. White: “The Historical Text as Literary Artifact”
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Texts:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Vols. I & II
Pilgrim’s Progress
Salome
The End of the Affair
E-class materials.
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