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English
SPRING 2009 SENIOR SEMINAR (ENGLISH 499): THE BIRTH OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
It is difficult for moderns to imagine literature without autobiography. Autobiography is a staple of contemporary writing. Yet there was a period in the west when there was no autobiography; when even the idea of autobiography was scorned; when ideas of the self were different than those we cherish. We will investigate the reasons for such absence and the idea of the self in late antiquity. We will read a few selections of autobiography from Cicero's "Brutus" and from Aelius Aristedes's "Sacred Tales". However, the two principal texts which we will read are the "Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity" -- a prison memoir written by a 22 year old woman who was killed in the amphitheater in Carthage in the year 203 and the first autobiography composed in the west -- and the justifiably famous "Confessions" of St. Augustine. The "Confessions" are demonstrably one of the most important books written in the western tradition and have also had a profound influence on modern America. There will be a single paper requiredand the topic will be decided on in consultation with each student.This course will be taught by Dr. Thomas Heffernan.