To all juniors: have a great trip! (I’m trying really hard to prevent myself from mentioning the hero’s journey. ((Oh well.)) )

We began last week with a discussion of your Job analyses, looking over the trials he endured in preparation for his atonement and epiphany. Returning to Ovid, we read the story of Pentheus and Bacchus, which nicely wrapped up our conversation about Campbell’s atonement. The frame story of the Daughters of Minyas continued the theme of refusal and pride while the stories told by the girls highlighted the gods’ (often tragic) intervention in human affairs. In our discussion of final stories of Perseus, we highlighted Ovid’s skepticism of the greatness of the classic heroes and penchant for epic fights underscored with pathos.

Next week will be a little different, as most of the class will be out for the trip. Monday and Tuesday will be a recap of Campbell’s chapter on apotheosis in preparation for the “Ultimate Boon” and the hero’s return. We will also work through comparisons (these are the “Literary Connections” you are making in your journals) in preparation for the essay due Friday after next (April 22nd). These are very similar in structure to the essays you wrote at the beginning of this year, but should reflect your growing understanding of Campbell’s theories. We’ll discuss these further and look at a few examples in class at the end of this week.

Read and journal “Book I” of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. For bonus life points, read (and journal, always) the first section of “Emanations” from Campbell.

In the second half of this course, we’ll be reading selections from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces as we finish up our reading of Ovid. Be sure to read through book 10 before Monday.

Note: This video contains mild violence from the movie Matrix. Use your best judgment.

On with the show.

We’ve been working on breaking down Ovid’s tales into their most basic elements, and I’ve often used modern works to illustrate that the themes (jealousy, unrequited love, change, naïveté) are being pondered still, two millennia after they put down by the Roman.

Your objective over the break (as you continue journaling for our discussion of Book V on Monday) is to find as many connections to these ancient stories in modern works as you can. Here are a few I may have mentioned before. I’m using music, but look in movies, television, advertising, novels, and the like for inspiration.

See if you can name the stories:

“Running Bear” is the story of two young Native Americans separated by a “raging river.” This, like many of the teenage tragedy songs of the ‘50s and ‘60s, ends badly for both. (It also gives us insight into the offensive mid-20th Century opinions of other cultures.)

A bit more modern, this track from the Decemberists’ Castaways and Cutouts tells the story of two other star-crossed lovers:

A subgenre of the teenage tragedy is the car crash ballad. Here’s one of the most famous:

This one had to be included:

Lastly, this song from Thrice subverts the moral from one of our myths. Or maybe they just didn’t get it: