GK4132 Writing like a hetaira? The (re-)creation of female voices in the Second Sophistic

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Available to General Degree students with the permission of the Honours Adviser.

Planned timetable

TBC

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr A Schoess

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Ann-Sophie Schoess

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module explores the representation of hetairai in Greek literature and culture, focusing on two set texts that (re-)create and foreground the voices of historical and fictional hetairai: Lucian’s “Dialogues of Courtesans” and Alciphron’s “Letters of Courtesans.” Students examine the ways in which hetairai are portrayed in different sources (speeches, comedies, letters, and dialogues) and discuss the difficulties inherent in studying the lives of ancient female sex-workers through an exclusively male and a predominantly literary lens. Students read the core texts as part of a broader literary and rhetorical tradition, looking not only at the intertextual dialogues in which the authors engage (esp. New Comedy), but also at the ways in which they (re-)create the women’s voices within their own genres. As both primary texts fall under the umbrella of the so-called Second Sophistic, students also explore the cultural and literary markers of this movement within the Imperial Period.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

40 CREDITS FROM GK2001, GK2002, GK2003, GK2004, OR GK3021/22

Assessment pattern

Coursework - 60%, Written exam 40%

Re-assessment

Written exam - 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

2h seminar (x11 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

22

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

278

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • engage critically with literary representations of hetairai in Greek literature and with their modern receptions, and to discuss them within broader historical, cultural, and literary contexts.
  • identify and discuss connections between the treatment of sex-work and gender in Greek literature and broader issues raised by modern critical feminist and gender theory.
  • recognise and describe the characteristic features of epistolary and dialogue forms in the Second Sophistic.
  • analyse the language, content, narrative techniques, and style of the texts.
  • demonstrate expertise and advanced skills in translating these and related texts, seen and unseen, into good English.
  • devise sophisticated, wide-ranging, and coherent arguments on critical research questions related to the prescribed texts on the basis of a thorough analysis of the primary text and the critical analysis of published scholarship.