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These
courses focus on the interpretation of classical literature,
poetry, and the mythic aspects of culture. Contemporary film
and literature are also considered from a mythic perspective.
Mythology’s role in the social realm and the natural
environment is considered, as well as how modern cosmologies
and evolutionary theories function as contemporary myths.
Cultural
Mythologies I, II, III
MS
514, 614, 714........ 2 Units each
Psychological
life is situated in the complexities of politics, media, architecture,
technology, economics, and history. These courses draw on
key theories from a range of disciplines to examine the underlying
archetypal patterns influencing personal experience and the
cultural institutions which, in turn, shape and display our
quandaries, aspirations, and needs. Repeatable for credit
depending on topic.
Folklore
and Fairy Tales
MS
602........ 2 Units
The archetypal interpretation of folktales and fairy tales is the focus of this course. Principal themes include: theories concerning the origin and dissemination of folktales; review of mythological, sociological, and psychological approaches to the study of fairy tales; the purpose and meaning of violence in fairy tales; parallels between the archetypal motifs of fairy tales and their manifestation on psychology and culture.
Ritual
MS
603........
2 Units
Myth and ritual are inextricably related. This course proposes that ritual offers an equally eloquent, though no-discursive, commentary on the human condition. The aims are: to make students familiar with classic theories of ritual process; to explore comparatively fundamental ritual phenomena across cultures, such as: the initiation, divination, purification and healing, pilgrimage, sacrifice, masking, and funerary rituals; to assess the association of myth and ritual in religious traditions and depth psychology.
Epic
Imagination
MS
604........ 2 Units
Epics
are stories created by the poet to give an entire people a
sense of their history and their destiny. As stories that
give shape and coherence to their collective myth, epics engage
the figure of the epic hero, who either breaks through the
conventional wisdom of the people or re-establishes their
most profound wishes.
Psyche
and Nature
MS
615........ 2 Units each
Geographies
of paradise, wilderness, frontier, desert, and ocean are mythic
interior landscapes as well as external habitations of divinities
and demons, where the individual experiences tests, revelations,
and illuminations. This course explores external landscapes
and their (archetypal) analogues as mythopoetic spaces to discern
how mythic consciousness is rooted in the poetry of landscapes.
Myth and the Underworld
MS
619........ 3 Units
The underworld is place, condition and situation. This course explores both the journey to, the dwelling within, and the departure from, this nether region of the soul. Poetic renderings of the Underworld offer the richest repositories for the insights gleaned in this arena. The inescapable journey down and into the realm of the invisibles, where figures who journey there begin to discern its patterns, its darkness, and its treasures, is the focus of this course. In the Underworld, the archetypal ground of being is confronted most directly. Works from the early Sumerian period to contemporary psychological and literary illustrations will amplify the complexity of this depth.
Mythic Motifs
in Cinema
MS
626........ 2 Units
An
application of the concepts of depth psychology to the analysis
of film. Using the archetypal method, the instructor presents
selected portions of films to disclose underlying themes and
archetypal patterns, in an effort to illustrate as wide a
range of archetypal characters as possible. Television fiction
series may occasionally be included.
Mythopoetic Images
MS
727........
2 Units
This
course explores the confluence of mythology and poetics through an exploration of the language, imagery, geography, and themes of merging in classical and contemporary works of literature and myth. Its method will include a hermeneutics of aesthetic intuition in order to prepare students for dissertation topics and research in literary studies.
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