Course Credits (3)
What makes us human? What distinguishes us from animals? And what constitutes a human identity? These are questions that writers grappled with throughout antiquity (and still continue to ask today). In Homer’s Odyssey, humans are often in danger of being transformed into animals, and Plato’s Socrates famously questions whether or not he is a savage or gentle beast in the opening of the dialogue, Phaedrus. On the other hand, a human could also be transformed into a more beautiful creature, for instance, by gazing upon a beautiful beloved. This course will explore metamorphosis and conversion literature from antiquity to the 21st century. We will consider questions such as: What makes up a human identity? Can people ever change and what causes them to do so? What are the essential features of identity, and what features are merely accidental? And what outside factors — such as beauty, erotic love, divine epiphany, etc. — can turn us into beauties or beasts? We will explore the two Metamorphoses texts of Ovid and Apuleius, Augustine’s Confessions, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast, and Mary Zimmerman’s recent adaption of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Alongside our analysis of these questions, we will also consider how metamorphosis myths are themselves transformed over time through writing, with de Beaumont reworking Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche, and with Zimmerman re-envisioning Ovid for a modern, progressive audience. As this is a writing course, you will be expected to adapt and transform your writing style to various genres — from research papers to academic-styled op-eds — and to learn how to modulate your writing voice to fit new writing situations. In doing so, we will consider how human communication, too, has metamorphosed, as it were, over time and across media.
About Professor Ulrich
Jeffrey Ulrich is an Associate/Assistant Professor of Classics at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. His research focuses on the Roman novel, Augustan poetry, Greek literature, and classical philology, with published/edited books including The Shadow of an Ass (2024).