Eng2800: Mapping the Ancient World

For my discussion based on Ibn Battuta, Travels and The Book of John Mandeville, I am going to talk about the similarities and differences between Ibn Battuta’s Travels and The Book of John Mandeville. Both Battuta and Mandeville travel the across the world to learn about the different cultures and worshipping styles of people from foreign countries. However, the experiences that they face seem to be differ. While Battuta’s experience seems more serene, Mandeville’s experience seems to be more exaggerated. Do you agree with this statement? How does the culture/mindset of the people from Battuta’s story compare to the culture/mindset of the people from Mandeville’s story?

As I was researching the stories, I came across an article online, The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville by Josephine Waters Bennett. In this article, Josephine attempts to prove the existence of of John Mandeville because many readers and scholars doubt his existence. “It’s author’s reputation has seesawed with the shifting estimation of his work. His integrity, his identity, his very existence have been questioned.” This article led me to come up with a possible discussion topic. As readers, we cannot fully rely on the accounts of John Mandeville. “John Mandeville reassures us, once again, of the utter reliability of his half-truthful story of wonders” Some sources also argue that John Mandeville did not exist or if he did exist, his travel was not as extensive as he says. Does knowing that John Mandeville’s stories may be a lie, impact us as readers? Or does it not affect us at all?

Remember that you need to respond to one student’s post by the end of the day Sept 30 (which marks the end of Unit 1). You are welcome to respond to posts previously published. This is going towards your participation grade so don’t forget!

Hey Everyone,

Here are a few of the questions we’ll be discussing our next class. The reading was really intense, and a bit hard to understand so please feel free to bring some of your own questions to class as well if you like.

1) Moretti, in this literary criticism Graphs, Maps,Trees, stresses the relevance of maps in literature. he begin his arguement by asking; what are literary maps, and what can they do that can’t be done with words? What are your thoughts on that?

2) Moretti concluded his argument/criticism by giving us his answer for what he believe maps do. He states that “they are a good way to prepare a text for analysis…… you reduce the text to a few elements, and abstract them from the narrative flow, and construct a new artificial object like the maps. Does this seem to you, a good way to analyst a literary text? why or why not?
 

We will be watching this in class today, but if you happen to miss class – here are the instructions for how to use TourBuilder (for your assignment due Oct 7)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYiOmQeClvk

For my part of the discussion based on Books 17 to 24 I will want to discuss closer the character of Odysseus’ s wife, Penelope. In my opinion Penelope is a very complex character. While it is hard not to agree that her husband, Odysseus is easily describable as a cunning and brave hero I find it much harder to assess Penelope’s personality. It can be assumed that such champion as Odysseus deserves a great wife that can at least match his virtues. Is Penelope as strong as Odysseus, is she worthy being a wife of this Greek iconic hero? Does she reflect the traits that Odysseus has? Is her way of handling the absence of her husband and harassment of the suitors worth admiring just as much as how Odysseus fought his way back home or does it prove that Penelope is a weak person?

The article that inspired me to ask these and similar question is Penelope’s Role in the Odyssey: Ideal Wife and Lover – A Female Odysseus by Alex Sisti. The author of this article claims that Penelope is the equal of Odysseus and fully worth being his wife. As the title of the article suggest, Alex Sisti goes even further and says and she is the female version of Odysseus and is an example of a perfect Homeric wife and lover. Do you agree with this? Do you admire Penelope as a character and do you put her on the same level as Odysseus? Which virtues makes her Odysseus soul mate and which of her characteristics speaks against her? Is Penelope a woman that you could admire rigtht now, in our reality?

For today’s class the theme I will be exploring is revenge in the final books of the Odyssey. This epic contains several instances of revenge , both from the gods and mortals. Keep in mind the nature of revenge, which includes but is not limited to destruction, justice, pain, and healing. I will be focusing various acts of revenge throughout the epic, making connections to the Ancient Greek World. Can you imagine of a time you sought revenge for something in a drawn out and extensive manner?

The scholarly article that I picked is The Formulation of the Revenge Motif in the Odyssey by F. W. Jones. Here is the direct JSTOR link to the article. http://www.jstor.org/stable/283049. The article explores the development and pacing of revenge in the Odyssey. It refers to different scenes throughout Odyssey where revenge is foreshadowed or directly expressed and connects it to the overall structure.

My name is Gregory Szymanski. My major is Finance. I don’t have one favorite book, as there are several books that I like equally. I do have a favorite author. His name is Terry Pratchett and I really enjoy reading his Discworld series.

My name is Shawn Jose. I am a management major and my favorite book is Ender’s Game.

Hello my name is Danielle Thomas. This is my first semester at Baruch and I would like to major in either Finance or Accounting. My favorite book thus far is The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Hi, my name is Chandanie Mansook, this is my first semester in Baruch college my major is accounting but I plan on changing it to finance. I do not have a favorite book but I enjoy reading The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.