Howdy, y'all ~ New here with a ?

[Kat_Orr]

Hello there! I'm Kat, and I just joined. I live in a suburb of Atlanta with hubby and 4 kids...hubby is a stay at home dad, and I work full time and go to college part time as an English major. :-) Oh yeah and I'm 32.

OK, now that we have all that outta the way, LOL.

I'm in my freshman year of college (22 credits completed as of right this second, LOL) and in an Honors World Lit. class.

Anyway, I have to write a research paper on a piece of literature from anywhere within the time frame, "Ancient times to 1700." It can be on any topic dealing with whatever piece of literature i pick.

My question is... I'm really new to the wonderful world of literature ~ I have really never read ANY of this stuff, as I dropped out of high school way way way way way before I got that far...heck, I just read Gilgamesh for the first ever time yesterday!!!!! LOL! So...... what i'm looking for are some recommendations/suggestions, etc., for good things to read and do a research paper on. Also, topic ideas??? LOL

Help!

Thanks y'all, glad to be here and looking forward to getting to know everyone!

[PeterL]

Anyway, I have to write a research paper on a piece of literature from anywhere within the time frame, "Ancient times to 1700." It can be on any topic dealing with whatever piece of literature i pick.

I just read Gilgamesh for the first ever time yesterday!!!!! LOL! So...... what i'm looking for are some recommendations/suggestions, etc., for good things to read and do a research paper on. Also, topic ideas??? LOL

What's wrong with Gilgamesh as a topic to start with. That is the oldest piece of literature, and all themes and basic plots that have been used in literature since then are found in the Enuma Elish. It appears that the most of the events in the Enuma Elish actually happened, but there are no contemporary records, only records from a few hundred years later.
You might try a chronological survey of literature. Your next step would be The Iliad and the Odessey, and some Greek mythology and Greek drama, then Rome and the Aeneid and various other works of Roman literature. And so on and so on.

[Kat_Orr]

OK, that's a starting point, thanks! :-) Like I said, I just don't really know what's out there, LOL ~ so this will give me a direction to go in. I'll just keep reading stuff till I find something that "clicks." :-) Of course, would love to hear thoughts/opinions/suggestions from others, too. :-)

Thanks PeterL ~ I appreciate your help! :-)

[PeterL]

There is more literature out there than you could hope to read in the next hundred years. I don't expect to catch up until I hit 250 years, or so.

You might try going to a library or a book store and picking up books at random and reading a few pages to see if the style appeals to you. Another tactic would be for you to look at the books on the syllabi of literature courses. Or you could search on google for great literature from some period of history, but there is little or nothing from some periods.

[mono]

Hello, Kat, welcome to the forum.
Hmmm, literature spanning from ancient times to the 1700's seems a relatively broad topic, giving many options; I hardly know where to begin.
Especially in medieval European literature, religion and mysticism played an immense role in developing plots, character resolution, and ethical dilemmas. One can see this trend in multiple pieces of literature of the time, such as Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, and Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron (a fairly humorous read, for its age).
As Peter L suggested, one cannot lose with works like Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, The Story Of The Volsungs, Virgil's The Æneid. From later-ancient times, one could say, I would suggest Ovid's The Metamorphoses - definitely a good read full of allegories.
Good luck!

[baddad]

OH.....MY......GOD!!!! I think Mono and PeterL are suggesting that you be thrown to the sharks, sink or swim, and maybe you'll get eaten anyway.........

While the above brilliant minds have only the best intentions, I'm sure, I would like to suggest something a little tamer to begin with. Try some Willy.......I mean some Shakespeare.......Hamlet is a relatively easy read. Or find something else not too intimidating, or 'canon' like in nature. Oh, yeah, and welcome to a world where a dictionary has the potential to become one of your best friends......... smiles and great wishes for your success in an exploration of literature......come often, stay late......

[Nocturnal]

Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things" (De Rerum Natura) would be a very good pick. It delves on the amazing world of Epicurian philosphy as seen by a Roman, which is quite rare and unique. It's a perfect example of the classical Greek/Roman syntesis of ideas, a cross-bred cultural hybrid, if you will.
But baddad is right...it might be easier to start slowly, so to speak, testing the waters first. It takes time to learn how to deal with a few pieces of grand literature.
Still, I would recommend Homer's Iliad, or a Greek Tragedy. I am a fan of Ancient Drama...

Then again...how about Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"? You are bound to be entertained and it's a great way to get acquainted with Medieval English Lit. On the same line, I'd advise the charming "Sir. Gawain and the Green Knight".
I wouldn't say Hamlet is all that easy to read...how about Marlowe's "Tragedy of Doctor Faust"?

[Kat_Orr]

OH.....MY......GOD!!!! I think Mono and PeterL are suggesting that you be thrown to the sharks, sink or swim, and maybe you'll get eaten anyway.........

While the above brilliant minds have only the best intentions, I'm sure, I would like to suggest something a little tamer to begin with. Try some Willy.......I mean some Shakespeare.......Hamlet is a relatively easy read. Or find something else not too intimidating, or 'canon' like in nature. Oh, yeah, and welcome to a world where a dictionary has the potential to become one of your best friends......... smiles and great wishes for your success in an exploration of literature......come often, stay late......

Actually, a some of the stuff all of y'all have suggested ~ everything from Homer to "Willy" (LOL) is actually stuff I'll be reading during this semester (*glances over syllabus again...yep!*). So, I went to the library last night, checked out a few books... I'm gonna start reading stuff, and find what "clicks" ...then do a more careful and thorough reading... etc and so on... LOL

Thanks for the welcome ~ I will definitely be here often ~ and, considering the fadct that I never sleep during the semester, LOL, definitely "late" as well, LOL!

[PeterL]

If I had intended to throw you, or anyone else, to the sharks, I would have suggested that you spend a while reading semiotic theory to get some idea of what you are reading and how it might be understood. The Role of the Reader and The Limits of Interpretation both by Umberto Eco are excellent.

[Nocturnal]

I suddenly feel stupid, I KNOW there is some other Umberto Eco book that is great for beginners but the title illudes me...
*tries to think*

"How to comment a literary text", I believe. It's more of a guide-handbook with a basic formulae, very useful. People tend to depart from its somewhat schematic model, but most professors will recommend it.

[PeterL]

I suddenly feel stupid, I KNOW there is some other Umberto Eco book that is great for beginners but the title illudes me...
*tries to think*

"How to comment a literary text", I believe. It's more of a guide-handbook with a basic formulae, very useful. People tend to depart from its somewhat schematic model, but most professors will recommend it.

I'm not sure which you would mean, maybe "The Role of the Reader"? Take a look at this site and see if you can figure out which of his works you mean. http://www.themodernword.com/eco/

[Nocturnal]

I am puzzled now...from the description the site provides (a very interesting site, btw, thanks) I am quite sure that I do not mean "The Role of the Reader". This book I mean is a very slim volume of step-by-step instructions on how to comment a literary text, in the lines of "start with the form, underline figures of speech," etc.
I was sure it was Eco's (although I admit it does not seem to follow his general M.O) but now I am not altogether as certain. I will see if I can find it, as I own a copy of a Portuguese translation of it, then I'll get back to you.

[PeterL]

That does sound very unlike Eco, but I am curious about it. It might be something to which he contributed or was a co-author.