Current Courses
Fall 2012
Modern Greek V1101. Introduction to Modern Greek language and culture/ part I. 4 pts. Karen Van Dyck & staff. T-Th-F. 10:10-11:25. xxx Hamilton Hall.
This is the first semester of a year-long course designed for students wishing to learn Greek as it is written and spoken in Greece today. As well as learning the skills necessary to read texts of moderate difficulty and converse on a wide range of topics, students explore Modern Greece’s cultural landscape from “parea” to poetry to politics. Special attention will be paid to Greek New York. How do “our,” “American,” “Greek-American” definitions of language and culture differ from “their,” “Greek” ones?
Modern Greek V1201. Intermediate course in Modern Greek language and culture/ part I. 4 pts. Vangelis Calotychos. T-Th. 11.00 – 12:50 a.m. xxx Hamilton Hall.
*** Students are also required to take the conversation class, GRKM W1211 (below)
This course is designed for students who are already familiar with the basic grammar and syntax of Modern Greek language and can communicate at an elementary level. Using films, newspapers and popular songs, students engage the finer points of Greek grammar and syntax and enrich their vocabulary. Emphasis is given to writing, whether in the form of film and book reviews or essays on particular topics taken from a selection of second year textbooks.
Modern Greek W1211: Intermediate Modern Greek Conversation. Staff. 1pt. Friday 11:00- 12:00 (repeatable course). xxx Hamilton Hall. For students in GRKM V1201; but also open to students not enrolled in V1201 above, who wish to improve their spoken modern Greek. For more information, contact Prof. Vangelis Calotychos at ec2268@columbia.edu.
Modern Greek V3306. The Making of Modern Greek Poetry. 3 pts. Karen Van Dyck. Tuesday 6:10-8:00. In this course we read back and forth through Greek literary history from the 1980s to the 1930s, 1920's, 1880s and 1820s, mapping contemporary critical concerns and contemporary literary works onto earlier works as well as examining how previous generations of writers influence contemporary writers. We will focus on questions of women's writing, gender and sexuality as well as how translation conceals and reveals these questions. Texts include works by Anghelaki-Rooke, Cavafy, Dimoula, Elytes, Laina, Mastoraki, Ritsos, Sachtouris, Seferis, Sikelianos and Solomos. This method of reading back and forth not only highlights what is linguistically familiar about contemporary writing and more foreign about earlier writing, but makes questions of canon formation and literature as a national institution integral to the process of studying Modern Greek poetry. Students will create portfolios of their own translations of the poems we read and discuss them with poets and translators over the course of the semester. No knowledge of Greek is necessary, although an extra-credit tutorial will be offered for Greek speakers wishing to read the poetry in the original.Class discussion and texts will be in English. Works also available in Greek for those students wishing to read in Greek. NOTE: This course is given with a 1 pt. bilingual option (1 hr per week) for those students who have the skills to discuss the material in Greek. Assignments may be completed in English or Greek.
Comparative Literature: Modern Greek CLGRKM W3937: The Culture of Democracy. 3 pts. Stathis Gourgouris. Tuesday 12:00 – 1:50. The point is to examine democracy not as a political system, but as a historical phenomenon characterized by a specific culture: a body of ideas and values, stories and myths. This culture is not homogenous; it has a variety of historical manifestations through the ages but remains nonetheless cohesive. The objective is twofold: 1) to determine which elements in democratic culture remain fundamental, no matter what form they take in various historical instances; 2) to understand that the culture of democracy is indeed not abstract and transcendental but historical, with its central impetus being the interrogation and transformation of society.
Modern Greek V3997; Section #001. Directed Readings. 1-4 pts. Designed for undergraduates who want to do directed reading in a period or on a topic not covered in the curriculum.
Modern Greek V3998. Senior Research Seminar. 1-4 pts. Designed for students writing a senior thesis or doing advanced research on Greek or Greek Diaspora topics.
Modern Greek W4997. Directed Readings. 3 pts. Designed for graduates who want to do directed reading in a period or on a topic not covered in the curriculum.