New Lower-Level Hum 9 To Study Ages Of Legend

A survey of mythology, from the oral epics of earliest civilization to modern folklore, will be offered as a lower-level humanities course next year.

Humanities 9, "Oral and Early Literature," will be given by Albert B. Lord '34, professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature, who yesterday described the course an "introduction to pre-literature--verbal artistry before actual writing came about."

A survey course, Hum 9 will leapfrog the period roughly from 2000 B.C. to the present. It will deal with the literature of the Ancient Near East, the Bible, and the ancients, and the vernacular literature of the Middle Ages, which marks the first recording of some of man's earliest creative expression. Old Norse sagas, Celtic legend, Irish mythology, and modern folklore and songs of both Europe and of some non-literate societies will also be examined.

Lord explained that Hum 9 would consider in broad perspective topics that specialised courses and seminars have traditionally studied separately and in greater detail.

While most lower-level humanities courses begin with and concentrate on Homer, Hum 9 will give students an opportunity to read the Homeric epics in conjunction with the Bible. Lord thinks that people rarely realize that in fact these were written in part simultaneously, somewhere around the eighth century B.C.

Lord will not teach the entire course himself, but will be aided by seven professors, each giving two or three lectures in his special field. These will include members of the Celtic, German, Near Eastern Languages, and Anthropology Departments.

Ham 9 is to have unlimited enrollment, and will be taught in two lectures and one section every week.