<p>Who are the thinkers/philosophers that one will encounter most often in classes like Lit Hum? Which texts would you recommend becoming familiar with?</p>
<p>Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are the first two books of Lit Hum.</p>
<p>IF you have to be that far ahead. Other than that I would wait. The courses are more about the texts themselves than the authors though in a few cases, like Plato, the line is thin.</p>
<p>Google “western canon” and “great books.”</p>
<p>But generally, to survive the first semester, make yourself knowledgeable about Ancient Greece.</p>
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<p>no this is ■■■ advice, read a couple of books before hand if you want or show up afresh. Don’t do anything else, it’s a waste of time. Epam, first fcking show up at columbia before you give us interpretations of what someone should do to survive there.</p>
<p>Well, Augustine’s pretty well loved (Confessions in Lit Hum, City of God in CC), as well as Plato (Symposium and Apology of Socrates in Lit Hum, The Republic in CC) and Homer (only Lit Hum). Except for the Iliad summer reading, though, there’s really nothing that you have to get a head start on. The whole point of the Core is to familiarize you with these texts, so there’s no reason to do it beforehand. Sure, you may encounter a future philosophy major who seems to know everything, but don’t let that intimidate you. Like Epaminodas suggested, you could familiarize yourself with ancient Greek culture and the important historical dates. But from my experience, the professors are good about assuming no prior knowledge. </p>
<p>And the great thing about Lit Hum and CC (especially CC for me) is that they teach you to draw connections between authors and to see how one author might’ve influenced another. So the “most often” part of your question will depend, in part, on your professor and classmates.</p>
<p>Okay master confidentialcoll, why don’t you offer some useful advice before criticizing others?</p>
<p>Of course I recognize it’s better to read the texts themselves than to read stuff about the texts. But I figured I’d recommend something less labor-intensive.</p>
<p>Besides the whole point of the forum is to help each other as much as we can, so don’t go around with BS that are belittling others’ efforts.</p>
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<p>less labor-intensive still needs to be productive, reading about ancient Greece is a waste of time, your prof gives you all the background you would need, so it saves you no time.</p>
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<p>if the question is columbia specific, you have no way to help a fellow poster here, so your advice is completely unfounded. You can’t act as an authority if you don’t have valid information, doing so hurts the forum. I did offer advice which was either read a couple of books or enjoy the summer, not much else is worthwhile.</p>
<p>“reading about ancient Greece is a waste of time”</p>
<p>This is the second time you said it. I can tell you are not much of an arts guy. That’s fine. You may not buy the whole theory of “liberal arts,” “well-rounded education,” or “learning for learning’s sake.” But do you have to go around other people’s interests, calling Greek history “a waste of time”?</p>
<p>I happen to enjoy reading about Ancient Greece, and so may many others (who like to learn about Greece on their own time). So please don’t hurt our feelings.</p>
<p>“you have no way to help a fellow poster here, so your advice is completely unfounded”</p>
<p>A little high-handed, don’t you think? Despite the dedicated alumni we have here on CC, it might take a few days before a question is answered. So why can’t novices try to help others? Beside even if our answers are occasionally erroneous, just point it out. Don’t be a jerk about it. Discussion never hurts anyone.</p>
<p>I have not taken Literature Humanities. But I have taken a peek at the syllabus. Some of the works I have read already. I’m a big classics fan; I’ve listened to audiobooks about the Greeks, as well as read many important Greek texts. So what disqualifies me from chiming in and giving my opinion?</p>
<p>Hellojan, checkout the syllabus for 08-09 on the CU core website. Should give you an idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>Having taken LitHum and CC, I’d say confcoll has it right. Best advice is to read the Iliad/Odyssey (or as much as you can) or just enjoy your summer. You should, and will, have plenty of time to read everything and you do not need any external readings to get an A/A+ on these courses. If you have not read or are not familiar with these texts, you will not be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>In fact, some professors (mine included) stress limiting discussions to what is in the actual texts without referencing outside sources. Otherwise, discussions degrade into generalities and vacuous opinions (example: Herodotus is the father of history).</p>
<p>If you like Greek history, you are free to read up on that topic at your leisure. I can’t think of anything you can do to ‘prepare’ for the class. It is not a history class and ‘facts’ are of no use. Tests ask you to recognize passages and papers usually ask you to compare.</p>
<p>confidentialcoll didn’t give advice because there is no advice to give. Just start reading the Iliad a week before classes start. That’s all.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! I’ll see you around campus.</p>
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<p>CC didn’t say that learning about ancient Greece is a waste of time in general. It’s a waste of time if you’re only learning to prepare yourself for Lit Hum. </p>
<p>Like Demeter said, the professors assume that you don’t know anything about Greek culture and values and will give you a crash course in the first few days. Reading the Iliad is helpful because you’ll have a vague idea of what Garet is talking about during the first class-wide Lit Hum class. </p>
<p>If you spend lots of time on Greek history then good for you, but it can hurt you if you don’t keep your facts straight. In my class-wide Lit Hum class, the lecturing professor asked something about why Achilles felt compelled to stand up to Agamemmnon and some kid went up to the microphone and mentioned something about the birth of democracy in Greece. He forgot that the Iliad was written way way before any of that and the lecturer kindly reminded him of that fact.</p>
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<p>Please forgive CC. He didn’t get his morning lollipop.</p>
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<p>I looked, but I couldn’t find yours.</p>
<p>"Please forgive CC. "</p>
<p>That’s okay. I don’t hold grudges over anonymous posters on the web.</p>
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I looked, but I couldn’t find yours.
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<p>You can’t use your eyes to find it, you have to use your tongue.</p>