Great Books Writing Workshops Antiquity, Christendom, Modernity
These full-school-year workshops give students the opportunity to read selections from the Great Books and good books, and to complete monthly drafts and papers for evaluation. Assignments include a mix of traditional essays and Progymnasmata exercises, and you may substitute alternate reading selections in consultation with me. Assignments may be rearranged or pursued on your own schedule, but all work must be completed by June of the school year for which you order. New for 2009: you may order a "Choice" of six of the nine possible assignments, to better fit your own plans for the year.
The materials for a Great Books Writing Workshop may be chosen as the courtesy document accompanying a Consultation . Please inquire if you are interested in American literature--I am willing to develop this workshop upon sufficient demand and am currently working on a two-year course based in part on the Veritas Press Omnibus III book.
Download Sample GBWW Antiquity assignment
Antiquity
| Month |
Reading
|
Assignment |
(August bonus) |
Daniel (portions) |
Thesis/Support (not evaluated)
|
| September |
Genesis (portions), Gilgamesh |
Comparison
|
| October |
Odyssey (portions) |
Characterization or Narrative
|
November
|
Herodotus (portions) |
Special Narrative
|
December
|
Oedipus Rex |
Tragic Elements
|
January
|
Plutarch on Lycurgus and Numa P. |
Praise/Blame
|
February
|
Plato on Socrates' Trial and Death |
Praise/Blame
|
| March |
Plutarch on Cicero and Alexander |
Essay Exam
|
April
|
Julius Caesar, Gallic War (portions) |
Anecdote
|
| May |
Augustine, Confessions (portion) |
Research/Analysis
|
Christendom
| Month |
Reading |
Assignment
|
September
|
Augustine, Confessions (portion)
|
Narrative
|
October
|
Beowulf |
Thesis/Support |
| November |
Henry V |
Anecdote
|
| December |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
|
Proverb
|
January
|
Dante, Inferno
|
Blame (Invective) |
| February |
Canterbury Tales (portions) |
Choice
|
| March |
Doctor Faustus (Marlowe) |
Essay Exam
|
| April |
Pilgrim's Progress (Part One) |
Expository
|
| May |
Poetry |
Thesis/Support
|
Modernity
Month
|
Reading
|
Assignment |
| September |
Pride and Prejudice |
Narrative
|
October
|
Dickens, Hard Times or your choice |
Character Description |
| November |
Romantic Poetry
|
Thesis/Support
|
| December |
History Reading |
Proverb
|
| January |
Short Stories |
Narrative/Description
|
| February |
Buchan, Greenmantle |
Anecdote
|
| March |
Short Stories |
-Ism Essay or Praise/Blame
|
| April |
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby or Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird |
Speech-in-Character
|
| May |
Short Stories |
Essay Exam
|
|
|
|
|
|
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