Imaginary Voyages
Richard Cecil
Hutton Honors College
In this course we will read accounts of voyages to Hell, Heaven, and many imaginary and real places in between. Beginning with Homer’s seventh century B.C. account of Odysseus’ complicated voyage (and his even more complicated arrival) home after the Trojan War, and ending with Voltaire’s satirical analysis of the treats (robbery, rape, cannibalism, slavery) awaiting the modern, eighteenth century traveler through the “Best of All Possible Worlds,” we will read ten great accounts of fantastic voyages. The central work in the course will be Dante’s Divine Comedy, which describes a journey down into the central pit of hell, then up to the top of heaven, in the most brilliant and compelling poem in any language. In the final week we will read and discuss contemporary accounts of imaginary voyages, written by each member of the class.
COURSE TEXTS: Homer, The Odyssey trans. Robert Fitzgerald; Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fitzgerald; Dante: The Inferno; The Purgatorio; The Paradiso; trans by John Ciardi; Shakespeare: The Tempest; Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress; Swift: Gulliver’s Travels; Voltaire, Candide.
Catalog Information: HHC-H 211 CLASSIC AUTHORS & QUESTIONS I