Dear Columbia College Class of 2022,

I am writing to welcome you to Columbia College and above all to Literature Humanities, the first-year Core Curriculum course that opens with Homer’s The Iliad and closes with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. This course begins with the belief, radical in today’s world, that literature matters. It invites you to enter into a conversation with the 22 students in your Lit Hum section that promises to be spirited, moving, at times exasperating and at other times exhilarating. But this conversation is not limited to the Lit Hum classroom; it extends into dorm rooms and dining halls while connecting you to past and future generations of Columbia College students.

Of his own encounter with a book by Cicero, Saint Augustine wrote, “The book changed my feelings.” It is my hope and expectation that all of you will be changed, in some way, by the books on the Lit Hum syllabus. But it is also my hope that you will bring your critical perspective, personal values and experiences to bear on your reading in a way that will change how other students view the works on the syllabus, and perhaps even the Core more broadly. Lit Hum has a shared syllabus — that is what makes it special — but it does not promote a reified conception of the canon: It is open to change, contestation and debate in the spirit of literature itself.

Today, I invite you to begin your journey by consulting our Lit Hum website and by reading the first six books of The Iliad. (You will receive a copy of Richmond Lattimore’s translation of The Iliad when you arrive at Columbia, but to complete your reading assignment you will also have access to an e-book.) You can also get The Iliad e-book through the “Announcements” tab on the Countdown to Columbia website.

The reading may be hard going at first: The language is unfamiliar and there are multiple names to keep track of — sometimes two or more for the same character! You may find it useful to consult the glossary of names in the back of the book and to keep a running list of names and epithets (brief descriptive tags such as “Peleus’ son” for Achilleus), dividing your list between the Achaians (i.e., Greeks) and the Trojans. When you are reading, pay special attention to characters who appear to you to be outsiders in some sense or another. I will be sharing my thoughts on this and other aspects of the first six books of the poem at the first Lit Hum lecture at the Roone Arledge Auditorium in Lerner Hall on Monday, August 27, 10:00–11:30 a.m. I look forward to seeing you all there and welcome your active engagement in the Q&A after the lecture. Let the conversation begin!

With my very best wishes,

Joanna Stalnaker
Paul Brooke Program Chair for Literature Humanities
Professor of French
Columbia University