Courses

Below are the Comparative Literature (COML)-designated courses for the current/upcoming semseter. All schedule information is tentative. Please see the Registrar's site for the latest information.

Spring 2024 COML Courses

poster for COML 100
COML 100A Introduction to Global Literature

T,F 11:10am-12:30pm
Prof. Pu Wang

Core course for COML major and minor. Cross-listed with ECS, GER, IGS, & RUS. [ DL, OC ]

What is common and what is different in literatures of different cultures and times? How do literary ideas move from one culture to another? In this course students read theoretical texts, as well as literary works from around the world.

COML 117A Magical Realism and Modern Myth

M,W,Th 12:20pm-1:10pm
Prof. Dave Sherman

Cross-listed with ECS & ENG.

An exploration of magical realism, as well as the enduring importance of myth, in twentieth and twenty-first century fiction and film from Columbia, India, Nigeria, the United States, England, and elsewhere. Authors include Ben Okri, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Salman Rushdie; films include Pan's Labyrinth and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

poster for COML 132
COML 132B Poetry and Philosophy

T,Th 5:30pm-6:50pm
Prof. Laura Quinney

Cross-listed with ENG & PHIL.

Plato called the relationship between poetry and philosophy an "ancient quarrel." But within the last century some thinkers have attempted to effect a rapprochement. After considering the Platonic argument and its legacy, this course will explore the marriage of poetry and philosophy in later times, looking particularly at the experiments of German romantic aesthetics and its legacy in 20th-century Continental literary philosophy. What is the nature of the "ancient quarrel" between poetry and philosophy? In what sense do they compete for the same space? Can poetry be a kind of philosophy, or vice versa? Can philosophy help us to understand the nature of poetry, and vice versa?

COML 146B Classical East Asian Poetics

M,W 2:30pm-3:50pm
Prof. Matthew Fraleigh

Cross-listed with EAS & ECS.

An introduction to the classical poetic forms of China, Japan, and Korea. Special consideration is paid to issues of canonization, classical theories of literature, and the development of multilingual literary traditions. All readings are in English.

Upper-Level Courses in a Language Other than English

  • ARBC 103B 1 (Middle Advanced Arabic: Contemporary Arab Media)
  • CHIN 120B 2 (Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language II)
  • FREN 111A 1 (The Republic)
  • FREN 142B 1 (City and the Book)
  • GRK 115B 1 (Ancient Greek Drama and Comedy)
  • HISP 111B 1 (Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture)
  • HISP 164B 1 (Studies in Latin American Literature)
  • JAPN 120B 1 (Readings in Modern Japanese Literature)
  • LAT 118A 1 (Latin Lyric and Elegiac Poetry)

More information coming soon. For the up-to-date schedule, view the full course list on the Registrar's site.

Courses in Related Fields

  • ECS 100A 1 (European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism)
  • ENG 17B 1 (Climate Fictions)
  • ENG 35A 1 (The Weird and the Experimental in Contemporary Literature)
  • NEJS 140B 1 (Gender, Ghettos, and the Geographies of Early Modern Jews)
  • RECS 154A 1 (Vladimir Nabokov: Art and Ethics)
  • THA 133B 1 (Acting the Classics)

More information coming soon. For the up-to-date schedule, view the full course list on the Registrar's site.