(file last updated: [8/10/1998 - 15:22:28])
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(file last updated: [8/10/1998 - 15:22:28])
Comparative literature offeringsdivide into two categories: period courses, which examine thespirit and intellectual continuity of an age reflected in theworks of its major authors; and thematic courses, which emphasizea literary theme, motif, genre (e.g., novel, lyric, drama, epic,picaresque), or mode (e.g., satire, allegory, symbolism). Thecommon text in all courses is in English.
All students are welcome toenroll in any course in the program, unless prerequisites arestipulated. Students interested in learning more about the comparativeliterature concentration are encouraged to speak with the undergraduateadvising head in comparative literature.
Richard Lansing, Chair andUndergraduate Advising Head
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Mary Campbell
(English and American Literature)
Stephen Dowden
(Germanic and Slavic Languages)
Stephen Gendzier
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Patricia Johnston
(Classical Studies)
Erica Harth
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Edward Kaplan
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
James Mandrell
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Alan Mintz
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Luis Yglesias
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
The minimum requirement forconcentration in Comparative Literature Track I consists of 10semester courses: The Proseminar in European Cultural Studies,five courses in comparative literature, three courses in any oneforeign literature, and either the Senior Essay or the SeniorThesis.
Unless otherwise specified,courses in a foreign literature are taught in the original foreignlanguage.
A.ECS 100a (European Cultural Studies: The Proseminar) to be completedno later than the junior year.
B.Five semester courses in comparative literature from the COMLand cross-listed courses below, at least one of the five coursesmust relate to literature prior to the 19th century. The followingcourses satisfy this requirement: COML 102a, 103b, 104a, 105b,199b.
C.Three upper-level semester courses in any one of the followingforeign literatures: French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin,Russian, Spanish.
D.Concentrators are required to enroll in and complete one of thefollowing options in the senior year: COML 97a or b (Senior Essay),or COML 99d (Senior Thesis), a full-year course. Students whowish to be considered for departmental honors must elect the thesisoption. Honors will be awarded on the basis of cumulative excellencein all courses taken in the concentration, including the SeniorThesis.
E.It is strongly recommended that concentrators (especially thosewho plan a graduate career in comparative literature) begin asecond foreign language. In addition to the courses listed below,students should consult offerings in all foreign literatures,English, philosophy, history of ideas, and theater arts.
F.Junior and senior concentrators may apply for admission into InterdisciplinaryProgram in Literary Studies (LS) graduate seminars by permissionof the instructor and the Undergraduate advising head.
The minimum requirement forconcentration in Track II consists of 10 semester courses: theProseminar in European Cultural Studies, four in comparative literature,two in English literature, two in any one foreign literature,and either the Senior Essay or the Senior Thesis option.
A.ECS 100a (European Cultural Studies: The Proseminar) to be completedno later than the junior year.
B.Four semester courses in comparative literature from the COMLand cross-listed courses below, at least one of which must relateto literature prior to the 19th century (COML 102a, 103b, 104a,105b, 199b).
C.Two upper-level semester courses in any one of the following foreignliteratures: French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Russian,Spanish.
D.Two upper-level semester courses in English literature (consultofferings in the Department of English and American Literature).
E.All concentrators are required to enroll in and complete one ofthe following options in the senior year: COML 97a or b (SeniorEssay), or COML 99d (Senior Thesis), a full-year course. Studentswho wish to be considered for departmental honors must elect thethesis option. Honors will be awarded on the basis of cumulativeexcellence in all courses taken in the concentration, includingthe Senior Thesis. Departmental honors will be awarded on thebasis described above. All courses in comparative literature areconducted in English.
COML 97a Senior Essay
Signature of the instructorand the advising head of comparative literature required.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
COML 97b Senior Essay
Signature of the instructorand the advising head of comparative literature required.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
COML 98a Independent Study
May be taken only by concentratorswith the written permission of the advising head and the chairof the department. Signatures of the chair of the department andthe instructor required.
Readings and reports underfaculty supervision. Usually offered every year.
Staff
COML 98b Independent Study
May be taken only by concentratorswith the written permission of the advising head and the chairof the department. Signatures of the chair of the department andthe instructor required.
Reading and reports under facultysupervision. Usually offered every year.
Staff
COML 99d Senior Thesis
May be taken only with thepermission of the advising head. Signatures of the instructorand advising head required.
This is a full-year coursethat must be taken by all senior concentrators in comparativeliterature who wish to undertake honors work. Usually offeredevery year.
Staff
COML 102a Love in the MiddleAges
[ cl11 cl39cl46 hum ]
A study of the conventionsof courtly love and other forms of love, sacred and erotic, inmedieval literature. Readings include Dante's Vita Nuova,Boccaccio's Decameron, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Chrétien'sYvain. Usually offered in even years.
Mr. Lansing
COML 103b Madness and Follyin Renaissance Literature
[ cl30 hum]
A study of the theme of madnessand folly as exemplified by the major writers of the Renaissance,including Erasmus, Rabelais, Montaigne, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Shakespeare,Jonson, and Cervantes. Usually offered in even years.
Mr. Lansing
COML 105b Sex and Sensibilityin Pre-Revolutionary European Novels
[ cl4 cl9cl28 cl46 hum ]
A study of the concept of humannature with specific attention to whether people can be educatedto control or influence their erotic feelings and states of happiness.We shall trace the roles of family, money, personal identity,and social norms in structuring the 18th-century novel. The coursewill focus on the birth of the novel and romanticism. Usuallyoffered in odd years.
Mr. Gendzier
COML 106a European Romanticism
[ hum ]
Works of major authors willbe chosen by the instructor. Usually offered in even years.
Staff
COML 127a Night, Death,and the Devil: The Fantastic and the Grotesque
[ cl48 hum]
A study of the fantastic andthe grotesque as they appear in the literature, film, music, andthe visual arts of the 19th and 20th centuries. Particular attentionis paid to uses of the demonic as aesthetic system for contemplatingthe metaphysical and the subconscious. Will be offered in thefall of 1998.
Mr. Swensen
COML 135b Sexualities andCinema
[ hum ]
Course may be repeated forcredit.
Considers from a comparativeperspective topics relating to sexuality and film. Topics willvary but may include: Representations of Homosexuality; Representationsof Gays and Lesbians; Theoretical Approaches to Gay and LesbianFilms. Usually offered every third year. Last offered in the springof 1998.
Mr. Mandrell
COML 137a Dada and Surrealism
[ hum ]
Examines Dada and Surrealistmanifestos, literature, art, politics, and films, which displaya rebellious spirit extolling the liberated subconscious, thevalues of spontaneity and authenticity, and the joys of love andfreedom. Usually offered in even years.
Mr. Gendzier
COML 144b The Outsider asArtist and Lover
[ wi hum ]
Baudelaire, Kierkegaard, andKafka exemplify the struggle to achieve meaning through literature.But they believed that art or God required them to renounce loveand marriage. Buber's analysis of "dialogue" will clarifythe interrelation of creativity, faith, and human intimacy intheir short stories, prose poems, parables, philosophical andautobiographical writings. Usually offered every third year. Lastoffered in the fall of 1993.
Mr. Kaplan
COML 160b Women, Literature,and Film
[ hum ]
Prerequisites: FILM 100a,WMNS 5a, or any FREN, SPAN, ENG, or COML 100-level course. Signatureof the instructor required.
Examines the construction ofnarrative and meaning in literature and film. Class discussionsof texts and film clips will focus on the interplay between visualand verbal images and imaginings in both media.
Ms. Harth
COML 180a The Theater ofthe Absurd
[ hum ]
Enrollment limited to 20.
A study of the form and contentof the theater of the absurd, in Europe and the United States,its antecedents, the theatrical tradition against which this newesthetic was born, and especially reading and presentations ofthe plays identified as "absurdist" drama. Class consistsof lectures, discussions, in-class presentations of scenes, andfrequent papers.
Ms. Hale
COML 185a Dickens and Dostoevsky
[ cl6 cl33hum ]
Considers such issues as narrative,literary realism, and the manipulation of the grotesque and thesublime in representative works of Dickens and Dostoevsky. BecauseDostoevsky was an avid reader of Dickens, we shall address questionsof influence, particularly with regard to their shared thematicinterests. Usually offered in even years.
Ms. Miller
COML 193a Topics in NewWorld Studies: The Empire Writes Back
[ cl3 cl27hum ]
This course focuses on textsthat show the New World emerging from the collision and collusionof Native, African, and European imagining. Usually offered everythird year.
Mr. Yglesias
COML 194b Topics in Myth,Literature, and Folklore
[ cl48 hum]
Usually offered every thirdyear. Last offered in the fall of 1995.
Mr. Yglesias
COML 195a Feminism and Film
[ cl13 hum]
Signature of the instructorrequired.
What feminist critics and theoristshave to say about film from classic Hollywood to current feministavant-garde and experimental cinema. Screenings of films aboutwomen, by women, and based on novels about feminism. Usually offeredin even years.
Ms. Harth
COML 197b Narrating Adolescence
[ hum ]
This course, presenting theliterature of adolescence as a post-Renaissance phenomenon, studieshow adolescence has to be a problem before it becomes a storyand goes on to consider various ways (moralistic, erotic, pedagogical)in which such stories have been used. Usually offered in odd years.
Mr. Yglesias
COML 198a Feminist Theoryin Literary and Cultural Studies
[ cl7 cl21hum ]
Signature of the instructorrequired.
An introduction to currentfeminist literary and cultural theory. Topics of discussion willinclude: debates within feminist thought, Anglo-American and Frenchvarieties of feminist theory, gender and genders, essentialism,postfeminism, postmodernism, and multiculturalism. Usually offeredin even years.
Ms. Harth
COML 199b The Roots of Literature
[ hum ]
An inquiry into the originsof literature as revealed by ancient and modern myths and texts.Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the springof 1995.
Mr. Yglesias
Classical Mythology
European Cultural Studies:The Proseminar
Readings in the Short Novel
The Western Canon
Responses to the Holocaust
The Avant-Gardes