An interdepartmental program in Comparative Literature and Culture

Last updated: July 19, 2013 at 1:38 p.m.

Objectives

The program in Comparative Literature and Culture engages the study of literatures and cultures within and across national boundaries. It comprises the comparative analysis of literary and cultural texts not only in relation to genres, forms, and movements but within the larger context of social discourse and cultural practices. Because cultural practices are not static but continually changing, the comparative approach is sensitive not only to historical context, but also to how cultural forms adapt to new conditions. Analysis of cultural differences, diversities, and similarities will promote a greater knowledge of the rapidly changing globe we inhabit, and also deepen students' critical understanding of their own cultures.

Learning Goals

Comparative study explores literature and other art forms beyond and across the boundaries of single nations, language and cultures, often in conjunction with the historical, political and social realities that lend life and variety to any art form. It represents a way of approaching creative works, rather than a specific body of knowledge about them. Because the comparative approach takes a global perspective, embracing all of world literature and culture in all periods of history, no one person could possibly embody the field. As a result, the comparative field is a highly dynamic, interdisciplinary and collaborative endeavor, which is reflected in the diverse interests of our students and faculty.

The Comparative Literature and Culture core course, COML 100a, Comparing Literatures and Cultures: Theory and Practice, introduces students to the diversity of approaches possible within the field and serves as a jumping-off point for students' individualized exploration of literary and other works from across the globe, from a wide variety of perspectives. Beyond the core course, the major also emphasizes the study of literature and culture in languages other than English. Courses are taught by distinguished faculty from across the humanities at Brandeis.

Comparative studies are inherently multicultural and dynamic. We are constantly shaping our curriculum to fit the interests and needs of the changing student body and encourage student input at all levels of program planning.

Knowledge: Students completing the major in comparative literature and culture will:

1. understand aspects of creative activity that can or must be studied cross-culturally, such as: genre; the movement of aesthetic ideas across boundaries, including translation; diasporic cultures; and movements that span multiple cultures, such as romanticism, modernism and the avant-garde;
2. understand the major questions, concepts, theories and methodologies of the comparative method;
3.achieve solid proficiency in at least one language other than English, to the level needed to work with original texts in at least two linguistically distinct cultural traditions.

Core Skills: Majors will develop the capacity to:

1. perform strong and revealing close analyses of literary and other artistic texts;
2. employ the conceptual tools and insights of theoretical texts to read critically and interpret works in various genres drawn from a variety of traditions and cultures;
3. use various interpretive approaches, considering the benefits and limitations of different strategies;
4. use library resources to find relevant research materials;
5. construct a logical, well-supported argument about a comparative problem by identifying and articulating a compelling and productive comparative question and synthesizing relevant critical literature;
6. present such comparative arguments in clear and engaging academic prose.

Social Justice: Cultural forms and ideas move across borders, now perhaps more than ever; the comparative literature and culture program emphasizes the importance of cultural literacy and sensitivity to cultural difference both within individual societies and in the global context. The curriculum provides graduates with knowledge and perspectives needed to appreciate and respect the diversity of creative expression around the world, as well as the shared human urge toward artistic expression in language, whether oral or written. Majors will be prepared to participate in multicultural and global conversations by asking questions, listening closely and responding productively, in the collaborative spirit of the field.

Upon Graduating: A Brandeis student with a Comparative Literature and Culture major will be prepared to use the knowledge and skills gained from the sustained comparative study of literatures and cultures to pursue professional training and a range of careers that demand a global perspective or a knowledge of and appreciation for diverse cultures, including those in academics, government, non-governmental organizations and non-profits, and international business.

How to Become a Major or Minor

All students are welcome to enroll in any course in the program unless prerequisites are stipulated. Students interested in learning more about the Comparative Literature and Culture major or minor are encouraged to speak with the Undergraduate Advising Head. Keep in mind that two literature or cultural courses must be taken in a language other than English. Students are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester abroad, preferably in a country whose primary language is not English.

Program Committee

Matthew Fraleigh, Chair (on leave academic year 2013-2014)
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Stephen Dowden
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Susan Lanser
(English; Women's and Gender Studies)

David Powelstock, Undergraduate Advising Head
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Michael Randall
(French and Francophone Studies)

Fernando Rosenberg (on leave academic year 2013-2014)
(Hispanic Studies)

Harleen Singh
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature; Women’s and Gender Studies)

Affiliated Faculty (contributing to the curriculum, advising and administration of the department or program)
Jerónimo Arellano (Romance Studies)
Jonathan Decter (Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Mary Campbell (English)
Stephen Dowden (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
William Flesch (English)
Matthew Fraleigh (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Jane Hale (Romance Studies)
Edward Kaplan (Romance Studies)
Susan Lanser (English)
James Mandrell (Romance Studies
Robin Feuer Miller (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
David Powelstock (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Michael Randall (Romance Studies)
Esther Ratner (Romance Studies)
Fernando Rosenberg (Romance Studies)
David Sherman (English)
Harleen Singh (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Pu Wang (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Requirements for the Minor

The minor in Comparative Literature and Culture requires five courses, distributed as follows:

A. COML 100a, to be taken as early as possible in the student's academic career.

B. One upper-level course taught in a language other than English, involving work with texts and/or films in a language other than English. Normally such courses are numbered 100 and above, exclusive of language skills courses. Coursework in literature culture focused upon original-language texts can be pursued both at Brandeis and through approved Study Abroad programs.

C. Two upper-level courses COML-designated courses. These courses will bridge more than one national tradition and engage in cross-cultural examination.

D. One additional upper-level elective course in literature or a related field as approved by the Undergraduate Advising Head. Students are encouraged to select a course that takes a comparative approach.

E. No more than two classes taken toward the minor can double count toward any other major or minor.

F. No course with a grade below a C- may count toward the minor nor any course taken pass/fail.

Requirements for the Major

The major in Comparative Literature and Culture requires a minimum of nine courses, distributed as follows:

A. COML 100a, to be taken as early as possible in the student's academic career.

B. Two upper-level literature courses taught in a language other than English, involving work with texts and/or films. Normally such courses are numbered 100 and above, exclusive of language skills courses. The two courses need not be drawn from a single language tradition. Coursework in literature and culture focused upon original-language texts can be pursued both at Brandeis and through approved Study Abroad programs.

C. Three upper-level COML-designated courses. These courses will bridge more than one national tradition and engage in cross-cultural examination.

D. Three additional upper-level elective courses in literature or a related field as approved by the Undergraduate Advising Head. Students are encouraged to select courses that take a comparative approach. No more than two of these elective courses may be in Film, Television, and Interactive Media may be counted toward the major. No more than one of these elective courses may be counted toward another major.

E. No course with a grade below a C- will count toward the major nor taken pass/fail.

Honors
Students who wish to pursue honors must enroll in COML 99d, normally in the senior year, and complete a thesis. One semester of thesis research may substitute for an an upper-level comparative course. A senior project is required only of students pursuing honors.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

COML 92a Internship and Analysis in Comparative Literature and Culture
Usually offered every year.
Staff

COML 97a Senior Essay
Offers students an opportunity to produce a senior essay under the direction of an individual instructor. Usually offered every fall.
Staff

COML 98a Independent Study
May be taken only by majors, with the written permission of the advising head and the chair of the department.
Readings and reports under faculty supervision. Offered as needed.
Staff

COML 98b Independent Study
May be taken only by majors, with the written permission of the advising head and the chair of the department.
Reading and reports under faculty supervision. Offered as needed.
Staff

COML 99d Senior Thesis
May be taken only with the permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.
This is a full-year course that must be taken by all senior majors in Comparative Literature and Culture who wish to undertake honors work. Usually offered every year.
Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

COML 100a Comparing Literatures and Cultures: Theory and Practice
[ hum wi ]
Core course for COML major and minor.
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. Usually offered every year.
Staff

COML 103b Madness and Folly in Renaissance Literature
[ hum wi ]
A study of the theme of madness and folly as exemplified by the major writers of the Renaissance, including Erasmus, Rabelais, Montaigne, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Shakespeare, Petrarch, and Cervantes. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Lansing

COML 104a Revisions, Rewrites and Remakes: From the Classical Period to the Present
[ hum oc ]
Analyzes canonical works that have been parodied, criticized or happily re-interpreted by later artists. By viewing and listening to these transformations, we come to a deeper understanding of the original artist and also gain insight into the cultures that elicited subsequent changes. Canonical writers include: Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe with modern interpretations by Kundera, Beckett, and Anouilh. We will also look at works in the visual and cinematographic arts: "Picasso Looks at Degas" and John Sturges reconsiders Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai." Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ratner (Romance Studies)

COML 109b The Art of Living: Imagination and the Just Life
[ hum wi ]
Formerly offered as FYS 68b.
Can one live well without living justly? Live justly without living well? What does justice ask of us? From Plato to Zhuangzi to Nabokov's Lolita, we examine the subjective preconditions for living justly; knowledge, imagination, love, empathy, freedom and responsibility. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Powelstock

COML 115b Fictions of Liberty: Europe in a Revolutionary Age
[ hum ]
The "Age of Enlightenment" fostered new notions of human rights that found their tumultuous proving ground in the French Revolution. Through writings from several genres and nations, this course explores some of the political, economic, religious, racial, and sexual "fictions of liberty" that have shaped our own time. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Lanser

COML 117a Magical Realism and Modern Myth
[ hum ]
An exploration of magical realism, as well as the enduring importance of myth, in twentieth and twenty-first century fiction and film from the United States, Latin American, and beyond. authors include Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Salman Rushdie; films include Wings of Desire and Hero. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sherman

COML 120b Dangerous Writers and Writers in Danger
[ hum wi ]
Examines the works of modern, twentieth-century writers from different areas of the world who have suffered exile, imprisonment, or death for their free thinking. Writers include: Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Wole Soyinka, Gao Xinjan, Breyten Breytenbach, Reynoldo Arenas, and Salman Rushdie. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ratner

COML 121b Tragedy and the Tragic
[ hum ]
Explores the genre of tragedy and the concept of the tragic in Western literature. Readings from Aristotle, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe, Büchner, Nietzsche, Nelly Sachs, Celan and others. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Dowden

COML 122b Writing Home and Abroad: Literature by Women of Color
[ hum nw ]
Examines literature (prose, poetry, and memoirs) written by women of color across a wide spectrum of geographical and cultural sites. Literature written within the confines of the "home country" in the vernacular, as well as in English in immigrant locales, is read. The intersections of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class as contained by the larger institutions of government, religion, nationalism, and sectarian politics are examined. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Singh

COML 135a Before the Law: Justice in Literature and Film
[ hum ]
Examines works of fiction and film as a means of addressing the problem of justice, highlighting by the same token the symbolic fabric of the law and the performative elements of legal institutions. We will focus on cultural expressions from Europe and Latin America that address the problem of the state and its subjects in a context of modernity broadly defined. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Rosenberg

COML 146b Classical East Asian Poetics
[ hum nw ]
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. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

COML 150b Critique of Erotic Reason
[ hum ]
Explores transformations in erotic sensibilities in the novel from the early nineteenth century to the present. Works by Goethe, Austen, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, Schopenhauer, Bronte, Chekhov, Garcia-Marquez, Kundera, and Cormac McCarthy. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Dowden

COML 164b Reading Screenplays
[ hum ]
Focuses on the secret life of the film script in Hollywood and world cinema. Before a movie can be made, it needs to be scripted. The course links the reading of screenplays in an academic context to script-development practices in the film industry. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Arellano

COML 165a Reading, Writing, and Teaching across Cultures
[ hum nw wi ]
Examines contemporary literary representations of literacy, schooling, and language from a cross-cultural perspective. Students also analyze their own educational trajectories and experiences with writing and reading. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hale

COML 166b Literacy, Language and Culture
[ hum nw ]
Examines contemporary cross-cultural literary representations of the relationships among languages and cultures. We will read texts such as Hoffman's Lost in Translation, Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, and Ngugi's Decolonising the Mind as well as poetry and essays from Haiti, French Guyana, the Navajo Nation and a variety of immigrant communities in the US. Questions we will consider include: Does language carry culture? When is language an instrument of power? What's the difference between learning to speak and/or write a particular language? What happens when children must learn a new language when they enter school? Students will share their own richly diverse linguistic experiences. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hale

COML 168a Things Fall Apart: The Novel and Postcolonial Anarchy
[ hum ]
Explores the shared history of British Imperialism and examines the postcolonial novel's response to the breakdown of colonial power and the advent of the postcolonial state. We will read novels from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Singh

COML 185a Dickens and Dostoevsky
[ hum ]
Considers such issues as narrative, literary realism, and the manipulation of the grotesque and the sublime in representative works of Dickens and Dostoevsky. Because Dostoevsky was an avid reader of Dickens, class addresses questions of influence, particularly with regard to their shared thematic interests. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Miller

COML 190b Fictional Thinking
[ hum ]
"We can only think, in language, because language is and yet is not our voice," writes Slavoj Zizek. Studies how fictional characters in James, Proust, Woolf and others think before is and for us -- and each other. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Flesch

COML/ENG 140b Children's Literature and Constructions of Childhood
[ hum ]
Explores whether children's literature has sought to civilize or to subvert, to moralize or to enchant, forming a bedrock for adult sensibility. Childhood reading reflects the unresolved complexity of the experience of childhood itself as well as larger cultural shifts around the globe in values and beliefs. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Miller

COML/ENG 141b Literature and Time
[ hum ]
Explores the human experience of temporality and reflection upon it. Texts include: Waiting for Godot, To the Lighthouse and Combray, along with philosophical speculation by Aristotle, Kierkegaard and Heidegger, as well as two films, La Jeteé and 12 Monkeys. Themes covered by this course include: memory, nostalgia, anxiety, ethics, eternity, and time travel. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Quinney

COML/THA 139b Enclosures: Contemporary Fictions and Imagined Spaces
[ ca hum ]
Considers literary and metaphorical enclosures and the way they can be interpreted and translated into different kinds of visual spaces. Working with contemporary fiction from different places and cultures, we will consider the role and meaning of enclosures and then discuss how we might interpret various forms of enclosures in visual terms. Students will have the opportunity to write critically and to create verbally and visually. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anderson and Mr. Mandrell

Upper-Level Courses in a Language Other than English

ARBC 103a Lower Advanced Arabic
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: ARBC 40b or the equivalent. Four class-hours per week.
Designed to help the student attain advanced proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding. The syllabus includes selections from modern texts representing a variety of styles and genres, advanced composition, and sustained development of oral-aural proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic. A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103a is required to take ARBC 103b. Usually offered every year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

ARBC 103b Middle Advanced Arabic: Contemporary Arab Media
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103a or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
Continuation of ARBC 103a. Intensive honing of all four language skills and vocabulary building with concentration on the written and spoken media of the contemporary Arab world. Special emphasis on the use of connectors for effective oral and written communication. Systematic review and reinforcement of major grammatical topics. Usually offered every year.
Staff

CHIN 120a Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: CHIN 105a or equivalent.
For advanced students of Chinese, an introduction to contemporary Chinese short stories from the 1990s and later. Focuses on significant expansion of vocabulary and grammar, and on providing students an opportunity to develop and polish both oral and written skills through class discussion, presentations, and writing assignments. Usually offered every fall.
Staff

CHIN 120b Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language II
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: CHIN 120a or equivalent.
Continuation of CHIN 120a. Study of contemporary Chinese short stories from the 1990s and later. These stories not only represent new literary themes and linguistic expressions, but also reflect the modernization, commercialization, and urbanization that is transforming China. The course improves students' knowledge of the language, as well as enhancing their understanding of Chinese society and culture. Usually offered every spring.
Staff

FREN 110a Cultural Representations
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Examines how alienation, which is often understood as exemplifying western modernity, manifests itself in literary works and films from throughout the Francophone world and French history. We will look at authors such as Assia Djebar, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Mohammed Dib, Albert Camus, Joachim Du Bellay, Pierre Corneille, and Molière. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Randall

FREN 111a The Republic
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
The "Republic" analyzes how the republican ideal of the citizen devoid of religious, ethnic, or gender identity has fared in different Francophone political milieux. Course involves understanding how political institutions such as constitutions, parliaments, and court systems interact with reality of modern societies in which religious, ethnic, and gender identities play important roles. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Randall

FREN 113a Great French Novels
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Power, passion, and creativity in the French novel. Major novels of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Balzac, Stendhal, George Sand, Flaubert, Zola, and Proust reflect France's social and political upheavals. Topics include psychological analysis, revolution and class conflicts, male and female relationships, and the creative process. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kaplan

FREN 114b Quest for the Absolute
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Imagination, the drug experience, even madness can convey absolute meaning. We read creative journeys in prose and poetry by Balzac, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Maria Krysinska, Senghor, Bonnefoy to explore topics of good and evil; racial and gender identity; love and intimacy; spiritual faith. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Kaplan

FREN 122b The Renaissance: When France Became France
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
At a moment when the modern nation-state is perhaps coming to an end in supranational institutions like the European Union, it is important to look at how that nation-state came into being in the sixteenth century. During a time of both political and religious turmoil and intense artistic creation, writers of the Renaissance created works that helped define us as both public and private individuals. Works studied include Rabelais' Gargantua, Montaigne's Essays, Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron, as well as the poetry of Ronsard, du Bellay, and Louise Labé. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Randall

FREN 135a Rebellion Against Romanticism
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Liberation and selfhood in nineteenth-century France: short stories, novels, poetry, and theater. Topics include love and intimacy, the struggle for identity, gender roles, myth and folklore, religion and secularization. Authors may include Lamartine, Hugo, Desbordes-Valmore, Musset, Nerval, Sand, and Balzac. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kaplan

FREN 137a Literary Responses to Mass Violence
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Studies writers’ responses to humanitarian and political crises of the past hundred years, e.g., Camus’ La peste, Duras’ Hiroshima mon amour, Beckett’s Catastrophe, Diop’s Murambi, Sijie’s Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise, and Laferrière’s Tout bouge autour de moi. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hale

FREN 142b City and the Book
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Analyzes the symbolic appearance of the city in French literature and film from the Middle Ages to the present day. The representation of the city in literature and film is contextualized in theoretical writings of urbanists and philosophers. Literary texts include medieval fabliaux, Pantagruel (Rabelais) and Nana (Zola) as well as theoretical texts by Descartes, Ledoux, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, and Paul Virillo. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Randall

FREN 155b Contemporary Theater: Literature or Performance?
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Reading and in-class performance of plays ranging from Jarry’s Ubu roi and Beckett’s Godot to more traditional texts by Sartre and Giraudoux. Concludes with Yasmina Reza’s Le Dieu du carnage. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hale

FREN 165b Subsaharan Africa and the French Language
[ fl hum nw ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Studies writing in French in Subsaharan Africa, with particular emphasis upon its cultural and historical contexts. Topics include Negritude, African languages, defining "tradition," oral and written literature, Islam, film, and gender. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Hale

FREN 186b Literature and Politics
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
We will be interested in how the literary is political and the political literary. We will organize the class around the relationship of the individual and the community. Texts include: Montaigne’s Essais, Corneille’s Horace, Genet’s Les nègres, Arendt’s What is Politics?, Dumont’s Essays on Individualism, Fanon’s Peau noire, masques blancs. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Randall

GER 120a German Enlightenment and Classicism
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisites: GER 39a, A- or better in GER 30a, or the equivalent.
Careful reading and discussion (in German) of some of the most moving dramatic scenes and lyrical poems written by Lessing, Klopstock, Lenz, Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, and others will provide an overview of those fertile literary and intellectual movements--enlightenment, storm and stress, and idealism--that eventually culminated in German classicism. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. von Mering

GER 121a Der Eros und das Wort: Lyrik, Prosa, Drama
[ hum ]
Focuses on the prose, poetry, and drama of love in German literature since Goethe. Workes by Goethe, Kleist, Novalis, Tieck, Rilke, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, Treichel, and others. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Dowden

GER 140a Bertolt Brecht und das Theater des 20.Jahrhunderts
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: GER 103a or equivalent. Conducted in German.
Examines the role of theater and drama as "moral institution" and entertainment. How does theater hold postwar Germans accountable for remembering the past and promoting social justice? Students will also work collaboratively on a performance project. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. von Mering

GER 181a Franz Kafka's Erzählungen
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisites: GER 105a is recommended.
A detailed exploration of Kafka's works, life, and thought. Emphasis will be given to his place in the larger scheme of literary modernism. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Dowden

GRK 115b Ancient Greek Drama
[ fl hum ]
The plays of Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, and Sophocles, in Greek. A different playwright is studied each year. See Schedule of Classes for current topic. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Muellner

GRK 120b Greek Prose Authors
[ fl hum ]
Selections from Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, and other prose authors, in Greek. See Schedule of Classes for current topic. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Muellner

HBRW 123a Creative Reading and Writing in Hebrew I
[ fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Any 40-level Hebrew course or the equivalent, as determined by the director of the Hebrew language program. Four class hours per week.
An intermediate- to mid/high-level course, which focuses on modern Hebrew prose and poetry stressing major trends. Students are expected to acquire better fluency in reading, writing, and conversation. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hascal

HBRW 123b Creative Reading and Writing in Hebrew II
[ fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Any 40-level Hebrew course or its equivalent, as determined by the director of the Hebrew language program. Four class hours per week.
An intermediate- to mid/high-level course that focuses on the representation of the Holocaust and the generational relationships in modern Hebrew prose and poetry. Students are expected to acquire better fluency in reading, writing, and conversation. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hascal

HBRW 144a Hebrew through Plays and Drama
[ ca fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Four semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours and two additional weekly hours of lab work are required.
Helps improve Hebrew language skills at the intermediate-high/advanced-level by focusing on various creative aspects such as improvisations, drama, performance, and other acting techniques such as movement, imagination, and other basic skills necessary to act out scenes from various plays in the Hebrew language. Writing assignments and self-critique enhance the students' skills in language acquisition. The course culminates in the writing of one-act plays in Hebrew along with a theatrical performance and production. Usually offered every year in the fall.
Ms. Azoulay

HBRW 146a The Voices of Jerusalem
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: Four semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours per week. This is an experiential learning course.
Aims to develop students' language proficiency through analysis of selected materials that depict the unique tradition, literature and poetry, history, politics, art, and other features related to Jerusalem. Usually offered every second year in the fall.
Ms. Hascal

HBRW 164b Israeli Theater
[ ca fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Five semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours and two lab hours per week.
An advanced course that enhances advanced language skills through reading and analysis of plays. The student's creativity is developed through participation in acting and creative writing lab. In reading plays, students can also participate in Hebrew acting lab. Usually offered every second year in the fall.
Ms. Azoulay

HBRW 166b Portrait of the Israeli Woman
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: Five semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours per week.
An advanced culture course that enhances advanced language skills through examination of the Israeli woman's role, image, and unique voice reflected in Israeli literature, history, tradition, and art. Usually offered every second year in the fall.
Ms. Hascal

HBRW 170a Take I: Hebrew through Israeli Cinema
[ fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Five semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours per week.
An advanced culture course that focuses on the various aspects of Israeli society as they are portrayed in Israeli films and television. In addition to viewing films, the students will be asked to read Hebrew background materials, to participate in class discussions, and to write in Hebrew about the films. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Azoulay

HISP 111b Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture
[ fl hum nw ]
Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of the instructor.
The goal of this course is to recognize trends in Latin American literary and cultural production. Examines a range of key Latin American texts (poems, short stories and excerpts from novels, chronicles, comics, screenplays, cyberfiction) from the time of the conquest to modernity. Emphasis is placed on problems of cultural definition and identity construction as they are elaborated in literary discourse. Looks at continuities and ruptures in major themes (coloniality and emancipation, modernismo and modernity, indigenismo, hybridity and mestizaje, nationalisms, Pan-Americanism, etc.) throughout Latin American intellectual history. Usually offered every semester
Mr. Rosenberg or Mr. Arellano

HISP 120b Don Quijote
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
A reading for fun and critical insight into what is often called "the first modern novel." Discusses some reasons for its reputation as a major influence on fiction and films throughout the Western world. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Fox

HISP 125b Literary Women in Early Modern Spain
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
Examines works by and about women in early modern Spain, with particular attention to engagements with and subversions of patriarchal culture in theater, prose, and poetry. Writers include Caro, Zayas, Cervantes, and Tirso de Molina. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Fox

HISP 140a Topics in Poetry
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
Topics vary from year to year, but may focus on different periods, poets, or poetics from both sides of the Atlantic. Study may include jarchas, Garcilaso de la Vega, Bécquer, the Generation of '98 or '27, Neruda, Vallejo, Rosario Castellanos, Octavio Paz, Huidobro, Borges. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell

HISP 160a Culture and Social Change in Latin America
[ fl hum nw wi ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
We will examine the relationship between art (including literature, film, and fine arts) and society in Latin America during the twentieth century. We will use significant examples drawn from three major socio-historical eras: the political and artistic vanguards of the 1920s (with particular attention to the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath); the 1960s and the cultural significance of the Cuban Revolution; and the 1990s period of transition to democracy and emergence of identity and minority-based social movements, with a renewed significance of artistic and literary languages. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Rosenberg

HISP 163a The Latin American Boom and Beyond
[ fl hum nw ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit.
Examines texts of the Latin American "boom" as well as contemporary narrative trends. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Arellano

HISP 164b Studies in Latin American Literature
[ fl hum nw wi ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit.
A comparative and critical study of main trends, ideas, and cultural formations in Latin America. Topics vary year to year and have included fiction and history in Latin American literature, nation and narration, Latin American autobiography, art and revolution in Latin America, and humor in Latin America. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Rosenberg

HISP 185b España 20XX
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisites: HISP 109b, HISP 110a, HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
Looks at cultural production and its context in Spain for an entire calendar year. The goal is to familiarize students with what has been read and watched in Spain most recently and to understand it in terms of contemporary politics and society. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell

HISP 198a Experiential Research Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 110a or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. This is an experiential learning course.
A research seminar in which each student has the opportunity to become an “expert” in a Hispanic literary or cultural text/topic that captures her or his imagination, inspired by a study abroad experience; an earlier class in Hispanic Studies; community-engaged learning; etc. Instruction in literary/cultural theory, researching a subject, and analytical skills necessary for developing a scholarly argument. Students present research in progress and write a research paper of significant length. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Rosenberg, Ms. Fox, or Mr. Arellano

ITAL 120b Modern Italian Literature
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: ITAL 30a, 105a, 106a, or the equivalent.
Focuses on the literature of twentieth-century writers such as Sciascia, Lampedusa, Calvino, and Moravia as well as contemporary writers, such as Baricco, Tamaro, Mazzantini, and Giordano with emphasis on the theme of historical, individual, and familial identity within the context of traumatic socio-economic upheaval and transformative cultural events. Several films based on these works will also be examined, with emphasis on an analysis of cinematic innovation. Conducted in Italian. Usually offered every other year.
Ms. Servino

ITAL 128a Mapping Modern Italian Culture: Inherited Conflicts
[ fl hum oc ]
Prerequisites: ITAL 105a or 106a. Conducted in Italian with Italian texts.
Covers a broad and significant range of cultural topics that exemplify creative responses to historical events and social dilemmas that have shaped contemporary Italian culture including economic changes, the new face of immigration in Italy, and the social fight against the Mafia and Camorra through literature and cinema. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Servino

JAPN 120b Readings in Modern Japanese Literature
[ fl hum nw wi ]
Prerequisite: JAPN 120a or the equivalent.
Provides advanced students of Japanese with broad introduction to contemporary Japanese literary work that is widely read in Japan. Focuses on significant expansion of vocabulary and grammar improving students' knowledge of the language as well as enhancing their understanding of Japanese culture and society. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Nakano

JAPN 130a The Literature of Multicultural Japan
[ hum nw ]
"Multicultural" may not be an adjective that many associate with Japan, but as we will find in this class, Japan's modern literary and cinematic tradition is rich with works by and about resident Koreans, Ainu, Okinawans, outcasts, and sexual and other marginalized minorities. Why then does the image of a monocultural Japan remain so resilient? Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

JAPN 135a Screening National Images: Japanese Film and Anime in Global Context
[ hum nw ]
All films and readings are in English.
An introduction to some major directors and works of postwar Japanese film and anime with special attention to such issues as genre, medium, adaptation, narrative, and the circulation of national images in the global setting. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

LAT 115a Roman Drama
[ fl hum ]
Selected plays of Plautus and Terence, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 116b Roman Satire
[ fl hum ]
The satires of Horace and Juvenal, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 117a Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
[ fl hum ]
Close reading (in Latin) and discussion of poetic and philosophical dimensions of the poem. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 118a Latin Lyric and Elegiac Poetry
[ fl hum ]
Selections from Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, in Latin. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 118b Roman Historians
[ fl hum ]
Selections from the histories of Julius Caesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Walker

LAT 119b Ovid: Metamorphoses
[ fl hum ]
Selections from Ovid's mythological-poetic history of the universe, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 120a Vergil
[ fl hum ]
Selections from Vergil's Eclogues, Georgics, and the Aeneid in Latin. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Johnston

LAT 125a Medieval Latin
[ fl hum ]
Surveys medieval Latin prose and poetry from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries and their influence on subsequent English, French, and Italian literature. Materials will be studied in the original Latin and English. Offered on request.
Ms. Johnston or Ms. Walker

RUS 150b Advanced Russian Language through Literature (in Russian)
[ fl hum oc ]
Prerequisite: RUS 29b, RUS 40b or RUS 50b with a grade of C- or higher, or the equivalent as determined by placement examination. Taught in Russian. Course my be repeated for credit with instructor's permission.
A seminar for intermediate to advanced students of Russian, focusing on the close study of Russian literature in the original Russian and the development of Russian oral and writted language skills needed for the close reading and discussion of literature. Topics vary from year to year but may include 20th-century prose, folklore, contemporary prose, or studying and performing a play. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Dubinina

RUS 153a Russian Poetry and Prose in Russian: Undergraduate Seminar
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: RUS 29b, RUS 40b or RUS 50b with a grade of C- or higher, or the equivalent as determined by placement examination. Taught in Russian.
An undergraduate seminar focusing on the advanced study of Russian literataure in the original Russian and development of Russian oral and written language skills needed to analyze and discuss poetry. Includes a selection of the very best Russian poetry and prose of the nineteenth century. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Powelstock

Courses in Related Fields

These are examples of comparative courses that may be counted toward category (D) of the major and minor requirements if they are approved by the UAH as appropriate to each student’s course of study. Courses with comparative content not listed here may be counted with approval of the UAH. In all cases, students' selection of courses in this category must be discussed with the UAH.

AAAS 125b Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
[ ss wi ]
Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

AAAS 132b Introduction to African Literature
[ hum nw ss wi ]
Examines the cultural production of African writers and filmmakers and their critiques of the postcolonial state. Topics include their exploration of gender, sexuality, language choice, the pressures placed on "authentic" identities by diasporic communities, and the conflicting claims of tradition and modernity. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

AAAS 133b The Literature of the Caribbean
[ hum nw ss wi ]
An exploration of the narrative strategies and themes of writers of the region who grapple with issues of colonialism, class, race, ethnicity, and gender in a context of often-conflicting allegiances to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

AAAS 134b Novel and Film of the African Diaspora
[ hum nw ]
Writers and filmmakers, who are usually examined separately under national or regional canonical categories such as "(North) American," "Latin American," "African," "British," or "Caribbean," are brought together here to examine transnational identities and investments in "authentic," "African," or "black" identities. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

ANTH 105a Myth and Ritual
[ nw ss ]
Studies myth and ritual as two interlocking modes of cultural symbolism. Evaluates theoretical approaches to myth by looking at creation and political myths. Examines performative, processual, and spatial models of ritual analysis through study of initiation, sacrifice, and funerals. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Schattschneider

CHIN 136b Chinese Modernism in International Context
[ hum nw ]
Taught in English.
Examines the origins, recurrences, and metamorphosis of modernistic styles and movements in twentieth-century Chinese literature, film, fine art, and intellectual discourses. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Wang

CLAS 166a Medieval Literature: A Millennium of God, Sex, and Death
[ hum wi ]
A survey of medieval Latin literature in translation, beginning with the fourth-century church fathers and ending with the early Renaissance. Includes Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Egeria, Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, Bede, Alcuin, Einhard, Hroswitha, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hildegard, Anselm, and others. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Walker

CLAS 170a Classical Mythology
[ hum ]
An introduction to Greek and Roman mythology. Considers ancient song cultures, and the relationship between myth, drama, and religion. Also explores visual representations of myth. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Muellner

ECS 100a European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
[ hum wi ]
Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others. Usually offered every fall semester.
Mr. Dowden

ECS 100b European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Making of European Modernity
[ hum wi ]
Investigates how the paradigm of what we know as modernity came into being. We will look at the works of writers and philosophers such as Descartes, Aquinas, Dante, Ockham, Petrarch, Ficino, Rabelais, and Montaigne. Artwork from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will be used to understand better what "the modern" means. Usually offered every spring semester.
Mr. Randall

ECS 110a Thinking about Infinity
[ hum ]
Explores the attempts of the finite human mind to think about infinity. Readings in mathematics, history of science, philosophy, literature, and art, including Euclid, Plato, Cantor, Poincaré, Einstein, Pascal, Kant, Hegel, Wordsworth, Shelley, Joyce, Beckett, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Flesch

ENG 37b Modern Drama: Theatres of Rupture, Resistance, and Engagement
[ hum ]
How did theatre artists take “the modern” as a goal to be realized in the future and a crisis to be managed in the present? Playwrights include Ibsen, Wilde, Chekhov, Shaw, Synge, Glaspell, Brecht, Williams, Beckett, Pinter, Fugard, Fornes, Hwang, Churchill, Kushner, and Parks. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

ENG 40b The Birth of the Short Story: Gods, Ghosts, Lunatics
[ hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course.
How old is the short story? It may go back to the Stone Age, Aesop's fables, or medieval saints' lives, but some credit Edgar Allan Poe and the Scottish shepherd James Hogg. This class takes an in-depth look at three key centers of the genre: Edinburgh, New York, and Moscow. Authors include Melville, Hawthorne, Dickens, Gogol, and Chekov. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Plotz

ENG 50a Love Poetry from Sappho to Neruda
[ hum ]
This course explores the relationship between love and poetry. Starts with the ancient Greek poet Sappho and proceeds through the centuries, reading lyrics by Catullus, Ovid, Propertius, Petrarch, Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, Rossetti, and others. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Targoff

ENG 77b Literatures of Global English
[ hum nw ]
Survey of world Anglophone literatures with attention to writers' literary responses to aspects of English as a global language with a colonial history. Focus on Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, North America. Writers may include Rushdie, Coetzee, Kincaid, Atwood, Anzaldua. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ENG 80b The Tale
[ hum wi ]
The oral form of the story; also a non-realist modern literary genre. Students study and create myths, ballads, folktales, ritual drama, and ethnographic approaches to the transmission of tales, including Genesis, Metamorphosis, fairy tales, pre-Columbian myths, Poe, Angela Carter. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 107a Women Writing Desire: Caribbean Fiction and Film
[ hum ]
About eight novels of the last two decades (by Cliff, Cruz, Danticat, Garcia, Kempadoo, Kincaid, Mittoo, Nunez, Pineau, Powell, or Rosario), drawn from across the region, and read in dialogue with popular culture, theory, and earlier generations of male and female writers of the region. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 111b Postcolonial Theory
[ hum ]
Seminar in postcolonial theory with relevant background texts, with an emphasis on the specificity of its theoretical claims. Readings from Spivak, Said, Bhabha, Appiah, Mudimbe, Marx, Lenin, Freud, Derrida, Césaire, and Fanon, among others. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 121a Sex and Culture
[ hum ]
An exploration of the virtually unlimited explanatory power attributed to sexuality in the modern world. "Texts" include examples from literature, film, television, pornography, sexology, and theory. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Morrison

ENG 123a Dream Visions: Genre, History, and the Mysterious
[ hum ]
A study of the mysterious function of imaginary dreams in medieval and Renaissance writing, along with actual dream dictionaries and dream transcriptions of the period. Visions of Hell, prophetic dreams, apocalypse, Chaucer, Dante, Shakespeare, Nashe, and others. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 127a The Novel in India
[ hum nw ]
Survey of the novel and short story of the Indian subcontinent, their formal experiments in context of nationalism and postcolonial history. Authors may include Tagore, Anand, Manto, Desani, Narayan, Desai, Devi, Rushdie, Roy, Mistry, and Chaudhuri. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 127b Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
[ hum ]
Beginning with the region's representation as a tabula rasa, examines the textual and visual constructions of the Caribbean as colony, homeland, backyard, paradise, and Babylon, and how the region's migrations have prompted ideas about evolution, hedonism, imperialism, nationalism, and diaspora. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 128a Alternative Worlds: Modern Utopian Texts
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: ENG 1a or ENG 11a.
British, European, and American works depicting alternate, often "better" worlds, including More's Utopia, Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, Voltaire's Candide, Casanova's Icosameron, selections from Charles Fourier, Alexander Bogdanov's Red Star, Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis: Dawn, Wolfgang Becker's Goodbye Lenin! Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 128b Postcolonial Epidemics
[ hum nw ]
Examines how biological catastrophe is imagined in postcolonial fiction, combining horror with social critique. How have epidemics such as yellow fever, influenza, malaria, and AIDS helped communities better understand themselves? Authors include Wideman, Isegawa, Kincaid, Ghosh, Ishiguro, and Max Brooks. Special one-time offering, spring 2012.
Mr. Babcock

ENG 138a Making Modern Subjects: Empire, Citizenship, Intimacy
[ hum ]
Considers inflections of "the modern" across the Americas, allowing us to compare models and strategies at a historical moment when shifts from slavery to "freedom" and from Europe to the U.S.A., frame anxieties about empire, citizenship, technology, vernaculars, and aesthetics. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 144b The Body as Text
[ hum ]
How are our bodies the material for our presentations of self and our interactions with others? Examines contemporary theories and histories of the body against literary, philosophical, political, and performance texts of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

ENG 152b Arthurian Literature
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: ENG 1a, ENG 10a, HUM 10a or ENG 11a.
A survey of (mostly) medieval treatments of the legendary material associated with King Arthur and his court, in several genres: bardic poetry, history, romance, prose narrative. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 162a Totalitarian Fictions
[ hum ]
Investigates global dictator novels, with attention to formal issues surrounding the novel's ability to represent illiberal arrangements of power. Authors include Garcia Marquez, Achebe, and Junot Diaz. Films include "The Last King of Scotland" and Oliver Stone's "W". Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 167a Decolonizing Fictions
[ hum nw ]
An introduction to basic concepts in postcolonial studies using selected literary works from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Specific themes covered include the colonial encounter; colonial education and the use of English; nationalism; gender, violence, and the body; and postcolonial diasporas. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 171a The History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to Postmodernism
[ hum wi ]
Explores major documents in the history of criticism from Plato to the present. Texts will be read as representative moments in the history of criticism and as documents of self-sufficient literary and intellectual interest. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Morrison or Ms. Quinney

ENG 181a Making Sex, Performing Gender
[ hum ]
Recommended preparation: An introductory course in gender/sexuality and/or a course in critical theory.
Gender and sexuality studied as sets of performed traits and cues for interactions among social actors. Readings explore the possibility that differently organized gender and sexual practices are possible for men and women. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

FA 189b From Broadsheets to Blogs: Reading Magazines Across the Twentieth Century
[ ca hum wi ]
Examines the magazine as a collaborative space for artists and writers internationally, beginning with the rise of print culture in the early 20th century and concluding with the status of the magazine in the digital age. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Ms. Cole

FREN 110a Cultural Representations
[ fl hum wi ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Examines how alienation, which is often understood as exemplifying western modernity, manifests itself in literary works and films from throughout the Francophone world and French history. We will look at authors such as Assia Djebar, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Mohammed Dib, Albert Camus, Joachim Du Bellay, Pierre Corneille, and Molière. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Randall

FYS 15a Journeys to Enlightenment
[ hum wi ]
Literature often symbolizes the meaning of existence as a journey from error to truth, from affliction to freedom and enlightenment. Works by Dante, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Blake, Baudelaire, Hesse, and Hurston illustrate visions of human existence that have been entertained from the Middle Ages to the present.
Mr. Kaplan (Romance Studies)

FYS 44a JustBooks: Tragedy, Right vs. Right?
[ hum ]
Most stories are about good vs. evil. Even if they end unhappily, we know what the happy alternative would be. But tragedy often seems about elemental, irresolvable conflict. Is such conflict inevitable? Can there be just solutions to tragic situations? Offered as part of the JustBooks program.
Ms. Quinney (English)

FYS 49a JustBooks: Justice, Truth, Enlightenment
[ hum wi ]
Examines works from different historical periods depicting the journey of an individual from ignorance to enlightenment, from sin to redemption, from suffering to joy. We explore novels, a tragedy, epic poetry, lyric poetry, ironic modern fables, and ask such questions as: What is free will? What are good and evil? What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of the self? How is it possible to love and be loved? How does one achieve self-knowledge and self-liberation? What is the meaning of God in human experience? Offered as part of the JustBooks program.
Mr. Kaplan (Romance Studies)

GECS 130b The Princess and the Golem: Fairy Tales
[ hum wi ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English.
An introduction to the genre of fairy tale in German literature, focusing especially on the narratives collected by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, but also exploring the Kunstmärchen and calendar stories composed by German writers from Romanticism into the twentieth century. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. von Mering

GECS 167a German Cinema: Vamps and Angels
[ hum wi ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
From silent film to Leni Riefenstahl and Nazi cinema, from postwar cinema in the East and West to new German film after unification, this course traces aesthetic strategies, reflections on history, memory, subjectivity, and political, cultural, and film-historical contexts with an emphasis on gender issues. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. von Mering

GECS 180b European Modernism and the German Novel
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
A study of selected novelists writing after Nietzsche and before the end of World War II. Explores the culture, concept, and development of European modernism in works by Broch, Canetti, Döblin, Jünger, Kafka, Mann, Musil, Rilke, and Roth. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Dowden

HECS 169a Travel Writing and the Americas: Columbus's Legacy
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
Following the arrival of Columbus, the continent later known as America engaged with other continents in a mutual process of cultural, historical, geographical, and economic representation. The development of some of those representations is explored, beginning with travel writing and ending with recent images of the encounter. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HISP 160a Culture and Social Change in Latin America
[ fl hum nw wi ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
We will examine the relationship between art (including literature, film, and fine arts) and society in Latin America during the twentieth century. We will use significant examples drawn from three major socio-historical eras: the political and artistic vanguards of the 1920s (with particular attention to the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath); the 1960s and the cultural significance of the Cuban Revolution; and the 1990s period of transition to democracy and emergence of identity and minority-based social movements, with a renewed significance of artistic and literary languages. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Rosenberg

HISP 194b Borderland Literature and Visual Culture in Latin America and the United States
[ hum nw wi ]
Open to all students; conducted in English.
Examines literature, visual art, and cinema produced at the intersection between North and South America, focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border, the Southern United States, and immigrant Latino communities. We consider works by William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, Junot Díaz, Roberto Bolaño, Coco Fusco, Lourdes Portillo, and Luis Valdez, among others. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Arellano

HISP 196a Topics in Latina/o Literature and Culture
[ hum ]
May be repeated for credit. Taught in English.
Offers students the opportunity for in-depth study of a particular aspect of the diverse literary and cultural production of U.S. latinas and latinos. Topics will vary from year to year but may include autobiography, detective fiction, or historical fiction. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Mandrell

HUM 10a The Western Canon
[ hum ]
May not be taken by students who have taken FYS 18a in prior years.
Foundational texts of the Western canon: the Bible, Homer, Vergil, and Dante. Thematic emphases and supplementary texts vary from year to year.
Staff

IECS 140a Dante's Divine Comedy
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
A close study of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso as a symbolic vision of reality reflecting the culture and the political, philosophical, and theological thought of the Middle Ages. Readings to include the Vita Nuova, the Aeneid (Bk. 6), and selections from the Bible, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and St. Thomas' Summa Theologicae. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Lansing

JAPN 130a The Literature of Multicultural Japan
[ hum nw ]
"Multicultural" may not be an adjective that many associate with Japan, but as we will find in this class, Japan's modern literary and cinematic tradition is rich with works by and about resident Koreans, Ainu, Okinawans, outcasts, and sexual and other marginalized minorities. Why then does the image of a monocultural Japan remain so resilient? Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

JAPN 135a Screening National Images: Japanese Film and Anime in Global Context
[ hum nw ]
All films and readings are in English.
An introduction to some major directors and works of postwar Japanese film and anime with special attention to such issues as genre, medium, adaptation, narrative, and the circulation of national images in the global setting. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

NEJS 124a Arabic Literature, Hebrew Literature (500-1500)
[ hum ]
A comparative study of Arabic and Hebrew literature from before the rise of Islam through the fifteenth century. Studies major trends in Arabic poetry and fiction and how Jewish authors utilized Arabic motifs in their Hebrew writings, both secular and sacred, and sometimes wrote in Arabic themselves. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Decter

NEJS 140b Early Modern Jewish History
[ hum ]
Examines Jewish history and culture in early modern Europe: mass conversions on the Iberian peninsula, migrations, reconversions back to Judaism, the printing revolution, the Reformation and Counter Reformation, ghettos, gender, family, everyday life, material culture, communal structure, rabbinical culture, mysticism, magic, science, messianic movements, Hasidism, mercantilism, and early modern challenges to Judaism.
Ms. Freeze

NEJS 171a Modern Jewish Literatures: Text, Image and Context
[ hum wi ]
Introduces important works of modern Jewish literature and film. Taking a comparative approach, it addresses major themes in contemporary Jewish culture, interrogates the "Jewishness" of the works and considers issues of language, poetics, and culture significant to Jewish identity. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kellman

NEJS 177a The Holocaust in Israeli and Jewish Literature
[ hum ]
A broad survey of Holocaust writings in Modern Jewish literature. Examines the psychological, social, moral, and aesthetic challenges involved in representing the Holocaust in Israeli, American, and European context through literary texts, theoretical research, works of art, and film. Taught in English. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 181a Jews on Screen: "Cohen's Fire Sale" to the Coen Brothers
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
Survey course focusing on moving images of Jews and Jewish life in fiction and factual films. Includes early Russian and American silents, home movies of European Jews, Yiddish feature films, Israeli cinema, independent films, and Hollywood classics. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Rivo

SAS 110b South Asian Postcolonial Writers
[ hum nw ]
Examines the postcolonial novel written in English within the shared history of colonialism, specifically British imperialism, for South Asia. Writers include R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Mohsin Hamid, Romesh Gunesekera and Daniyal Mueenudin. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Singh

SAS 140a We Who Are at Home Everywhere: Narratives from the South Asian Diaspora
[ hum ]
Looks at narratives from various locations of the South Asian Diaspora, while paying close attention to the emergence of an immigrant South Asian public culture. Examines novels, poetry, short stories, film, and music in order to further an understanding of South Asian immigrant culture. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Singh

THA 115b The Avant-Gardes in Performance
[ ca hum ]
Explores the avant-garde movements including symbolism, decadence, futurism, constructivism, Dada, surrealism, expressionism, existentialism, pop art and happenings, performance art, minimalism, and postmodernism as alternative forms of expression that challenge mainstream art. Attention is paid to the interactions among theater, painting, dance, music, and film. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Holmberg

THA 133b Acting the Classics
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: THA 133a. This is an experiential learning course. May not be taken for credit by students who took THA 33b in prior years.
A continuation of THA 133a with work on more complex classical texts, including Shakespeare and the Greeks. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Morrison

THA 185b Dramatic Structure: Analysis and Application
[ ca ]
Students read works from the Greeks to the present, analyzing a variety of dramatic structures as a means of deriving meaning from plays. Texts include works by Aristotle, Aeschylus, Seneca, Hegel, Racine, Sarah Kane, Lope de Vega, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Pinter, Richard Greenberg, Caryl Churchill, Arthur Schnitzler, David Hare, Sergi Belbel, Joe Orton, and Kuan Han-ch'ing. Students will have the opportunity to write a play modeled after one of the structures studied in class. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. McKittrick