An Interdepartmental Program in Comparative Literature and Culture
Last updated: March 26, 2024 at 4:53 PM
Programs of Study
- Minor
- Major (BA)
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, languages 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, Introduction to Global Literature, introduces students to the diversity of approaches to comparing literatures and cultures 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:
- 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;
- understand the major questions, concepts, theories and methodologies of the comparative method;
- 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:
- perform strong and revealing close analyses of literary and other artistic texts;
- 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;
- use various interpretive approaches, considering the benefits and limitations of different strategies;
- use library resources to find relevant research materials;
- 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;
- 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
Pu Wang, Chair and Undergraduate Advising Head
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Stephen Dowden
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Matthew Fraleigh
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
David Powelstock
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Laura Quinney
(English)
Michael Randall
(French and Francophone Studies)
Joel Christensen (Classical Studies)
Jonathan Decter (Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Stephen Dowden (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
William Flesch (English)
Matthew Fraleigh (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Caitlin Gillespie (Classical Studies)
James Mandrell (Romance Studies)
Robin Feuer Miller (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
David Powelstock (German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)
Laura Quinney (English)
Michael Randall (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:
- COML 100a, to be taken as early as possible in the student's academic career.
- 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 and culture focused upon original-language texts can be pursued both at Brandeis and through approved Study Abroad programs.
- Two upper-level courses COML-designated courses. These courses will bridge more than one national tradition and engage in cross-cultural examination.
- 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.
- No more than two classes taken toward the minor can double count toward any other major or minor.
- 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:
- COML 100a, to be taken as early as possible in the student's academic career.
- Two upper-level 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.
- Three upper-level COML-designated courses. These courses will bridge more than one national tradition and engage in cross-cultural examination.
- 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 elective courses may be used towards the elective requirement for the Film, Television, and Interactive Media major. No more than one of these elective courses may be counted toward another major.
- Foundational Literacies: As part of completing the Comparative Literature and Culture major, students must:
- Fulfill the writing intensive requirement by successfully completing one of the following: Any COML cross-listed course approved for WI or COML/ENG 148a.
- Fulfill the oral communication requirement by successfully completing: COML 100a.
- Fulfill the digital literacy requirement by successfully completing: COML 100a.
- No course with a grade below a C- will count toward the major nor any course 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 upper-level comparative course. A senior project is required only of students pursuing honors.
Courses of Instruction
(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students
COML
97a
Senior Essay
Offers students an opportunity to produce a senior essay under the direction of an individual instructor. Usually offered every fall.
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.
COML
98b
Independent Study
Yields half-course credit. 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.
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.
COML/ENG
21a
The Literature of Walking
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Explores genres of pedestrianism—rambles, strolls, promenades, treks, pilgrimages, marches. Students will take and design walks as well as read major works on the subject. Usually offered every fourth year.
COML/ENG
70b
Environmental Film, Environmental Justice
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djw
hum
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Examines films that address nature, environmental crisis, and green activism. Asks how world cinema can best advance the goals of social and environmental justice. Includes films by major directors and festival award winners. Usually offered every third year.
(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students
COML
100a
Introduction to Global Literature
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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.
COML
105a
World Culture and Marxism
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Exploring the linkage between Marxism and global modernity, this course emphasizes the deep entanglement of Marxism with twentieth-century literature and culture in both the so-called 'advanced West' and the vast world of 'underdevelopment' (such as China, Africa, and Latin America). In this course, students will see how Marxism has evolved as a revolutionary praxis in the crisis-fraught capitalist world system, and how it has inspired international literary movements and cultural debates aimed to subvert that system. With case studies drawn from across the world and readings selected from Marx's century all the way to our own, we will study the development of the international cultural left. We will also try to decenter (deprovincialize or de-Westernize) Marxism and understand it as an integral part of the translingual/transnational search for a different world'a world of common good and cultural equality. Usually offered every second year.
COML
114a
World Literature and the Chinese Revolution
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hum
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Explores the mutual formation of World Literature as aesthetic-political commons and the Chinese Revolution as a long cultural revolution in the twentieth century. All Chinese, German, French, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish texts will be read in English translation.
COML
116b
Nietzsche: An Introduction
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hum
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A basic introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts and writings. Usually offered every fourth year.
COML
117a
Magical Realism and Modern Myth
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hum
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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. Usually offered every second year.
COML
120a
Disordered Loves and Howling Passion: European Romanticism
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hum
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Introduces European Romanticism from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. This course integrates literature, painting, music, and philosophy. Works by Beethoven, Hölderlin, Schubert, Delacroix, Wordsworth, Mary Shelly, Verdi, Schlegel, Kant, Claude David and others. Usually offered every second year.
COML
123a
Perfect Love?
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hum
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The conflict between "perfect' and carnal love has inspired artistic works from the Middle Ages through the present. This course studies how perfect love runs afoul of more human desires in works by authors, composers, and film makers like Chrétien de Troye, Marguerite de Navarre, Hawthorne, Monteverdi, di Sica, and Wong Karwai. Usually offered every second year.
COML
132b
Poetry and Philosophy
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hum
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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? Usually offered every third year.
COML
146b
Classical East Asian Poetics
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hum
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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.
COML
150b
Critique of Erotic Reason
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hum
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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.
COML
160a
East European Literature and Film: Art and Life in the Throes of History
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hum
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All texts, films, and instruction in English. No prerequisites.
Examines major East European films and literary works from the Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, (former) Yugoslavian, Bosnian, and other traditions. With an eye toward the unique historical, political, and ideological currents of the region and its constituent nationalities, we will focus on both artistic expression and engagement with larger issues. Usually offered every second year.
COML
171a
Literary Translation in Theory and in Practice
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hum
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Prerequisite: Excellent reading knowledge of any language other than English. Students will be asked to demonstrate proficiency before receiving consent to enroll in the course.
Approaching literary translation from several angles at once, this course combines readings in the history and theory of translation with a practical translation workshop. Students will experience first-hand the challenges of literary translation and, with the help of the theoretical readings, reflect on what the process teaches us about linguistic, literary, and cultural difference. Usually offered every second year.
COML
178a
Cult Books
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hum
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Explores novels on the fringe of literary respectability, books that have won passionate, if not necessarily large followings (hence the ambivalent praise implied in the term 'cult book'). Works by Renate Adler, J. G. Ballard, Thomas Bernhard, Osamu Dazai, Wei Hui, Chester Himes, Fleur Jaeggy, Anna Kavan, William Kotzwinkle, Eileen Myles, Maggie Nelson, Georges Perec, Hunter Thompson, Robert Walser, Shuo Wang and others. Usually offered every third year.
COML/ENG
106a
The Lyric Imagination from Romanticism to the Present
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hum
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That the poetic imagination could be not merely a source of pleasure, instruction, and inspiration, but a source of insight into the meaning of being, a way of connecting the outer world of nature and the inner world of the spirit, a source of ontological, ethical, and political truth, was a conviction entertained by many poets in English and German from the Romantic period to the present day. The course will consider these ideas in the poetry of Blake, Novalis, Eichendorff, Hölderlin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Keats, Whitman, Rilke, Eliot and Celan. Special one-time offering, fall 2024.
COML/ENG
141b
Literature and Time
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hum
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Explores the human experience of temporality and reflection upon it. Themes covered by this course include: memory, nostalgia, anxiety, ethics, eternity, and time travel. Usually offered every third year.
COML/ENG
149a
Dante's Hell and Its Legacy
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hum
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Studies the Classical underworld and its reworking in English verse. Topics include the descent to the underworld, the ambiguous Satan, the myths of Orpheus and Penelope, and the psychological Hells of the modernists. Usually offered every second year.
Laura Quinney
COML/ENG
191a
Environmental Aesthetics
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Explores major schools of thought about nature, ecology, and art. Usually offered every third year.
COML/REC
136a
All in the Family: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and the English Novel
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hum
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Selected novels and writings of Austen, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Woolf will be read to trace both the evolution of the novel and the meanings, contexts and depictions of the family. The family novel encompasses such larger questions as how we regard the pain of others and how we define community. Usually offered every second year.
COML Digital Literacy
COML
100a
Introduction to Global Literature
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dl
hum
oc
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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.
COML Oral Communication
COML
100a
Introduction to Global Literature
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dl
hum
oc
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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.
COML Writing Intensive
ENG
35a
The Weird and the Experimental in Contemporary Literature
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hum
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What does it mean to be “weird”? What makes a text “experimental”? And what can experimental texts teach us about the ever-changing nature of society? This course explores innovation and experimentation in the narrative structure of contemporary novels and films from around the world within their cultural contexts. Special one-time offering, spring 2024.
COML Upper Level Courses in a Language Other than English
ARBC
103a
Lower Advanced Arabic
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Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in 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.
ARBC
103b
Middle Advanced Arabic: Contemporary Arab Media
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Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103a or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
Continuation of ARBC 103a. Intensive honing primarily of oral-aural skills and vocabulary building with concentration on the spoken media of the contemporary Arab world. Review and reinforcement of major grammatical topics as needed. Usually offered every year.
CHIN
120a
Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language
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fl
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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.
CHIN
120b
Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language II
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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.
FREN
110a
Cultural Representations
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Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
A foundation course in French and Francophone culture, analyzing texts and other cultural phenomena such as film, painting, music, and politics. Usually offered every year.
FREN
111a
The Republic
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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.
FREN
122b
Toads, Salamanders, and Sonnets: Art, Power, and Identity in the French Renaissance
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Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
This class will look at how forms of cultural expression--from architecture to sonnets and odes--were used to create a sense of national and personal identity in the French Renaissance. We will look at how the poems, novellas, and essays of authors such as Joachim Du Bellay, Pierre de Ronsard, Marguerite de Navarre, Louise Labé, and Michel de Montaigne, the paintings and sculptures of artists like François Clouet and Francesco Primaticcio, and the buildings of architects like Philibert Delorme, were used to produce new forms of national and personal identity in the 16th century. We will also refer to modern authors such as Edouard Glissant to help us understand these developments from a modern point of view. Usually offered every second year.
FREN
142b
City and the Book
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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.
FREN
186b
Literature and Politics
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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.
GRK
115b
Ancient Greek Drama and Comedy
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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.
GRK
120b
Greek Prose Authors
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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.
HBRW
144a
Plays and Drama in Israeli Society
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Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
Focuses on critical reading and analysis of authentic and contemporary Israeli short plays and studying the comparison between plays in Israel and those in the U.S. We will examine theories in aspects of drama and implement drama techniques including improvisation, movement, and creative expression. Readings cover topics such as social diversity and justice, as well as human rights and awareness of world identities. The course culminates in the writing of an original scene or one-act play in Hebrew.
HBRW
146a
The Voices of Jerusalem
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Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
For advanced-intermediate students who wish to enhance their language proficiency and work toward improving fluency and communication through analysis of selected materials covering literature, poetry, history, politics, and art that depict the unique tradition and culture of Jerusalem. Usually offered every fall.
HBRW
164b
Israeli Theater Within the Framework of U.S Cultures
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Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
Promotes cultural awareness and global understanding through the reading and analysis of plays. Student creativity develops through participation in acting and creative writing assignments. Usually offered every second year.
HBRW
170a
Take I: Israeli Cinema and American Culture
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Prerequisite: Any 40-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
Introduces students to various aspects of Israeli society as portrayed in Israeli films and television. In addition to viewing films, students will be asked to read Hebrew background materials, to participate in class discussions, and to write review and criticism about the films. The course prepares students to deepen their analytical skills in order to gain broader understanding and intercultural knowledge as well as transform their personal and global thinking. Usually offered every second year.
HISP
111b
Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture
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Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of the instructor.
Examines key Latin American texts of different genres (poems, short stories and excerpts from novels, chronicles, comics, screenplays, cyberfiction) and from different time periods from the conquest to modernity. This class places emphasis on problems of cultural definition and identity construction as they are elaborated in literary discourse. Identifying major themes (coloniality and emancipation, modernismo and modernity, indigenismo, hybridity and mestizaje, nationalisms, Pan-Americanism, etc.) we will trace continuities and ruptures throughout Latin American intellectual history. Usually offered every semester.
HISP
160a
Culture/Media and Social Change in Latin America
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Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
The central topic of this class is the role of the creative arts (creative writing, visual arts, music, film, performance) in their role as fostering political change in Latin America. We will examine key eras of 20th and 21st century cultural production in relation with shifting mass-media landscapes, from the revolutionary impetus of the early 20th century avant-gardes in literature and visual arts, popular music in the 1940s, documentary film during and the 1960s guerrillas, artistic resistance to the dictatorship, to the street art accompanying human rights and grass roots identity movements of the 2000s. Usually offered every second year.
HISP
164b
Studies in Latin American Literature
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Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit. Does not fulfill writing intensive beginning fall 2020.
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.
ITAL
120b
Modern Italian Literature: From Page to the Screen
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fl
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Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor.
Focuses on Italian masterpiece literature from the twentieth century to the present, including writers such as Lampedusa, as well as contemporary writers, such as Baricco, Ammaniti, and Ferrante with emphasis on the theme of historical, individual, and familial identity within the context of 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. Usually offered every second year.
ITAL
128a
Mapping Modern Italian Culture: Inherited Conflicts
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Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor. 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.
JAPN
120b
Readings in Modern Japanese Literature
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Prerequisite: JAPN 120a or the equivalent.
Students read, analyze, discuss, and write about Japanese short fiction by a wide range of modern and contemporary authors. Screening of film adaptations and television programs complement class discussion, which is conducted in Japanese. Usually offered every year.
LAT
115a
Roman Drama
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fl
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Selected plays of Plautus and Terence, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff
LAT
118a
Latin Lyric and Elegiac Poetry
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Selections from Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, in Latin. Usually offered every third year.
LAT
119b
Ovid
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Selections from Ovid's mythological-poetic history of the universe, in Latin. Usually offered every fourth year.
LAT
120a
Vergil
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Selections from Vergil's Eclogues, Georgics, and the Aeneid in Latin. Usually offered every third year.
RUS
150b
Advanced Russian Language through 20th Century Literature
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Prerequisite: RUS 39b or RUS 40b or the equivalent, or instructor permission. Taught in Russian. Course may be repeated for credit with instructor's permission.
A seminar for continuing students of Russian who wish to enhance their proficiency and accuracy in speaking, reading and writing. Focusing on the close study of Russian literature in the original Russian and the development of Russian oral and written language skills needed for the close reading and discussion of literature. Usually offered every second year.
RUS
153a
Advanced Russian Language through 19th Century Literature
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Prerequisite: RUS 39b with a grade of C- or higher, or the equivalent, or instructor permission. Taught in Russian.
An undergraduate seminar for heritage and advanced students of Russian. Focus on the study of 19th-century Russian literature in the original and development of Russian oral and written skills needed for the close reading and discussion of literature. Usually offered every fourth year.
COML Cross-Listed
AAAS
125b
Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
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ss
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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.
AAAS
134b
Novel and Film of the African Diaspora
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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.
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.
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.
CLAS
117b
Unmasking Cleopatra: Gender, Power, and A Legacy
[
djw
hum
]
A close examination of the history and world of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and her later reception. Usually offered every third year.
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.
EAS
120b
Southeast Asian Literature in English
[
djw
hum
]
Explores a range of Southeast Asian literary productions presented in English from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Materials include influential texts by Western observers (W. Somerset Maugham, Marguerite Duras) during the colonial period as well as major works by prominent postcolonial writers (Tash Aw, Eka Kurniawan, Mai Der Vang). We will consider the complex questions of colonialism, postcoloniality, twentieth-century wars, and regional identity formation under late capitalism through intersectional textual analysis. Usually offered every third year.
ECS
100a
European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
[
dl
hum
oc
]
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.
ECS
100b
European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Making of European Modernity, 1250 to 1650
[
hum
]
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.
ECS/ENG
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.
ENG
17b
Climate Fictions
[
hum
oc
wi
]
Examines fictional narratives addressing climate change. Asks how authors from around the world imagine a future in which sea levels, animal populations, temperatures, access to food, and/or weather patterns are significantly different from those of the present. Usually offered every third year.
ENG
35a
The Weird and the Experimental in Contemporary Literature
[
hum
wi
]
What does it mean to be “weird”? What makes a text “experimental”? And what can experimental texts teach us about the ever-changing nature of society? This course explores innovation and experimentation in the narrative structure of contemporary novels and films from around the world within their cultural contexts. Special one-time offering, spring 2024.
ENG
66b
Contemporary Global Dystopias
[
djw
hum
wi
]
Explores the sources, moods, and effects of dystopian fiction from around the world. Usually offered every third year.
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.
ENG
111b
Postcolonial Theory
[
djw
hum
wi
]
Introduces students to key concepts in postcolonial theory. Traces the consequences of European colonialism for politics, culture and literature around the world, situates these within ongoing contemporary debates, and considers the usefulness of postcolonial theory for understanding the world today. Usually offered every third year.
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.
ENG
127a
The Novel in India
[
djw
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.
ENG
127b
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
[
djw
hum
nw
]
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.
ENG
144b
The Body as Text
[
hum
wi
]
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.
ENG
152a
Indian Love Stories
[
djw
dl
hum
nw
]
Introduces students to writings on love, desire and sexuality from ancient India to the present. Topics include ancient eroticism, love in Urdu poetry, Gandhi's sexual asceticism, colonial regulation of sexuality, Bollywood, queer fiction and more. Usually offered every third year.
ENG
152b
Arthurian Literature
[
dl
hum
]
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.
FREN
110a
Cultural Representations
[
fl
hum
oc
]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
A foundation course in French and Francophone culture, analyzing texts and other cultural phenomena such as film, painting, music, and politics. Usually offered every year.
GECS
130b
The Princess and the Golem: Fairy Tales
[
hum
wi
]
Conducted in English.
Compares Walt Disney's films with German and other European fairy tales from the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing on feminist and psychoanalytic readings. Usually offered every second year.
HISP
152b
Monsters, Creatures, and Cyborgs in Latin/x American Cinema, Fiction, and BioArt
[
hum
nw
]
Taught in English.
Explores posthuman and creaturely life in monster films, science fiction, and bioart created by Latin American and Latinx artists. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which the non- and post-human emerges as a space in which artists wrestle with otherness, identity, racial capitalism, and the rise of new technologies. Usually offered every second year.
HISP
160a
Culture/Media and Social Change in Latin America
[
djw
fl
hum
nw
wi
]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
The central topic of this class is the role of the creative arts (creative writing, visual arts, music, film, performance) in their role as fostering political change in Latin America. We will examine key eras of 20th and 21st century cultural production in relation with shifting mass-media landscapes, from the revolutionary impetus of the early 20th century avant-gardes in literature and visual arts, popular music in the 1940s, documentary film during and the 1960s guerrillas, artistic resistance to the dictatorship, to the street art accompanying human rights and grass roots identity movements of the 2000s. Usually offered every second year.
HISP
196a
Topics in Latinx Literature and Culture
[
hum
wi
]
May be repeated for credit. May be taught in English or Spanish.
Offers students the opportunity for in-depth study of a particular aspect of the diverse literary and cultural production of U.S. latinx. Topics will vary from year to year but may include autobiography, detective fiction, or historical fiction. Usually offered every third year.
HISP
198a
Experiential Research Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies
[
dl
hum
oc
]
May be taught in English or Spanish.
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.
HUM
1a
Tragedy: Love and Death in the Creative Imagination
[
hum
]
Enrollment limited to Humanities Fellows.
How do you turn catastrophe into art - and why? This first-year seminar in the humanities addresses such elemental questions, especially those centering on love and death. How does literature catch hold of catastrophic experiences and make them intelligible or even beautiful? Should misery even be beautiful? By exploring the tragic tradition in literature across many eras, cultures, genres, and languages, this course looks for basic patterns. Usually offered every year.
HUM
7a
Challenges of Power and the Self: Visual Arts and Literature
[
deis-us
djw
hum
]
Enrollment limited to Humanities Fellows.
Uses visual art and literature to consider how ideas of the "self" and the "other" are reformulated during decolonization, the cold war, and the world order that followed. Using the breakdown of the British Empire and the consolidation of American reach from World War II onward, the course will examine gender, race, identity, colonization, postcoloniality, and sexuality in/as representation and narrative. This course will examine the text and image as separate, parallel, and yet conjoined and overlapping threads of cultural production. How does literature and art create and reflect the image, the moment, the individual or history? How is art narrative and how does the novel or the poem evoke an image, a scene, or a sequence of events? Usually offered every second year.
HUM
10a
The Western Canon
[
hum
]
May not be taken by students who have taken NEJS 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.
JAPN
130a
The Literature of Multicultural Japan
[
djw
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.
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.
JAPN
165a
The Tale of Genji
[
hum
nw
oc
]
Often called "the world's first novel," The Tale of Genji has captivated readers with its narrative of love, rivalry, friendship, and loss for centuries. This class explores what has given the text its prominent place in Japanese and world literature. Usually offered every third year.
NEJS
140b
Gender, Ghettos, and the Geographies of Early Modern Jews
[
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.
NEJS
157b
Arab-Jewish Modern Thought and Culture
[
djw
hum
]
Against the backdrop of the partition of the 'Jew' from the 'Arab' in the modern national era, this course focuses on the Arab-Jewish borderland cultural world which simultaneously embodies Arab and Jewish histories, traditions, and identities. It traces different manifestations of Arab-Jewish culture from the early 20th century to today and explores the complex relationship between culture and politics in relation to questions of language, identity, nationality, borders, exile and memory. Usually offered every second year.
NEJS
177a
The Holocaust in Israeli and Jewish Literature
[
hum
]
Taught in English.
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. Usually offered every third year.
NEJS
181a
Jews on Screen: From "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.
NEJS
183b
Global Jewish Literature
[
hum
wi
]
May not be taken for credit by students who took NEJS 171a in prior years.
Introduces important works of modern Jewish literature, graphic fiction, 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.
NEJS/WGS
110a
Sexual Violence in Film and Culture
[
deis-us
djw
hum
oc
]
Explores the effects of sexualized violence in society. While exploring representations of gender-based sexual violence in documentaries and features, stand-up comedy, memoirs, poetry, and visual art, this course will offer a critical discussion on Rape Culture in the 21st century, with particular attention to the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, and disability in the construction of sexual violence. Usually offered every second year.
RECS
154a
Vladimir Nabokov: Art and Ethics
[
hum
]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Readings in English.
A concentrated study of Vladimir Nabokov, the most noted Russian author living in emigration and one of the most influential novelists of the twentieth century. Focuses on the major Russian- and English-language novels, with special attention to the interplay within them of Nabokov’s philosophy of art and his views on ethics and morality. Usually offered every third year.
THA
133b
Acting the Classics
[
ca
]
Explores specific approaches to rehearsing and performing in the heightened world of classical texts, including William Shakespeare. The course is designed to release the actor's creative energies by stimulating an appetite for size, power and extravagant physical/vocal communication, to deepen the actor's analytical skills and free the actor for greater intellectual and emotional engagement. You will develop a respect for and understanding of form while gaining ease and joy in the fully realized expression of heightened language texts. Usually offered every second year.
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