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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
A close study of one of the most influential and early European novels. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616 C.E) was a hit in its day in the seventeenth century, and has not ceased to influence artists and thinkers since. Moving between humorous and serious tones, Cervantes takes on several issues in the Quixote: the point of fiction in real life, the complications of relationships between men and women, the meaning of madness, the experience of religious co-existence, the shapes of friendship, and the task of literary criticism, just to name a few. We will read the book in a fine modern English-language translation, and set it in several relevant contexts to better understand its original intellectual horizon--seventeenth-century Spain--as well as the reasons for its continuing relevance.
Prerequisite:
Any 200-level literature course in foreign languages, Comp Lit, or English, or permission of the instructor.
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3.00 Credits
This course will consider different kinds of works (poetry, memoirs, fiction, essay) written by authors forced to live in exile as a consequence of political and/or religious persecution. Our point of departure will be the paradigmatic expulsion and subsequent diaspora of the Jews of Spain and Portugal. Most assignments, however, will be drawn from twentieth century texts written during, or in the wake of, the massive destruction and displacements brought about by the Spanish Civil War and World War II. How is the life lost portrayed? How are the concepts of home and the past intertwined? What kind of life or literature are possible for the deracinated survivor? We will discuss the role of writing and remembrance in relation to political history, as well as in the context of individual survival. Readings might include works by Nu?ez de Reinoso, Leon, Cernuda, Semprun, Benjamin, Nancy, and Blanchot.
Prerequisite:
Comparative Literature 111 or an equivalent English course
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3.00 Credits
As Gertrude Stein once remarked, "The hardest thing is to know one's present moment." What is going on it today's theatre? What are the hot topics? Who are the writers and directors of our recent past and present moment? This seminar course will consider both experimental and mainstream drama and performance from the past twenty years, focusing on topics such as: auteur-directors, new realism, identity theatre, environmental theatre, performance art, cyber-plays, and the "virtuosic theatre" of the new century. Artists to be considered may include: The Wooster Group, Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Rachel Rosenthal, Caryl Churchill, Mac Wellman, Tony Kushner, David Henry-Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Kane, Richard Maxwell, Annie Baker, and others.
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3.00 Credits
Critics reading minority writing often focus on its thematic--i.e., sociological--content. Such literature is usually presumed to be inseparable from the "identity"/body of the writer and read as autobiographical, ethnographic, representational, exotic. At the other end of the spectrum, avant-garde writing is seen to concern itself "purely" with formal questions, divorced from the socio-historical (and certainly not sullied by the taint of race). In the critical realm we currently inhabit, in which "race" is opposed to the "avant-garde," an experimental minority writer can indeed seem an oxymoron. In this class we will closely read recent work by Asian American, African American, Native American and Latino/a writers which challenges preconceptions about ethnic literature, avant-garde writing, genre categorization, among other things. The writing done by these mostly young, mostly urban, poets and fiction writers is some of the most exciting being written in the United States today; their texts push the boundaries of aesthetic form while simultaneously engaging questions of culture, politics, and history. Reading them forces us to re-think our received notions about literature. Authors to be read include Will Alexander, Sherwin Bitsui, Monica de la Torre, Sesshu Foster, Renee Gladman, Bhanu Kapil, Tan Lin, Tao Lin, Ed Roberson, James Thomas Stevens, Roberto Tejada, and Edwin Torres.
Prerequisite:
Those taking this as an English class must have previously taken a 100-level English course
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3.00 Credits
Comparative Literature 300-level independent study.
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3.00 Credits
Comparative Literature 300-level independent study.
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3.00 Credits
The famous proverb "traduttore, traditore" ("translator, traitor") was coined by angry Italian readers in the Renaissance who felt that French translations of Dante betrayed the accuracy or artistry of the original. However, the long-running debate around the validity of this warning points to a complex system of underlying assumptions and questions about the nature of literary art. Can a translator be faithful to an original text while also appealing to readers in the target language? Is literary translation an act of interpretation, explication, obfuscation, betrayal, or even transmutation? This course will explore the art, theory, and practice of translation from several perspectives. We will examine several key works in the history of translation across a range of eras and cultures, with particular attention to approaches that illuminate the intersection between translation and literary analysis, including short readings by Horace, Jerome, Caxton, Luther, Du Bellay, Dryden, Arnold, Benjamin, Buber, Borges, Jakobson, Nabokov, Steiner, Bassnett, Heaney, and others. At the same time, we will investigate the linguistic, cultural, and literary processes involved in the practice of translation through an ongoing workshop format that will incorporate a series of short exercises and a long-term project.
Prerequisite:
One upper-level literature course or permission of instructor
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3.00 Credits
Edward Said (1935-2003), one of the major critics of the last century, is best known for his groundbreaking 1978 book Orientalism, which inaugurated the field of postcolonial studies, and for his activist work on behalf of the Palestinian peoples. But his intellectual interests were wide-ranging: from French literary theory to Vico to Middle East politics to Glenn Gould. A true public intellectual, Said was a rarity among university academics. Besides writing several important scholarly books, he also wrote for various non-academic publications, such as The Nation, Al-Ahram, and The London Review of Books; co-founded, with the musician Daniel Barenboim, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; and, from 1977-1991, served as a member of the Palestinian National Council. In this course, we will focus on works that represent different, though interconnected, facets of Said's oeuvre: his more strictly literary critical work (Beginnings and The World, The Text, and the Critic), his work on society and culture (Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism), his writings on the Palestinian question and the Middle East (The Question of Palestine, Covering Islam, From Oslo to Iraq), his writings on music (Parallels and Paradoxes co-authored with Daniel Barenboim), and his late work (On Late Style). We will also examine criticism of his work--Orientalism in particular.
Prerequisite:
Some literature background helpful
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3.00 Credits
No course description available.
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3.00 Credits
Comparative Literature senior thesis.
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