Comparative Literature

An annexed territory and the only colony of settlement in the French Empire, Algeria was officially a part of France, and its loss represents not only a dramatic territorial amputation (more than twice the size of metropolitan France) but also a traumatic symbolic and ideological shift. Long repressed, cloistered and today fragmented and manipulated, the painful and sensitive memories of the colonization of Algeria and the subsequent War of Independence have contributed to the construction of a deeply divided society in France. This course examines the multiple relations between Franco-Algerian history, memory, and minority identities as represented in contemporary France (Algerian immigrants and their "French" descendants, Sephardic Jews, Harkis, Pieds-Noirs, mixed-race individuals). Other groups of people living in France participated in the Algerian War, such as conscripts, professional soldiers, porteurs de valise (French who supported the Algerian nationalists), and all claim different and often conflicting histories. The course material consists of scholarly texts (articles from different disciplines), literature (three novels), and a few films. The course examines how these different resources elaborate memorial discourses carrying public claims of Franco-Algerian identity. The different minority stances often contradict the official French (and, incidentally, Algerian) narrative(s) while being in conflict with the State’s interest. Through interdisciplinary critical readings, this class studies in depths the concept of "representation" and its several meanings: the mental representation (memory of a historical trauma), artistic representation (literature, films), historical representation (conventional narratives and non-conventional approaches), and political representation (representativeness). The analysis of diverse forms of discursive practices about the French colonial past in Algeria, leading to contemporary processes of minority identifications and "community" dynamics in France, allows the class to deepen its understanding of current debates about “wars of memory” and “competitive victimhood” in French society, while reflecting upon issues of citizenship and possible ways to think of conflicted identities as a legacy of colonialism and immigration.

What is “the contemporary”? How has contemporary literature since the turn of the twenty-first century engaged with some of the most pressing social, political, and cultural concerns of the current moment? This course takes the experience and representation of time as its central analytic for examining these questions. Through a range of novels written since the turn of the twenty-first century, the course introduces the emergent social, political, and cultural concerns currently occupying the contemporary imagination.

The course introduces students to the study and representation of the everyday, the mix of sweeping trends and little things that make up the day-in, day-out of life. Via key themes (such as private and public space, rhythms and routines, streets and houses, interaction and alienation, boredom and surprise) we will analyse a selection of filmic, photographic and literary texts in which the everyday is portrayed (such as city symphonies, photobooks, literary fiction and documentaries).

This is a tutorial for the course LITERATURE OF THE ANGLOPHONE WORD: SHAKESPEARE. It focuses on close readings of two Shakespeare plays: one tragedy, HAMLET; and one comedy, AS YOU LIKE IT. 

This course analyzes the theme of "crossing borders" in geographical, scientific, political, psychological, social, cultural and gender-orientated terms, building on literary skills which students have acquired through study at Level 1. It focuses on the human motivations behind, and the consequences of, various "crossings" as well as the exploration of otherness, secrets, mysteries, and taboos.

This course offers a study of the most prominent Brazilian writers of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. It analyzes the literature in its historical and cultural context.

This course provides an introduction to that most adaptable and global of literary forms: the short story. It explores stories from diverse cultures and traditions around the world, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas. By reading short stories from across the globe, students are also introduced to the idea of "world literature" and some of the debates surrounding this idea.

The course offers an introduction to the ideological debates of Romanticism, from both a social and aesthetic point of view, considering literary studies compared to other artistic forms and aspects such as the Gesamptkunstwerk (the complete work of art). 

This course provides the opportunity to analyze works representing different types of hero: classical, tragic, popular, traditional, comic, anti-heroes, and others; explore the notion of heroism, its absence in our lives and our longing for it as this finds expression in various historical contexts and cultures; deal with the notion of masculinity as a cultural and historical construct; apply the analytical skills students have gained to a wide range of problems which may confront them in different situations and contexts in later life; and allow students to explore the features of a number of literary/cultural forms, providing a framework of ideas and methodologies appropriate to specific genres, ideas which students apply to the comparative study of texts.

Human Rights has been an object of literary studies since the 1980s-2000s. Tapping into the knowledge produced in this new field, this course reframes the history of modern literature as part of a broader development: the invention and history of human rights. This course explores several 'classics' in the history of Human Rights literature as well as a broad range of literary texts that discuss human rights from various perspectives but are not considered part of the literary canon. This course studies these forms as they have evolved since the late eighteenth century and across the globe in oral and written modes (songs, poems, novels, (auto-)biographies, graphic novels/comics, and so forth). There will be two seminar-style classes per week with assigned reading in advance of each session. There is a particular focus on partner/small-group work and interactive discussions, presentations, and discussions on the literature for an assigned session. An introduction to literature course is required for entry.