Comparative Literature

How do religious and literary texts interact and influence each other? What is the place of the sacred in literary writing? How do ideas about the divine operate in a secular framework? These are some of the themes that are explored in this course. Students trace a large narrative arc going from ancient religion to contemporary world literature to investigate the myriad ways in which the two discourses affect each other, and map the spaces wherein these effects are most legible. Although the focus is largely on the Abrahamic monotheisms, students will be encouraged to explore other traditions in their essays.

This course examines trends in the depiction of European cities in literature and film from the 1980s to the present. It explores the relationship between aesthetic representations and social-cultural contexts, paying attention to traditions of literary and cinematic urbanism while also engaging with contemporary questions concerning urban identity and culture. The course provides students with the opportunity to pursue a substantial research project of their choosing, focusing either on one author's representation of more than one city, or on one city's representation by more than one author (/film-maker etc).

This is a special studies course with projects arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific topics of study vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. The number of units varies with the student's project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student's special study project form.

After completing this course students are able to:  

1.     familiar with a number of literary works from different periods and regions
2.     familiar with key concepts in literary studies (such as reader response criticism, narratology, intertextuality, adaptation, postcolonial studies)
3.     able to use these key concepts to analyse primary materials
4.     able to use basic research skills (search literature, write and reference academically, present and chair a discussion)

Content

The course provides an introduction to key concepts in literary studies and acquaints students with a number of literary texts from world literature.

What is literature and how can we study it? This course allows you to become acquainted with a variety of literary works from different periods and languages, and it introduces you to some basic concepts in literary studies. Each week we focus on a different aspect of writing and reading in relation to particular works. This way, you will improve your knowledge of literary history and the literary canon, as well as your ability to ask interesting questions about the works you read. We will consider how texts are written, what their possible effects on readers are, in what ways they reflect or envision the society in which they were composed, why societies cherish some literary works and censure others, how certain writers acquire or lose value over the course of time, and how literature helps to shape the sense of who we are as individuals and as members of society.

This course examines how Shakespeare has been adapted and appropriated in a variety of performance contexts. Students address and debate issues such as cultural and textual authority, authorship, gender, sexuality, national identity, ethnicity, adaptation, and appropriation. Possible topics, contexts and texts through which these issues are addressed may include, but are not limited to authorship; decolonization, postcolonial and settler cultures; queering Shakespeare; feminist performance; heritage and tourism; festivals; translation; popular culture; education.