Comparative Literature

This course explores cultures of the French-speaking countries of the south (Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa), in their plural identities and their universes of reference, in order to better understand them. It studies literary texts and the analysis of films and audiovisual documentaries. Writers from these French-speaking countries accompany readers in discovering the other through literary strategies that prepare for the reception of difference. The course offers readings that will be like intercultural adventures in which the literary technique of the child narrator-character is decisive.

This course explores the ongoing negotiation of rights and responsibilities in the modern Western world as represented in both fiction and nonfiction works. It teaches how to evaluate and interpret texts using the standard conventions of literary analysis (a solid thesis statement, textual evidence, attribution of citations); identify and discuss strategies used in literary and rhetorical texts to comment upon and find meaning in the world; identify and discuss strategies that are used in literary and rhetorical texts to enact change in the world; and compare the discursive strategies used by thinkers from diverse disciplines to ask questions, interpret evidence, make arguments, and express emotions.

This class concentrates on the Latin American modern novel. The course analyzes and studies the relations between society and the works of Borges, Garcia Marquez, Vargas Llosa, and Isabel Allende.

This course in world literature introduces basic knowledge of literature, basic research methods, appreciation perspectives, and cutting-edge phenomena. Students read literature while considering genre, country, literature type and theme, select some classic works of contemporary world literature to analyze them in different research methods. The course selects representative works for analysis and research including selections from Europe, America, Latin America, and East Asia. Literary types include drama, novel, poem, film text, and genres include romanticism, realism, modernism, and postmodernism; topics include fate, love, war, and gender; other regions, types. Genres and motives of literature are briefly introduced.

This course focuses on understanding and analyzing the main changes and important aspects of American culture, society, politics, and history in terms of its influence on Japanese society.  Featuring Japanese academic writings, this course focuses on how Japanese academics have analyzed American cultural and literary topics. 

The first half of the semester features texts written before 1900 while the latter half focuses on stories published after 1900. The analysis of each text, along with its history and social context, fosters an understanding of several aspects of American society and culture. 

This course involves intensive reading on American literary masterpieces. The course begins with an introduction to American literature from 1914 to 1945. Readings include works by such authors as Edwin Arlington Robinson, Wallace Stevens, Willa Cather, Ezra Pound, Katherine Anne Porter, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Toni Morrison, Mazine Hong Kingston, and Alice Walker. 

This course is divided into three parts. The first part covers Dante, topics include the evolution of the Latin language; an overview of medieval Romance literatures; Italian lyric poetry before Dante; Dante’s life; and Dante’s VITA NOVA (selected passages), DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA, CONVIVIO, INFERNO (selected cantos), PURGATORIO, and PARADISO. The second part of the course discusses Petrarch, topics include his biography within the historical and cultural context; literary production (in Latin and Italian); his multifaceted relationship with the Roman Antiquity and the Christian doctrine (selected readings from THE SECRETUM and THE SENILES EPISTLES); in-depth study of RERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTA with attention on its genesis, structure, contents, and features; and Petrarch’s legacy and impact on the Italian language and literature, and on the early-modern Western literary production. The last part of the course discusses Boccaccio, topics include his biography and literary production (Italian and Latin works); his intricate links with eminent predecessors (both Dante and Petrarch); in-depth study of the DECAMERON with focus on its genesis, structure, themes, and features; Boccaccio’s erudite, humanistic, and lyrical texts; his multifarious relationship with women and the varied ways in which he depicted them; and Boccaccio’s impact on later authors. This course is taught in a degree program which introduces students to knowledge of Italian language throughout the degree. The first year of instruction in this degree begins in English and then gradually shifts to Italian by the third year. Because this course is taught in the first semester of the first year of the degree, the course is mostly taught in English with some Italian and is appropriate for students who do not speak Italian.

The course examines children's literature to find topics appearing in contemporary culture. It explores the question 'What is the value of our (adults') reading of children's and adolescents' literature?' Topics include the nature of a child and their growth; nature or animals versus human beings, science and dystopia; and imaginary space of fantasy, trauma and recovery, compassion and complicity, elements of storytelling , etc. It also discusses English-teaching methodology through the use of children's 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.