College Catalog Archives

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Many departments in the Division of Literature and Languages offer courses in which the texts are read in translation. Literature courses are described under particular cross-listed departments within the division, with the exception of Literature 400 and 401, which are intended to serve all majors in the division. When courses are cross-listed under the sponsoring department, the texts in these courses are often read in the original language, usually in a separate conference; students with appropriate language skills should, for example, register for German 332 rather than Literature 332.

All literature courses fulfill Group A requirements. One unit of a literature course (or one unit in creative writing) may be applied toward the English major. For other majors in the division, literature courses at the 300 level will fulfill the division requirement of two units in a literature outside of the major.

Literature 310 - African Literature and the Problem of Language

Full course for one semester. In this course we will study a diverse range of African literary contexts through the lens of language and translation. The question of what language to write in, and the implications of that choice, was one of the foundational issues of not only African, but also Francophone and Anglophone literary studies. The decision to write in French or English, colonial languages which have dominated literary writing in Africa over the last century, implies both a particular audience and a certain ideological baggage which must be dealt with. After identifying how these questions play out for several individual authors, we will examine alternatives to European languages. These include writing in other languages, such as Arabic or a vernacular, as well as aesthetic practices that challenge narrow understandings of the literary: oral performance, film, rap, and other uses of recording technology. Critical readings in African studies and translation theory will guide our analyses. All readings and discussions conducted in English. Conference.

Literature 400 - Introduction to Literary Theory

French
Full course for one semester. A historical and analytical introduction to the major theoretical movements of the last 50 years in Western European and American literary criticism. The course will trace the philosophical origins and conceptual affiliations of the major theoretical developments, as well as the methodological paradigms that draw on them. As part of this overview we will unpack the master tropes of the different theoretical movements in order to develop a basic understanding of how to wield them effectively in literary critical discourse. Movements covered will include structuralism and semiotics, poststructuralism and deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, poststructuralist Marxist theory, Foucauldian theory, postmodernism, and cultural studies. The course will be taught as a seminar, with each student responsible for organizing the discussion of a reading or topic. It is designed for literature majors, but non–literature majors with adequate preparation may be admitted at the discretion of the instructor, depending on enrollment. Prerequisites: junior standing and at least one literature course, or permission of the instructor. Cross-listed as French 400 and English 400. Not offered 2013-14.


German
Full course for one semester. This class offers an introduction to the major topics in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary theory and criticism. Movements covered will include structuralism and semiotics, postcolonialism, and digital humanities. The course will be taught as a seminar, with each student responsible for organizing the discussion of a specific topic or text. In addition to theoretical materials, we will read several works of poetry and prose and consider the diverse interpretations they have occasioned. The class is designed for literature majors, but nonliterature majors with adequate preparation will be admitted at the discretion of the instructor. Conducted in English. Students taking the course for German literature credit will meet in extra sessions. Prerequisites: junior standing and at least one literature course, or consent of the instructor; for students taking the course for German credit, German 220 or consent of the instructor. Conference. Cross-listed as German 400 and English 400.

Literature (Chinese) 324 - Genres of Memory in Medieval China

See Chinese 324 for description.

Chinese 324 Description

Literature (Chinese) 325 - Songs to Lost Music: Readings in Ci-Poetry

See Chinese 325 for description.

Chinese 325 Description

Literature (Chinese) 333 - The Powerful Women of Early and Medieval China in History, Fiction, and Modern Media

See Chinese 333 for description.

Chinese 333 Description

Literature (Chinese) 334 - The Yijing: Text and Tradition of the Book of Changes

See Chinese 334 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 334 Description

Literature (Chinese) 345 - Self, Stage, and Society: An Excursion into Chinese Drama

See Chinese 345 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 345 Description

Literature (Chinese) 346 - Post-Mao Chinese Fiction and Film

See Chinese 346 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 346 Description

Literature (Chinese) 353 - Early Chinese Historical Writings

See Chinese 353 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 353 Description

Literature (Chinese) 355 - Early Chinese Philosophical Texts

See Chinese 355 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 355 Description

Literature (Chinese) 358 - Time, Space, and History in Early Chinese Poetry

See Chinese 358 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 358 Description

Literature (Chinese) 360 - The Social Life of Poetry in the Tang Dynasty (618–907)

See Chinese 360 for description.

Chinese 360 Description

Literature (Chinese) 369 - Modernizing Sentiments, Sentimentalizing Modernity

See Chinese 369 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Chinese 369 Description

Literature (German) 325 - Modern German Jewish Writers: The Discontents of Emancipation

See German 325 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

German 325 Description

Literature (German) 330 - Gender and Sexuality in German Literature

See German 330 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

German 330 Description

Literature (German) 332 - Classical and Avant-Garde Theatre in Postwar Germany

See German 332 for description.

German 332 Description

Literature (German) 334 - German Landscapes, New World Horizons

See German 334 for description.

German 334 Description

Literature (German) 391 - German Theory I: Ideology and Imagination

See German 391 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

German 391 Description

Literature (German) 392 - German Theory II

Introduction to Critical Theory
See German 392 for description.

Revolutions in Poetic Language
See German 392 for description. Not offered 2013–14.

German 392 Description

Literature (German) 462 - Seminar:

Readings in Thomas Mann
See German 462 for description. Not offered 2013-14.

Goethe
See German 462 for description.

German 462 Description

Literature (Classics) 353 - Literary Theory and Classical Literature

See Classics 353 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Classics 353 Description

Literature (Classics) 360 - Special Topics: Animals in Greek and Roman Literature

See Classics 360 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Classics 360 Description

Literature (Russian) 266 - Russian Short Fiction

See Russian 266 for description.

Russian 266 Description

Literature (Russian) 340 - Jewish Modernisms: Eastern Europe and Beyond

See Russian 340 for description.

Russian 340 Description

Literature (Russian) 366 - "The Literature of Destruction": Narratives of Apocalypse in Modern Jewish and Russian Literary Traditions

See Russian 366 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 366 Description

Literature (Russian) 371 - Russian Literature from its Beginnings through Gogol

See Russian 371 for description.

Russian 371 Description

Literature (Russian) 372 - Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction

See Russian 372 for description.

Russian 372 Description

Literature (Russian) 373 - Modern Russian Literature from Chekhov to the Present

See Russian 373 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 373 Description

Literature (Russian) 388 - The Soviet Experience

See Russian 388 for description.

Russian 388 Description

Literature (Russian) 406 - Russian Literature: Leo Tolstoy

See Russian 406 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 406 Description

Literature (Russian) 407 - The Russian Novel in Theory and Practice: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and English Fiction

See Russian 407 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 407 Description

Literature (Russian) 408 - Russian Decadent and Symbolist Culture in a European Context

See Russian 408 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 408 Description

Literature (Russian) 413 - Russian Formalism, Structuralism, and Semiotics

See Russian 413 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 413 Description

Literature (Russian) 415 - Vladimir Nabokov

See Russian 415 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 415 Description

Literature (Russian) 420 - Culture Studies: Russian Images of Italy

See Russian 420 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 420 Description

Literature (Russian) 426 - East European Jewish Literature and Culture: the Shtetl, the City and Beyond

See Russian 426 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 426 Description

Literature (Russian) 435 - Introduction to Russian Film

See Russian 435 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Russian 435 Description

Literature (Spanish) 340 - The Culture of Spectacle in Early Modern Spain

See Spanish 340 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Spanish 340 Description

Literature (Spanish) 343 - Don Quixote and Narrative Theory

See Spanish 343 for description.

Not offered 2013—14.

Spanish 343 Description