CRN |
93141 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2013 |
||
Title |
The
Novel in English, I |
||
Professor |
Deirdre d'Albertis |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 310 |
In this course (one of a two-part sequence) we will
examine “the rise of the novel,” to recall Ian Watt’s influential study, in the
specific context of British literary culture.
The eighteenth century origins of gothic, historical, epistolary,
domestic, and romantic fiction will be our main concern. How was the dominant tradition of
nineteenth-century realism forged out of such diverse beginnings? Central texts include: Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Sterne’s Tristram
Shandy, Richardson’s Clarissa, Fielding’s Tom Jones, Austen’s Emma, and
Shelley’s Frankenstein. We will
conclude with Thackeray and the early Dickens.
Readings on the history of the novel (Michael McKeon, Deidre Lynch) will
supplement our work with the texts themselves.
CRN |
93386 |
Distribution |
B/D |
Course
No. |
LIT 2117 |
||
Title |
Russian
Laughter |
||
Professor |
Marina Kostalevsky |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN
204 |
Cross-listed:
Russian and Eurasian Studies
A study of humor in Russian literary
tradition. Issues to be discussed
relate to such concepts and genres as romantic irony, social and political
satire, literary parody, carnival, and the absurd. We will examine how authors as distinct as Dostoevsky and
Zoshchenko create comic effects and utilize laughter for various artistic
purposes. As a result, our analysis of
Russian literature will be substantially different from the traditional survey. Required readings (in translation) include
the works of major Russian writers starting with the late-eighteenth-century
satirical play by Denis Fonvisin and ending with Benedict Erofeev's underground
cult masterpiece: a contemplation on
the life of a perpetually drunk philosopher in the former Soviet Union.
CRN |
93466 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2140 |
||
Title |
Domesticity
and Power |
||
Professor |
Donna Ford Grover |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN
309 |
Cross-listed: American Studies, CCSRE, Gender Studies
Women who wrote of the home, of marriage and who
detailed the chatter of the drawing room were not merely recording the trivial
events of what was deemed to be their “place.” Many American women writers of
the 19th and 20th centuries used the domestic novel to
make insightful critiques of American society and politics. In this course we
will read a range of American women novelists beginning with Catherine E.
Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s handbook of housekeeping, The American Woman’s Home (1869). We
will also read the novels and short stories of Harriet Jacobs, Frances E. W.
Harper, Kate Chopin, Nella Larsen, Jessie Fausett, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather,
and others.
CRN |
93461 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2146 |
||
Title |
Writing
from Place |
||
Professor |
Susan Rogers |
||
Schedule |
Wed 10:30 am – 12:50 pm OLIN 309 |
This course is for students who want to develop
both their creative writing and their analytic thinking through writing essays
that begin in response to place. In these personal essays, place – a house, a
city, the woods – will serve as a starting point to explore how place shapes
and influences out thinking. In the tradition of the personal essay, these
essays will be both imaginative and analytical. Through reading contemporary
essayists whose work is place-based students will gain an appreciation for the
form and the imaginative possibilities of the essay. But emphasis will rest on
the student’s own writings, which will be critiqued in a workshop format with
an eye for the craft of the work. No prior workshop experience needed for this
course but candidates must submit samples of their work via campus mail by May
6th. A course roster will be posted on May 14th outside
Albee 211.
CRN |
93385 |
Distribution |
B/D |
Course
No. |
LIT 2151 |
||
Title |
St.
Petersburg: City as Text |
||
Professor |
Jennifer Day |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 305 |
Cross-listed:
Russian and Eurasian Studies
The magical and terrible spaces of St. Petersburg
have inspired Russian writers and artists as well as confounded the Russian
quest for an integral national identity ever since Peter the Great founded the
city in 1703. This course examines the "myth" of St. Petersburg in
Russian literature and culture with consideration not only of how the city has Been
constructed as a literary, artistic,
and folkloric text, but of how the city itself has determined the course
of Russian culture and Russian
selfhood. Special critical attention is given to the nature of the city as a
"sign," with appropriate strategies for "reading" the city
in a variety of artistic and philosophical
mediums. Readings range from the classic Petersburg texts of Pushkin, Gogol,
and Dostoevsky to twentieth-century interpretations in prose, poetry, memoirs,
film, and carnival performance associated with the city's 300th-year
anniversary celebrations. Conducted in English.
CRN |
93871 |
Distribution |
B/D |
Course
No. |
LIT 2152 |
||
Title |
Francophone
African Literature |
||
Professor |
Emmanuel Dongala |
||
Schedule |
Wed 3:00 pm – 5:20 pm OLIN 307 |
Cross-listed: AADS, Human Rights
Even though African literature from francophone
Africa is not yet a century old , it
has already produced many important and enduring works. In this course, we will
read and discuss some of the books which are now considered as classics of that
literature. The reading list will
include among others writers such as Camara Laye, Ferdinand Oyono, Cheikh
Hamidou Kane, Mariama Ba. The course
will be given in English and the books will be read in translation. However, those who want to take it as part
of the French Department will read the texts in the original French and will
have special tutoring sessions.
CRN |
93299 |
Distribution |
B/F |
Course
No. |
LIT 223 |
||
Title |
Workshop in Cultural Reportage
|
||
Professor |
Peter Sourian |
||
Schedule |
Tu 4:00 pm - 6:20 pm OLIN
307 |
For the self‑motivated student interested in
actively developing journalistic skills relating to cultural reportage,
particularly criticism. The course stresses regular practice in writing reviews
of plays, concerts, films, and television. Work is submitted for group response
and evaluation. College productions may be used as resource events. Readings
from Shaw's criticism, Cyril Connolly's reviews, Orwell's essays, Agee on film,
Edmund Wilson's Classics and Commercials,
Susan Sontag, and contemporary working critics. Enrollment limited, but not
restricted to majors.
CRN |
93295 |
Distribution |
B/C |
Course
No. |
LIT 227 |
||
Title |
Ideology
and Political Commitment in Modern Literature |
||
Professor |
Justus Rosenberg |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm LC 210 |
Cross-listed: Human Rights
We examine how political issues and beliefs, by
they of the left, right, or center, are dramatically realized in literature.
Works by Dostoyevsky, Ibsen, T.S. Eliot, Kafka, Thomas Mann, Brecht, Sartre,
Malraux, Gordimer, Kundera, Neruda, and others are analyzed for their
ideological content, depth of conviction, method of presentation, and the
artistry with which these writers synthesize politics and literature into a
permanent aesthetic experience. We also try to determine what constitutes the
borderline between art and propaganda and address the question of whether it is
possible to genuinely enjoy a work of literature whose political thrust and
orientation is at odds with our own convictions. The discussions are supplemented
by examples drawn from other art forms such as music, painting and film.
CRN |
93290 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2306 |
||
Title |
William Faulkner: Race, Text and Southern History
|
||
Professor |
Donna Grover |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 11:30
am - 12:50 pm OLIN 306 |
Cross-listed: American Studies
One of America’s greatest novelists, William
Faulkner was deeply rooted in the American South. Unlike other writers of his generation who viewed America from
distant shores, Faulkner remained at home and explored his own region. From this intensely intimate vantage point,
he was able to portray the south and all of its glory and shame. Within
Faulkner’s narratives slavery and its aftermath remain the disaster at the
heart of American History. In this
course we will read Faulkner’s major novels, poetry, short stories as well as
film scripts. We will also read
biographical material and examine the breath of current Faulkner literary
criticism.
CRN |
93429 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2371 |
||
Title |
Twentieth Century African-American Literature
|
||
Professor |
Mat Johnson |
||
Schedule |
Tu Fri
11:30 am – 12:50 pm OLIN 301 |
Cross-listed: AADS, American Studies
African-American literature is a dialogue, a
conversation about the nature and identity of a people, their relationship with
the land of their birth, and their relationship with their land of ancestral
origin. To read the major African-American works of the twentieth century is be
at the center of that dialogue. We will begin with the emergence of the New
Negro, identifying, in W. E. B. DuBois's The
Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Charles W. Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars (1900), the building blocks of modern
black identity and political thought. We will then explore the development of
the Harlem Renaissance, reading Alain Locke's The New Negro (1925), Jean Toomer's Cane (1923), Claude McKay's Home
to Harlem (1928), Nella Larsen's Quicksand
(1928), Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes
Were Watching God (1937), the poems of Countee Cullen, and the
multiple-genre work of Langston Hughes. In each case we will listen to how the
work speaks to issues like DuBois's theory of "double consciousness,"
the role of women within the black community, the social responsibility of the
black artist, and the relationship of Africa to the so-called Negro. We will
follow these debates into some of the major works of the mid-twentieth century:
Richard Wright's Native Son (1941),
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952),
and James Baldwin's Go Tell It On the
Mountain (1953). Their contributions to the debate over the purpose of
black writing and the nature of black humanity will lead us to the Black Arts
Movement of the 1960s, where we will shift our focus from the protest novel to
the poetic dialogue, examining the voices of Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki
Giovanni, June Jordan, Haki Madhubuti, and others. To identify the historical
context of the movement, we will examine the impact of nationalism on black
artistic thought, the growing importance of Africa in black writing and the recurring
issue of black masculinity. Moving into the 1970s and the modern era, our focus
will be on the ascendance of black women writers, including Alice Walker, Toni
Cade Bambara, Wanda Coleman, Toni Morrison, and Gloria Naylor. Our class will
reach its conclusion with contemporary black intellectual writing, as
exemplified by works like John Edgar Wideman's Fever (1989).
CRN |
93462 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 238 |
||
Title |
Modern
African Fiction |
||
Professor |
Chinua Achebe |
||
Schedule |
Wed 1:30 pm – 3:50 pm OLIN 101 |
Cross-listed: AADS, CCSRE, Human Rights
Related
interest: French Studies
The second half of the 20th century saw the
emergence of modern African literature. This course will introduce this new
writing through a few key texts in its fiction. Works written originally in
French or Arabic will be read in their English translations. The course will
relate the literature, wherever appropriate to Africa's past traditions as well
as its contemporary reality. The authors to be studied include Cheikh Hamidou
Kane, Alex La Guma, Nadine Gordimer, Ferdinand Oyono, Amos Tutuola, Nawal El
Saadawi, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Tayeb Salih.
CRN |
93291 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2401 |
||
Title |
Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales |
||
Professor |
Mark Lambert |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 307 |
Cross-listed: Medieval Studies
The unities and contrasts, pleasure, and meanings
of this rich collection. Study of Chaucer's language and some background
readings (e.g. Boethius's Consolation of
Philosophy), but primarily an examination of a great poem. No previous
knowledge of Middle English required.
CRN |
93823 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2412 |
||
Title |
Four
Jewish Authors |
||
Professor |
Elizabeth Frank |
||
Schedule |
Wed Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 305 |
Cross-listed: Human Rights, Jewish Studies
This course will be an intensive examination of
four different Jewish writers: S.Y.
Agnon, I.B. Singer, Primo Levi, and Philip Roth. We will read "satellite" texts in our efforts to
establish a literary, cultural and historical context for each. For example,
both Agnon and Singer will be considered in light of the emergence of Yiddish
and Hebrew letters as well as connections with Jewish folklore and Kabbalah;
Primo Levi's great Extermination trilogy will take us to Dante; and Roth will
be considered in relation to twentieth-century American fiction, including
works by other Jewish-American writers, some of them women. Further contexts to explore include the
literary representation of such perennial Jewish matters as the Tradition,
Emancipation, Exile, Diaspora, and Return, and, of course, the Extermination.
Students should be prepared to do independent research, and short papers given
as class reports.
CRN |
93324 |
Distribution |
B |
Course
No. |
LIT 2501 |
||
Title |
Shakespeare's
Comedies |
||
Professor |
Mark Lambert |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 101 |
This course will start with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing, the four
delightful plays which are for most of us the central, essential, normative
Shakespearean comedies. From there we will move to variously different and
sometimes disturbing dramas (The Merchant
of Venice, Measure for Measure, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, Henry IV, Part
I ) as we consider the developing meanings and values of comedy and the
comic in Shakespeare’s work. For lower college students.
CRN |
93287 |
Distribution |
B/C |
Course
No. |
LIT 261 |
||
Title |
Growing
Up Victorian |
||
Professor |
Terence Dewsnap |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 308 |
Cross-listed:
Victorian Studies
Victorian children come in a variety of forms:
urchins, prigs, bullies, grinds. They are demonstration models in numerous
educational and social projects intended to create a braver future. The
readings include nursery rhymes, fairy and folk tales, didactic stories, autobiography,
and at least two novels: Hughes’s Tom
Brown’s Schooldays and Meredith’s The
Ordeal of Richard Feverel.
CRN |
93289 |
Distribution |
B/C |
Course
No. |
LIT 272 |
||
Title |
The
Irish Renaissance |
||
Professor |
Terence Dewsnap |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN
303 |
Cross-listed: Irish and Celtic Studies
The Irish Renaissance of the first few decades of
the twentieth century was the creation of those cultural leaders who founded
the Abbey Theatre to nourish a specifically Irish (not British, not European)
imagination. The revival exploited three sources: the mythical Ireland of
Celtic legend where Cuchulain, Maeve, Finn, and Fergus waged epic battles over
cows and birthrights with the aid and interference of magic; western Ireland,
poetry and story; and a political history that is a persistent record of
invasion, oppression, and faction, and of heroic gestures accompanied by a mood
of tragic failure. The course begins with a brief history of Ireland,
concentrating on three discrete moments: the end of the seventeenth century and
the battles of Boyne and Aughrim, the abortive rising of 1798, and the 1890s
spirit of nationalistic renewal. Then we consider the Abbey Theatre and its
reconstruction of the legends of the past and the use of idioms and characters
of the west of Ireland, chiefly in the drama of Yeats and Synge. We will look
at the development of these themes in the literature associated with the
troubles of 1916‑22 and in later writings, which continue or challenge
the themes of the Renaissance, including works by Sean O'Casey, Liam
O'Flaherty, Frank O'Connor, Flann O'Brien, and Brendan Behan.