School of Liberal Arts: Literature
2008-2009 Academic Year
424
Majors must also take three courses (nine credits) at the four hundred level or
above in one nonnative national literature. Normally, those courses are offered in
one of the following departments: Classical Studies (LATN and GREK offerings),
French and Italian, German and Slavic Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese.
Students must take two courses (six credits) in related departments or programs.
Those courses will provide a framework and/or methodology for comparative
literary studies. They may include LITR 481- and 482- Special Topics or courses
at the 300 or 400 level or above in the following disciplines: African and African
Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Asian Studies,
Brazilian Studies, Classical Studies (CLAS offerings), Cultural Studies,
Economics, English, History, Jewish Studies, Latin American Studies, Medieval
and Early Modern Studies, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious
Studies, Theatre and Dance, and/or Women's Studies. Students must receive the
major adviser's approval and, in some cases, the instructor's approval for courses
other than LITR. Students must take the senior seminar, LITR 595 (3 credits), in
the fall of the senior year.
LITR 201 Global Texts and Traditions I (3)
Staff. This gateway course provides an introduction to Western and Non-Western
literatures and cultures up to the Early Modern period. The course examines
literary texts within a series of themes and topics, such as origins, cultural
encounters, and self and society. The course will examine cultural similarities and
differences by analyzing modes of transculturation and literary transference.
LITR 202 Global Texts and Traditions II (3)
Staff. This gateway course provides an introduction to Western and Non-Western
literatures and cultures from the Early Modern Period to the contemporary age.
The course examines literary texts within a series of themes and topics, such as
origins, cultural encounters, and self and society. The course will examine cultural
similarities and differences by analyzing modes of transculturation and literary
transference.
LITR 301 Introduction to Literary Analysis (3)
Staff. Prerequisites: LITR 201 and 202. This course aims to familiarize students
with the tools of literary analysis in the major Non-Western and Western
traditions. We study a variety of texts from diverse periods and traditions in terms
of genre,
literary history, formal terminology, canonicity, translation, textuality, and
comparative approaches. For majors, this course is recommended before LITR
401.
LITR 401 Introduction to Literary Theory (3)
Staff. Prerequisites: LITR 201 and 202. This course aims to orient students to the
major terms, issues, and debates informing contemporary literary theory.
Beginning with the key roles that semiotics, Marxism and psychoanalysis play in
today's literary theory and criticism, the course proceeds to consider questions of
the "literary," formal versus historical approaches, contributions of feminism,