Literature Course Descriptions
Literature 400
- Introduction to Literary Theory
Full course for one semester. This course is 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 of the critical movements that draw on them. As part of this overview we will unpack the central concepts or master tropes of the different theoretical movements in order to provide the student with 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 and the New Historicism, 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. Students taking the course for French credit must do all the reading and written work in French. Prerequisite: junior standing and at least one literature course, or consent of the instructor; for students taking this course for French literature credit, one 300-level French course. Cross-listed as English 400 and French 400. Conference.
English 400 Description
Literature 401
- Literary Theory and Literary Criticism
Full course for one semester. This course explores the practical challenges of literary analysis. We will focus on what it means to “apply” a theory in the act of reading. We will also ask how critics attempt to respond to the concrete demands of individual texts rather than viewing them through the lens of pre-formulated methodologies. Each class session will be organized around the examination of a canonical work of poetry or prose alongside the diverse interpretations it has occasioned. Authors will include Baudelaire, George, James, Kafka, Kleist, Poe, Shakespeare, and Wordsworth. Criticism by Adorno, Bloom, Brooks, de Man, Felman, Greenblatt, Jakobson, Michaels, Riffaterre, and Spivak. Students taking the course for German credit will meet in extra sessions. Prerequisites: at least one course in the Division of Literature and Languages or consent of the instructor. Cross-listed as English 401 and German 401. Conference.
Literature 470
- Thesis
Full course for one year.
Literature 324
- Genres of Memory in Medieval China
See Chinese 324 for description.
Literature 325
- Songs to Lost Music: Readings in Ci-Poetry
See Chinese 325 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 325 Description
Literature 334
- Yijing: Text and Tradition
See Chinese 334 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 334 Description
Literature 337
- Biopolitics and Modern Chinese Literature
See Chinese 337 for description.
Literature 346
- Avant-garde Fiction and Contemporary Chinese Cinema
See Chinese 346 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 346 Description
Literature 347
- Generations of Chinese Cinema
See Chinese 347 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 347 Description
Literature 355
- Early Chinese Philosophical Texts
See Chinese 355 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 355 Description
Literature 360
- The Social Life of Poetry in the Tang Dynasty (618-907)
See Chinese 360 for description.
Literature 378
- Chinese Mainland Women Writers Since the 1980s
See Chinese 378 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Chinese 378 Description
Literature 325
- Modern German Jewish Writers: The Discontents of Emancipation
See German 325 for description.
German 325 Description
Literature 340
- Exile: Theoretical and Literary Configurations
See German 340 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
German 340 Description
Literature 343
- Aesthetics of the Everyday: East German Literature and Film, 1949-1989
See German 343 for description.
Literature 351
- German Drama and Dramatic Theory: From Lessing to Brecht
See German 351 for description.
German 351 Description
Literature 354
- The Modern German Novel
See German 354 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
German 354 Description
Literature 358
- The Holocaust and Limits of Representation
See German 358 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
German 358 Description
Literature 391
- Studies in German Theory I: Body Media
See German 391 for description.
German 391 Description
Literature 462
- Seminar: Franz Kafka
See German 462 for description.
German 462 Description
Literature 338
- The Ancient 'Novel'
See Classics 338 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Classics 338 Description
Literature 353
- Literary Theory and Classical Literature
See Classics 353 for description.
Classics 353 Description
Literature 266
- Russian Short Fiction
See Russian 266 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 266 Description
Literature 339
- Masculinities in Russian Culture
See Russian 339 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 339 Description
Literature 340
- Jewish Modernisms: Eastern Europe and Beyond
See Russian 340 for description.
Literature 371
- Russian Literature from its Beginnings through Gogol
See Russian 371 for description.
Russian 371 Description
Literature 372
- Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction
See Russian 372 for description.
Russian 372 Description
Literature 373
- Modern Russian Literature from Chekhov to the Present
See Russian 373 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 373 Description
Literature 388
- The Soviet Experience
See Russian 388 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 388 Description
Literature 389
- Postcommunist Russian Literature, Film, and Society
See Russian 389 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Literature 408
- Russian Decadent and Symbolist Culture in a European Context
See Russian 408 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 408 Description
Literature 413
- Twentieth Century Russian Critical Theories
See Russian 413 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 413 Description
Literature 419
- Horror and the Sublime in Russian Culture
See Russian 419 for the course description.
Russian 419 Description
Literature 425
- Russian Jewish Literature
See Russian 425 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 425 Description
Literature 435
- Introduction to Russian Film
See Russian 435 for description. Not offered 2007-08.
Russian 435 Description
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