Reed College Catalog
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 321 rather than Literature 321.
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 400 - Introduction to Literary Theory
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.
Literature (Chinese) 324 - Genres of Memory in Medieval China
See Chinese 324 for description.
Literature (Chinese) 325 - Songs to Lost Music: Readings in Ci-Poetry
See Chinese 325 for description.
Literature (Chinese) 334 - Yijing: Text and Tradition of the Book of Changes
See Chinese 334 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Chinese) 346 - Post-Mao Chinese Fiction and Film
See Chinese 346 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Chinese) 353 - Early Chinese Historical Writings
See Chinese 353 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Chinese) 355 - Early Chinese Philosophical Texts
See Chinese 355 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Chinese) 358 - Time, Space, and History in Early Chinese Poetry
See Chinese 358 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Chinese) 369 - Modernizing Sentiments, Sentimentalizing Modernity
See Chinese 369 for description.
Literature (Chinese) 380 - Narrative Traditions of China
See Chinese 380 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 321 - Modernism
See German 321 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 325 - Modern German Jewish Writers: The Discontents of Emancipation
See German 325 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 327 - Law and Outlaw in German Literature
See German 327 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 328 - German New Wave Film
See German 328 for description.
Literature (German) 340 - Exile: Theoretical and Literary Configurations
See German 340 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 358 - The Holocaust and the Limits of Representation
See German 358 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (German) 365 - City, Space, Memory
See German 365 for description.
Literature (German) 391 - Studies in German Theory
See German 391 for description.
Literature (German) 462 - Seminar: Readings in Thomas Mann
See German 462 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Classics) 360 - Special Topics: Animals in Greek and Roman Literature
See Classics 360 for description.
Literature (Russian) 266 - Russian Short Fiction
See Russian 266 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 366 - "The Literature of Destruction": Narratives of Apocalypse in Modern Jewish and Russian Literary Traditions
See Russian 366 for description.
Literature (Russian) 371 - Russian Literature from its Beginnings through Gogol
See Russian 371 for description.
Literature (Russian) 372 - Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction
See Russian 372 for description.
Literature (Russian) 373 - Modern Russian Literature from Chekhov to the Present
See Russian 373 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 388 - The Soviet Experience
See Russian 388 for description.
Literature (Russian) 389 - Postcommunist Literature, Film, and Society
See Russian 389 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 405 - Special Topics in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature: Gogol and Dostoevsky
See Russian 405 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 406 - Russian Literature: Leo Tolstoy
See Russian 406 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 407 - The Russian Novel in Theory and Practice: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and English Fiction
See Russian 407 for description.
Literature (Russian) 408 - Russian Decadent and Symbolist Culture in a European Context
See Russian 408 for description.
Literature (Russian) 410 - Topics in Russian Culture: The Art of Political Discourse
See Russian 410 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 413 - Russian Formalism, Structuralism, and Semiotics
See Russian 413 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Russian) 426 - East European Jewish Literature and Culture: the Shtetl, the City and Beyond
See Russian 426 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Spanish) 340 - The Culture of Spectacle in Early Modern Spain
See Spanish 340 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.
Literature (Spanish) 343 - Don Quixote and Narrative Theory
See Spanish 343 for description.
Not offered 2011–12.