Comparative Literature Courses
Fall 2006

Any literature course in any language, including English, at the 300 level or above counts towards the Comparative Literature major or minor.

COURSES OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE STUDENTS:

CPLT 351 (3) Introduction to Literary Theory
Ms. Voris, Instructor
1100-1215 TR - CAB 224

What is literary theory? Is there a relationship between literature and culture? In fact, what is literature, and does it matter? These questions and more are addressed in this seminar for all students in Comparative Literature. It will offer insights into such theories as the nature of language and meaning, and whether literature is a form of self-expression or a method of appeal to an audience. "Schools" such as hermeneutics, semiotics, structuralism, poststructuralism, and Marxism, etc., as well as "gendered" and "postcolonial" approaches to literary language will be discussed. The central
ambition will be to familiarize ourselves with a body of knowledge important in its own right and, moreover, indispensable for theoretically self-conscious work in what we call "the Humanities." There are no prerequisites besides the love of reading.

CPLT 375/ GETR 375 (3) The Secret Rulers of the Universe: Poetry and Its Esoteric Politics
Mr. Bennett, Instructor  

The course will ask, for the first time, not only what Shelley means when he speaks of poets as “unacknowledged legislators,” but also whether his assertion is in fact true. Is poetry really divorced from practical politics, or is this common prejudice about poetry based on an insufficient definition of what “politics,” reasonably understood, actually encompasses? The poetry read in the course will be mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and one point the instructor will propose for discussion is that precisely poets were well positioned to understand the inevitable coming of totalitarianism in Europe and (in their way) to do something about it. Authors read will include Eduard Mörike, Stefan George, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Georg Trakl in German, Whitman, Dickinson, Dorothy Parker, Yeats, Eliot, Pound in English, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé in French, and perhaps some Dutch symbolist poems. Texts in the original languages will be provided and referred to, but everything will be translated and knowledge of languages other than English is not required. Some longer prose texts will also be read, including at least works of Joyce, Musil and Gide. Spots will be left open in the reading list for texts suggested by students in the course.

CPLT 465 (3) Faust, Frankensteins and Golems; cross-listed with GETR 346
Mr. Grossman, Instructor
TR 1100-1215

This course seeks to explore the legends of Faust, Frankenstein, and the Golem, as they emerged in western culture. It focuses especially on how these legends respond to problems of knowledge and power. It also seeks to explore the multiple forms by which these legends have been transmitted - whether as fictional or dramatic texts, narrative poems, religious tracts, films, theatrical or operatic performances. Faust and Frankenstein approach problems of knowledge and power in different ways, but both legends address the question of an unbounded striving for knowledge and scientific mastery. They especially respond to the new ways of pursuing knowledge emerging in the 18th and 19th century, when science and rationalist approaches gained new force. These legends ask: What impact does such unbounded striving have on human r elations and on the idea of the self? The Golem legend arose from a different tradition, that of
Jewish mysticism. Yet, the Golem, too, became a powerful myth in 20th century European literature and film. Reflecting in new ways on power and knowledge, the Golem challenged traditional western notions of how the two interacted. How, if at all, do these legends ultimately speak to our own strivings in the present? Do they address the modern - or postmodern - search for the new and the innovative? And is that search also addressed by the forms (literary, cinematic, etc.) by which these legends are represented? The course will focus especially on literary texts and films: Goethe, Faust; Marlowe, Doctor Faustus; Byron, Manfred; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; various Frankenstein films; Leivick, The Golem; The Golem (film). 1 short paper (5-7 pp.) and 1 long paper (10-15 pp.), final exam.

CPLT 493 (3) Comparative Literature Seminar: The Literature of Modernity
Ms. Felski, Instructor

What do we mean by “modernity”? How do literary works represent, reimagine or respond to those aspects of life that we tend to think of as distinctively modern? And how have our notions of the modern been challenged or changed in recent years? In this course we will take a capacious approach to the question of modern literature that includes, but also goes beyond, the usual focus on modernism and the avant-garde.

(Limited to instructor permission. All students in the Comparative Literature Distinguished Majors program are automatically admitted. Other students welcome up to a maximum of 15 places. )

CHTR 321 (3) Chinese Literature in Translation
Ms. Kinney, Instructor

ENCR 300 (3) Contemporary Literary Theory
Ms. Felski, Instructor

This course provides an introduction to recent ideas and frameworks in literary and cultural theory. It assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. We will probably cover the following topics: structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, feminism, African-American and postcolonial theory, queer theory and cultural studies. Because this is a survey course, we will cover a large, diverse and often difficult body of material at a relatively high speed. To help you understand and to make use of the concepts you encounter, the course will combine lectures with class discussion and with applications of specific theories to literary texts.

ENMC/AM 482 (3) Asian American Drama
Ms. Löfgren

This course will survey contemporary Asian American drama, examining plays from as broad a representation of playwrights as possible; we will read some plays by inter-ethnic authors. We will examine how these playwrights blend cultural and theatrical influences from both their countries of origin and America, exploring how they counter existing
social and drama tic stereotypes and redefine and enrich our traditional Western definitions of theater. We will read plays by, among others, David Henry Hwang, Wakako Yamauchi, Velina Hasu Houston, Ping Chong, Philip Kan Gotanda, Jessica Hagedorn, and Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl.

Requirements: Enthusiastic class participation, several short responses to the readings, a research paper, a final exam.

FRN 403 (3): Special Topics in 18th Century: “French Literature, Founding Fathers”
Ms. Tsien, Instructor

The leaders of the American Revolution were avid readers of French literature. After all, Americans put into practice what French thinkers had been imagining in the abstract, and in turn they worked with the French to start their own revolution. This course will focus on the literature that influenced Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and other statesmen. We will focus on their choices of readings, how this literature affected their own writings, and how they differed in opinion with European authors on such matters as kingship, happiness, religion, and slavery.

The readings for this course will include works by Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, and Raynal. We will also study foundational texts that were highly influential among both French and American writers, from the epistles of Saint Paul to the heroic tales of Plutarch. We will compare these works with essays, revolutionary documents, and other writings by the founders of the United States.

The grade for the course will be based on participation, one short paper (4-5 pages), one longer research paper (10 pages), and a final exam.

JPTR 335/535 (3) Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature
Heldt

JPTR 390/590 (3) Kawabata and Oe: Japan's Nobel Laureates
Ms. Wilson, Instructor

RUTR 335 (3) Survey of 19th C. Russian Literature
Mr. Herman, Instructor

Nineteenth-century Russia enjoyed one of history's great outpourings of literary creativity.  This course is designed to serve as an introduction to classic texts by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, Lermontov, and the author native Russians consider their greatest master, Pushkin.  Discussion topics vary widely depending on text, ranging from the dilemmas of modern spirituality and social engineering to the meaning of human love and the allure of suicide, from the famous "accursed questions" -- Does God still exist?  Are Western cultures leading the world astray? - to more private doubts over whether art and sex should be banned for good, from Pushkin's fetish for shapely little feet to Gogol's speculation over what might happen if a nose took off in an officer's uniform without its owner.  No background in Russian studies expected.  All readings are in English.

RUTR 391 (3) Russian and Soviet Film
Ms. Nafpaktitis, Instructor  
MW 3:00 – 4:15 pm. Film Screenings: M 7:00 – 9:00 pm

An exploration of Soviet and Russian cinema as artistic medium, industrial product, ideological and political tool, and means of entertainment. This course devotes equal consideration to popular classics as well as the critically acclaimed masterpieces of Russian film in order to engage questions of history, theory and aesthetics within broader cultural currents. Students will learn about major trends, figures and films in the development of Russian and Soviet cinema and exercise their analytical skills in close readings of films and selected critical essays. Writing assignments will encourage students to acquire and apply conceptual frameworks that are essential to thinking about films as texts and to evaluating the role of cinema as a Russian national art form. No knowledge of Russian required.All films will be shown with English subtitles. Satisfies Second Writing requirement and Humanities requirement. For more information, please contact the instructor at <nafpaktitism@virginia.edu>. Flier link: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mn2t/RUTR391/Movies4Masses.htm

SATR 201 (3) Remembering India's Partition
Mr. Farooqi, Instructor

SOC 409 (3) Sociology of Literature
Ms. Corse, Instructor

This class is designed as a seminar on the sociology of literature. Students are expected to be familiar with general sociological concepts and theory. In this class we will cover material from a wide range of perspectives in an attempt to understand the social context of literature. We will ask questions such as: Who defines what counts as
literature? Who gets accepted as an author? How is literature judged as good or bad? Why do books look different at different times and in different places? How do social characteristics of authors and audiences, such as gender and class, affect literature and literary reception? Class attendance and preparation are essential. Each student group will be responsible for leading general class discussion on one occasion. Students will be graded on class participation, three
short assignments, a mid-term, a substantial individual paper with a short oral presentation, and on the group-led class discussion. Books for the course are available at the UVA Bookstore. The course reader is at Brillig Books on Elliewood.

SPAN 422 (3) Translation
Mr. Pellón, Instructor
 
The aim of this course is to explore the general principles of written translation from Spanish to English. We will discuss and translate examples of modern prose and verse drawn from a wide variety of literary genres, with a section on journalism as well.  Each week the student will be required to: translate one text, and have it ready to share with the class, as well as read and prepare for discussion  the theory articles assigned for that week.  The student will select, in consultation with the instructor, a text to translate as a Final Project. Prerequisite:  two Spanish literature courses at the 300 level or above, one of which must be 330, or permission of the instructor

SWAG 365 (3) East Asian Women: (Self) Portrayals in Social Context
Ms. Fuller, Instructor

This sociology of literature seminar investigates representations of and by East Asian and Asian American women in both written (biography, autobiography, and short story) and visual (documentary and film) media. We will explore the changing cultural and social assumptions about women and men in China, Japan, and Korea over the course of the 20th century, the effects of transmigration, and liminal existence in modern life as an Asian American. Besides learning about the lives of East Asian women and men in comparative perspective, you also will learn to analyze the social contexts for literary production and consumption. In the case of East Asian history, this context includes considerable influence fr om the West - economic domination, military occupation, and intellectual thought all had a significant impact. This course meets both the Second Writing and the Non-Western Perspectives requirements.