Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
LITS 0205 - Literary Theory
Introduction to Contemporary Literary Theory
This course will introduce several major schools of contemporary literary theory. By reading theoretical texts in close conjunction with works of literature, we will illuminate the ways in which these theoretical stances can produce various interpretations of a given poem, novel, or play. The approaches covered will include New Criticism, Psychoanalysis, Marxism and Cultural Criticism, Feminism, and Post-Structuralism. These theories will be applied to works by Shakespeare, Wordsworth, The Brontës, Conrad, Joyce, and others. The goal will be to make students critically aware of the fundamental literary, cultural, political, and moral assumptions underlying every act of interpretation they perform. 3 hrs. lect/3 hrs. disc.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012
LITS 0245 - The Historical Novel
The Historical Novel
Although 19th century Europeans and Americans regarded their era as the vanguard of international peace and progress, the century was filled with the brutalities of class revolt and the carnage of revolution. The historical novel arose concurrent with these volatile conditions, during the turbulent wake of the American and French Revolutions. We will trace the beginnings of the historical novel in works by Scott and Pushkin, and then its later development in works by Stendhal, Dickens, Anatole France and Pasternak. The central text of the course will be Tolstoi's War and Peace. (Formerly LITS 0220) 3 hrs. lect.
Fall 2010
LITS 0259 - Cultural Crossings
Cultural Crossings: Studies in Literary Influence
Centered on a range of provocative works conceived at different historical moments and in different cultural situations, this course will explore some of the persistent imaginative preoccupations and far-reaching literary ambitions that serve to link authors working in a wide variety of genres and traditions. Authors to be considered this semester will include Jonathan Swift, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Petronius, Thomas Carlyle, Herman Melville, Ivan Turgenev, Ernest Hemingway, Gustave Flaubert, Gertrude Stein, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Saul Bellow. Depending on individual backgrounds and interests, students may be encouraged to undertake independent comparisons between some of the author’s works we are reading and works by other authors not included on this spring's list. 3 hr. lect.
Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012
LITS 0290 - Dante In English
Dante (in English)
An introduction to Dante's major literary works, La Vita Nuova (The New Life) and the Divine Comedy. Close readings of the text will seek to give students an appreciation of Dante's place in world literature. Dante's masterpieces will also be discussed in a historical and philosophical perspective, and supplementary readings will acquaint the reader with the medieval view of life and literature.
Spring 2011
LITS 0360 - Intro To Lit Theory
Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism
An overview of various literary theories and critical approaches to the reception and analysis of literary texts, this discussion-based seminar will introduce concerns central to Western literary theories while familiarizing students with contemporary critical terminology. From Aristotle's Poetics to postmodernism, from issues of "literariness," authorial intention, hermeneutics, and narrative angle to the premises and practices of Russian formalist, "new critical," structuralist, Freudian, Marxist, feminist approaches, etc., we will study short theoretical and critical essays in conjunction with literary works by Coleridge, Lu Xun, Dickens, Natsume Soseki, Henry James, Hwang Chunming, Borges, Kafka, and others. Narrative prose fiction is the main focus. Discussion-based, senior-junior seminar. (Minimum of three college-level literature courses required; priority enrollment given to seniors and juniors majoring in Chinese and Literary Studies, or by waiver) 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2009, Fall 2010
LITS 0402 - Cervantes y Don Quixote
Cervantes y Don Quijote
A detailed discussion and analysis of the Quijote, with additional readings from major literary and cultural sources. (Senior majors with at least two Spanish courses numbered 0350 or above, or by waiver.) 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2011
LITS 0500 - Independent Research Project ▲ ▹
Independent Research Project
(Approval Required) (Staff)
Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
LITS 0510 - Independent Essay Project ▲ ▹
Independent Essay Project
(Approval Required)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
LITS 0700 - Senior Comprehensive Exam
Senior Comprehensive Exam
Intended for majors in literary studies preparing for the written section of the senior comprehensive examinations.
Winter 2010, Winter 2011, Winter 2012, Winter 2013
LITS 0701 - Independent Reading Course ▲ ▹
Independent Reading Course
Intended for majors in literary studies preparing for the senior comprehensive examinations. At the conclusion of this course, students will take a one-hour oral examination (part of the senior comprehensive examination) in a specialization of their choice. (Approval Required) (Staff)
Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
LITS 0705 - Senior Colloquium ▲
Senior Colloquium in Literary Studies
In this course we will study, discuss, and analyze great works of world literature from the perspective of their achievement in thought and literary art. We will further consider them as part of a vital literary tradition in which the works enter into dialogue with one another. Among the authors to be appreciated this term are: Dante, Boccaccio, Calderon, Moliere, Goethe, Gogol, Baudelaire, Proust, Pirandello, and G.B. Shaw. (Open to non-majors with approval of instructor). 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013
LITS 0710 - Senior Honors Essay ▲ ▹
Senior Honors Essay
(Approval Required)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014