Issues in World Literature

What is world literature? How does it relate to fields like comparative literature and postcolonial studies? We will read fiction and drama usually featured in this canon, including works by Achebe, Coetzee, Homer, Kafka, Rushdie, Shikibu, and Walcott. We will also attend to the critical paradigms that constitute the field, from Goethe's Weltliteratur to more recent theorizations by Casanova, Damrosch, Deleuze, Moretti, Spivak, etc. Enrollment limited to 20. Not open to first-year students.