Crossing Borders: An Introduction to Comparative Literature

3 units

An introduction to some of the ideas and practices of literary studies at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This course is designed for majors and prospective majors in comparative literature and comparative arts - and other students interested in reading literature from many parts of the world and exploring issues in literary studies including questions of epistemology and representation, the cultural biases of readers, semiotics, translation theory, and Orientalism. Plays, novels, and poems by writers including Euripides, Vergil, Racine, Rilke, Henry James, Borges, Mellah, and Murakami, and closely related short excerpts by theorists from Aristotle to Bhabha. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.