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INTRODUCTION TO WORLD LITERATURE

Spring 2013 -- 195:101:02


Monday-Wednesday 2:15 PM - 3:35 PM
HCK 113-HCK213; Douglass/Cook
Instructor: F. Betul Cihan-Artun
E-mail: betul.cihan@rutgers.edu
Office Hours: MW 4:00-5:00 @ Au Bon Pain on College Avenue (or by appointment)
Mailbox: 195 College Avenue, Comparative Literature
Learning Objectives and Fulfillments:
This course aims to introduce students to a selection of classical and modern literary
works from various parts of the world. One of the goals of the class is to analyze and
discuss the works in their respective socio-historical contexts, with a special focus on the
theme of encounter, be it textual or cultural. The impact of various factors (class, race,
gender, generation, religion, and so forth) will be taken into consideration in our
discussions. The students critical engagement with the assigned works of literature will
be further enhanced by the historical and literary background provided by lectures and
secondary sources.
No prior knowledge of or familiarity with the pertinent languages is required. All reading
materials will be provided in English translation.
We will take both a transcultural and a transdisciplinary approach to the subject matter, so
as to (among these approaches other benefits) meet the departmental learning goals,
which are:
- to demonstrate familiarity with a variety of world literatures as well as methods of
studying literature and culture across national and linguistic boundaries and evaluate the
nature, function and value of literature from a global perspective.
- to demonstrate critical reasoning and research skills; to design and to conduct research
in an individual field of concentration;
- to analyze a specific body of research and to write a clear and well developed paper or
project about a topic related to more than one literary and cultural tradition.
This course fulfills Core Learning Goal AHp (analyzing arts and/or literatures in
themselves and in relation to specific histories, values, languages, cultures, and
technologies).
Class Policy:
Class participation will constitute a significant portion of your grade. This means that you
are expected to attend lectures, keep up with the readings, and participate actively in class
discussions (asking relevant questions also counts as participation!).
You will have several reading quizzes and there will be no make-ups for them. In addition
to the quizzes, you are expected to submit one short paper (4-6 pages) for the midterm
and a longer one (6-10 pages) for the final exam on one of the given topics. For the
papers, I will definitely be looking for originality, good writing, solid arguments, and
analytical reasoning.

Academic honesty is expected, that is, plagiarism will not be tolerated; if caught there is
an automatic F on the assigned paper. For the university's policy on Academic Integrity,
visit:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf
As for the absence policy, after two missed classes, additional absences without any
legitimate excuse, such as illness or religious observance, will negatively impact your
class participation grade. You will receive a straight F if you miss more than 25% of
classes.
Cell phones must be turned off for the duration of class.
You are expected to bring to class whichever reading we are discussing on that day.
Grading System (value):
Attendance & Participation
Quizzes
Midterm Exam
Final Paper

% 15
% 20
% 25
% 40

Books to Purchase (available at Barnes & Noble):


1. Kalidasa: The Recognition of Sakuntala. trans. by W. J. Johnson. Oxford
University Press: 2008. ISBN-10: 0199540608 (pp. 1-107)
2. Aim Csaire: A Tempest (trans. by Richard Miller) TGC Translations, 2002.
ISBN-10: 1559362103
3. David Henry Hwang: M. Butterfly. Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1998. ISBN-10:
0822207125.
Readings available on SAKAI:
1. Borges: Averroes Search in Collected Fictions, pp. 235-241.
The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights in The Arabian
Nights. A Norton Critical Edition, 2010. pp. 409-426.
2. Euripides: Medea (in Medea and Other Plays) trans. by James Morwood. Oxford
UP, 2009. pp. 1-39.
3. The Arabian Nights, trans. by Husain Haddavy. Norton Critical Edition. pp. 5-56
4. Edgar Allan Poe: The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade in The
Arabian Nights. A Norton Critical Edition, 2010. pp. 356-372.
5. Dante: Divine Comedy (excerpts)
6. Al-Maariri: Epistle of Forgiveness (excerpt)
7. Selected Poetry by Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, Hafiz, et. al.
8. Cervantes: Don Quixote, trans. by John Rutherford. pp. 11-77
9. Cao Xueqin: The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 1:
The Golden Days. trans. by David Hawkes. pp. 1-100.
10. Selected Haiku by Yosa Buson, Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa

11. Sir William Joness Preface to his translation of Sakuntala:


http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/shakuntala_jones/00_preface
.htm
12. Rene Wellek: The Concept of Romanticism in Literary History II: The Unity
of European Romanticism in Comparative Literature Vol. 1, No. 2 (Spring, 1949),
pp. 147-172.
13. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Kubla Khan
14. Novalis: Hymns to the Night
15. The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
16. Rynosuke Akutagawa: In a Grove
17. Jean-Paul Sartre: The Wall
18. James Baldwin: Sonnys Blues
19. Okot pBitek: Song of Lawino.
20. Amos Tutuola: The Palm-wine Drinkard. Grove Press, 1994. pp. 191-307.
21. Supplementary recommended readings
Schedule of lectures:
Week 1: Jan. 23: Introduction to the course
Week 2: Jan. 28: Borges Averroes search
Introduction to Greek Tragedy
Recommended reading: Aristotles Poetics
Jan. 30: Medea
Quiz 1 (on Medea)
Week 3: Feb. 4: Indian Drama: Sakuntala
Sir William Jones Preface to Sakuntala
Feb. 6: Sakuntala continue
Quiz 2 (on Sakuntala)
Week 4: Feb. 11: Storytelling Revolutionized: Arabian Nights (excerpts)
J. L. Borges The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights
Feb. 13: Arabian Nights continue
Edgar Allan Poe The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade
Recommended Reading: Josef Horovitz The Origins of The Arabian
Nights; Francesco Gabrieli The Thousand and One Nights in European
Culture.
Week 5: Feb. 18: Journeys to the Beyond: Divine Comedy: Inferno (excerpts)
Al-Maariris Epistle of Forgiveness (excerpt)
Feb. 20: Divine Comedy: Purgatorio (excerpts)
Week 6: Feb. 25: Bible as Literature: Revelations
Feb. 27: Mystical Poetry in Islam: Selected Poetry by Mawlana Jalal al-Din
Rumi, Hafiz, et. al.

Week 7: March 4: The first modern European novel: Don Quixote (excerpts)
March 6: Don Quixote continue
Quiz 3 (on Don Quixote)
Week 8: March 11: Selected Haiku by Yosa Buson, Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa
March 13: Haiku continue
Midterm Papers due!
Week 9: March 25: The Last of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese Literature:
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber (excerpts)
March 27: The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber continue
Quiz 4 (on The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber)
Week 10: April 1: Romanticism: The Concept of Romanticism in Literary History
II: The Unity of European Romanticism by Rene Wellek pp. 147-172.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla Khan
Novalis Hymns to the Night
Recommended Reading: Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
April 3: The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin
Week 11: April 8: Short Story as a Modern Genre: R. Akutagawas In a Grove
Jean-Paul Sartre The Wall
April 10: James Baldwin Sonnys Blues
Week 12: April 15: The Responses of the Colonized: A Tempest
Quiz 5 (on A Tempest)
Recommended Reading: Discourse on Colonialism by Aim Csaire
April 17: A Tempest continue
Week 13: April 22: Song of Lawino by Okot pBitek
Recommended Reading: Black Skin, White Masks
April 24: M. Butterfly
Quiz 6 on M. Butterfly
Week 14: April 29: Appropriation of a genre: The Palm-Wine Drinkard
Quiz 7 on The Palm-Wine Drinkard
May 1: The Palm-Wine Drinkard continue
Week 15: May 6: Final remarks
Final papers are due May 12!!!

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