English 267: World Literature 1700 to Now
Fall 2003; MWF 11:30-12:20; HEAV 129
Professor Charles Ross
Office: 304A Heavilon
cross@purdue.edu; tel. 494-3749
Office hours: W 11:00-1:00
Course description
This course serves as half of the introduction to the Comparative Literature major. It is designed for sophomores and juniors (although I notice that some you are seniors), and may also be taken by first-year students, English majors, and non-majors. Materials consist of plays, stories, letters, and poems from English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish authors, beginning with the seventeenth-century.
Course objectives
In this class you will learn to read literature carefully and analytically; respond to literature both orally and in writing; and understand the value of comparing different literatures. You will become familiar with certain intellectual and artistic concepts: the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, and Modernism. There is also a secret purpose that will be announced in class, something only a literature class can give you.
Required Text
q The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, vol. 2, 7th edition, available at Von’s Bookstore.
Reading: 916 pages; approximately 30 pages per class. Please allow at least six hours per week of homework time for class reading, plus extra time for writing papers and studying for exams.
Exams: There are three exams worth 10% each and a final worth 20%, as shown on the syllabus. The final exam will be on Madame Bovary. You may bring your books and any notes to the exams.
Papers: There are two take-home papers, one topics to be assigned, and one final paper, a comparison of two poems by any two authors. Each paper is worth 15%. These papers are assigned to make you comfortable writing and thinking; therefore they may be rewritten for a new grade, in which case the first grade will be 5% and the second grade 10%.
Attendance and participation: You are expected to attend every class. Missing more than three classes means you have dropped the course. Absences may be excused by a note from the appropriate Purdue dean or organization or from home. Please be on time. 5% of your grade will be based on active participation, any in-class presentations, and overall attendance.
English 267 Class Schedule
January 13 |
Introduction; “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” pp. 1676-1679 |
January 15 |
Moliere, Tartuffe, pp. 1-68 |
January 20 |
Tartuffe |
January 22 |
Marie de La Fayette, The Princess of Clèves, pp. 60-162 |
January 27 |
The Princess of Clèves |
January 29 |
Jean Racine, Phaedra, pp. 160-201 |
February 3 |
Take-home paper due; exam |
February 5 |
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, pp. 202-229 |
February 10 |
Swift, “A Modest Proposal,” pp. 282-288. |
February 12 |
Voltaire, Candide, pp. 316-379 |
February 17 |
Candide |
February 19 |
Rousseau, Confessions, pp. 417-437 |
February 24 |
Take-home paper due; exam |
February 26 |
Goethe, Faust, pp. 438-540 |
March 2 |
Faust |
March 5 |
Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, pp. 1180-1222 |
March 9 |
James Joyce, “The Dead,” pp. 1582-1615 |
March 11 |
Naguid Mahfouz, “Zaabalaw,” pp. 1958-1979 |
March 16-18 |
Spring Break |
March 23 |
Alexander Zolzhenitsyn¸ “Matryona’s Home,” pp. 1970-2000. |
March 25 |
exam |
March 30 |
Baudelaire and Mallarmé, pp. 1141-1166 |
April 1 |
Verlaine and Rimbaud, pp. 1167-1180 |
April 6 |
Yeats and Rilke, pp. 1414-1426 and 1564-1570 |
April 8 |
Wordsworth, pp. 549-560 and Bécquer, pp. 610-611. |
April 13 |
Coleridge, pp. 586-592 and Heine, pp. 619-620 |
April 15 |
Shelley, pp. 593-599 and Leopardi, pp. 632-634 |
April 20 |
Freud, “Dora,” pp. 1354-1414 |
April 22 |
Flaubert, Madame Bovary, pp. 846-1062 |
April 27 |
Flaubert, Madame Bovary |
April 29 |
Flaubert, Madame Bovary. |
Scheduled Final |
exam; final paper due |