FLL 630/English 660:
Comparative Literature: Function and Methods
MWF
1:30-2:20; HEAV 101; Fall 2003
Professor Charles Ross
Office: 304B Heavilon
E-mail:
Office hours: MWF 12:20-1:20, or after class or by
appointment (email)
Course description
This course serves as an
introduction to graduate study in Comparative Literature. Its purpose is to
define comparative literature, review the fundamentals of literary study,
introduce the relationship between literature and theory, review the beginnings
of Western literature, and establish a basis upon which more sophisticated
methods and theories may be built as you work toward the Ph.D. degree. The
assumption is that the most sophisticated theorists are also well grounded in
literature and able to explain traditional methods of analysis in clear and
convincing language.
Course objectives
In this class you will learn to
read literature carefully and analytically; respond to literature both orally
and in writing; understand the value of comparing different literatures;
encounter other languages you may wish to study further.
Texts (Available at Von’s Books.)
·
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, ed. Vincent Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
·
The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume A, ed. Sarah Lawall. 2nd ed. New
York: W. W. Norton, 2002.
Recommended:
·
Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry,
and Drama, ed. Sylvan Barnet. Compact
Edition. New York: Longman, 2003.
Exams:
Five short-answer and essay exams,
based on the reading and class discussion, one roughly every three weeks on
Fridays: September 12, October 3, October 24, November 14, and December 5. 10
points each out of 100 total for the semester.
Papers:
A four-page paper due Wednesday
September 24; a six-page paper due November 3. These can be rewritten for a new
grade. The final 10-15 page paper is due during exam week. Please refer to Literature for Composition if you have
any questions about style.
Attendance and Policies:
You are expected to attend every
class. Do not plagiarize; there is a Purdue website on plagiarism if you have
any questions.
Bibliography:
Bassnet, Susan. Comparative
Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell,
1993.
Bernheimer, Charles, Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins UP, 1995.
Syllabus, English 660 / FLL
630
Comparative Literature:
Function and Methods
Aug
25 |
Introduction:, Odyssey 1 pp. 225-236 |
|
Aug
27 |
Gilgamesh 1-52 |
|
Aug
29 |
Creation:
Genesis; pp. 53-63; Ovid’s Metamorphosis,
handout; Aquinas, 240-246; |
|
Sept
1—Labor Day |
|
|
Sept
3 |
Joseph pp. 63-77; Schleiermacher, 610-625 |
|
Sept
5 |
Job, Psalms, Song of Songs, Jonah, pp.
77-103; Maimonides, 211-226 |
|
Sept
8 |
Sidney’s
Defense of Poetry, pp. 323-362 |
|
Sept
10 |
Iliad, pp. 104-136 (Nestor’s speech) |
|
Sept
12 |
Exam |
|
Sept
15: |
Iliad 6, pp, 136-137; Gorgias, 29-33; Judith
Buter, 2485-2501 |
|
Sept
17 |
Plato,
pp. 29-85 |
|
Sept
19 |
Derrida,
Plato’s Pharmacy, pp. 1830-1866 |
|
Sept
22—No class |
|
|
Sept
24 |
First
paper due Iliad 9, 16, pp. 147-177; Aristotle’s Poetics, 86-117 |
|
Sept
26 |
Iliad 18, 22, 24, pp. 177-225; Aeneid 8, pp. 1125-1129 |
|
Sept
29 |
Odyssey 1-4, pp. 225-278; Aristotle’s Rhetoric, 117-121 |
|
Oct 1 |
Odyssey 5-8; pp. 278-319 |
|
Oct 3 |
Exam |
|
Oct 6 |
Horace,
Longinus, Quintillian, pp. 121-171 |
|
Oct 8 |
Odyssey 9-12, pp. 319-376;Geoffrey of Vinsauf,
226-240 |
|
Oct
10 |
Odyssey 13-16, pp. 376-429; Giraldi, 271-278. |
|
Oct
13 |
Odyssey 17-20, pp. 429-483; handout from Auerbach’s
Mimesis |
|
Oct
15 |
Odyssey 21-24, pp. 483-533; |
|
Oct
17 |
Plotinus,
Augustine, Macrobius, 171-201 |
|
Oct
20 |
Aeneid 1, 2, pp. 1052-1085 |
|
Oct
22 |
Aeneid 4, 6 pp. 1085-1125 |
|
Oct
24 |
Exam |
|
Oct
27 |
Sappho,
pp. 531-533; Ovid, “Daphne and Apollo” pp. 1138-1141 |
|
Oct
29 |
T’ang
Dynasty lyric (Chinese) |
|
Oct
31 |
Sonnets:
Dante, Petrarch, Shakespeare |
|
Nov 3 |
Second paper due German
lyric: from Minnesinger to Heinrich
Heine’s Lorelei (German) |
|
Nov 5 |
Leopardi’s
L’Infinito (Italian |
|
Nov 7 |
Baudelaire’s
Hymn à la beauté; Baudelaire,
789-802. |
|
Nov
10 |
Keat’s
Ode to a Nightingale |
|
Nov
12 |
Wordsworth,
“Preface to Lyrical Ballads,”
645-668 |
|
Nov
14 |
Exam |
|
Nov
17 |
Aeschylus,
Agamemnon, pp. 533-611 |
|
Nov
19 |
Nietzsche,
870-895 |
|
Nov
21 |
Freud,
913-956 |
|
Nov
24 |
Sophocles,
Oedipus the King, pp. 612-658 |
|
Nov
26 28: Thanksgiving |
|
|
Dec.
1 |
Antigone, pp. 658-693 |
|
Dec.
3 |
Corneille,
363-378 |
|
Dec 5 |
Exam |
|
Dec 8 |
Early
China, pp. 805-820 |
|
Dec
10 |
Confucius,
pp. 820-831 |
|
Dec
12 |
Chuang
Chou, pp. 832-858 |
|
Exam
week |
Third paper due |