Comparative Literature 177 - JOURNEYS IN WORLD LITERATURE

From the earliest Chinese poetry to the latest Arabic Internet novels, comparative literature makes available new worlds-and "newly visible" old worlds. To become "world-forming," one must realize one's belonging to a given world or worlds, as well as one's finitude. To rethink the relationship between literature and world, each section of this course focuses on a given genre, movement or theme. Through topics such as "Epic Worlds," "The Short Story" and "Literature and Medicine," we consider the creation of worlds through words. May be repeated once with a different topic. Enrollment limit of 20. Members of the Program in Comparative Literature. A comparison of the first literary works to emerge from oral story-telling among several ancient, medieval and modern peoples to express their cultural ideas and sense of collective identity: the Akkadian Gilgamesh, the Hebrew Genesis and Exodus, the Hindu Mahabharata, the Greek Odyssey, the Irish Tain, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, the Welsh Mabinogi, the Finnish Kalevala and the Nyanja (Congolese) Mwindo. We explore these epics as sites of hard political thought and moral contest, especially how they seek to shape their societies' broader world-view, value system and understanding of history through the struggles of vividly imagined heroes and heroines.

Topic: Epic Worlds.