Comparative Literature 340 - Mystical Literature

This class will explore mystical literature of various traditions, both religious and secular. Reading these texts as literary expressions of union or contact with the transcendent, we will analyze the ways in which they seek to capture what is usually considered to be an inexpressible, non-verbal experience. Readings will draw from the mystical traditions of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as European Romanticism and other, less easily categorized, attempts to articulate communion with something beyond the everyday.