Comparative Literature 361 - Modern Arabic Literature

The first Arab exchange students arrived in Europe in 1825, the first shipment of Saudi oil bound for international markets set sail in 1938, and the first World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East kicked off in 2022. This course will consider the genesis of Modern Arabic literature through its relationship with increasingly global flows of capital, commodities, and people. In conversation with theories of world systems, capitalism-in-nature, and the commodity as fetish, we will read and analyze a range of Arabic novels and short stories from the mid-19th century Arab Enlightenment (Nahda) to the present. Throughout, we will consider the changing role of literature and evolving understandings of what it means to be modern in Arabic and beyond. This course will lay the intellectual groundwork for more advanced coursework in Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies while also honing your critical reading and writing skills for work in other disciplines, both academic and non-academic. It will also strive to help foster a lifelong commitment to reading for both exploration and pleasure. All readings and discussion will be in English, although students at the intermediate-high level and above in Arabic are welcome to meet with the instructor to examine course texts in the original language. (Gen. Ed. AL, DG)