What is a soul and what is it worth? Why are humans fascinated by the forbidden? What would a person be willing to sacrifice to unlock the secrets of the universe? For over five hundred years writers have returned to the story of Faust, the scholar-magician-charlatan who sold his soul to the devil, to explore such questions. Each retelling provides a window into the struggles and ambitions of its age, revealing what it means to be human in turbulent times.

Offered as WLT 203 and ENG 203. Considers works of literature from different linguistic and cultural traditions that have had a significant influence over time. May include Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe, Balzac, Tolstoy, Ibsen and others. Enrollment limited to 20.

This course focuses on the short story as a genre in a number of texts from around the globe, analyzing the function of literary elements through close reading, and critical and creative writing. The course cultivates skills in textual analysis through engagement with students’ own critical and creative writing processes. Students have opportunities to rewrite a short story and write their own.

Translations are everywhere: on television news, in radio interviews, in movie subtitles, in international bestsellers. But translations don’t shift texts transparently from one language to another. Rather, they revise, censor and rewrite original works, to challenge the past and to speak to new readers. The course explores translation in a range of contexts by hearing lectures by experts in the history, theory and practice of translation. Knowledge of a foreign language is useful but not required. S/U only. Can be taken concurrently with FRN 295.

Offered as WLT 330 and TSX 330. The capstone seminar brings together a cohort of concentrators to discuss a final translation project that each student undertakes with the guidance of their adviser in the concentration and to situate the project within the framework of larger questions that the work of translation elicits. The readings focus on renowned practitioners’ reflections on the challenges, beauties and discoveries of translating.

This course focuses upon interpretative approaches to dramatic texts and how they may be realized and animated through characterization, composition, movement, rhythm and style. Prerequisites: THE 141 or FMS 280. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required.

Educational dynamics in teacher/student relationships as dramatized on stage from the mid-20th century to the present. Discussions of race, gender, social class and cultural differences constitute central points of exploration and intersection.  Plays by BIPOC playwrights occupy a significant portion of the syllabus. e.g. Marie-Irene Fornes, Adrienne Kennedy, Dominique Morisseau, Anna Deavere Smith, Eleanor Burgess, Nilaja Sun,  Idris Goodwin and Julia Cho. ​

Intermediate and advanced script projects. Prerequisite: THE 261. Writing sample and instructor permission required.

The means and methods of the playwright and the writer for television and the cinema. Analysis of the structure and dialogue of a few selected plays. Weekly and biweekly exercises in writing for various media. Goal for beginning playwrights: to draft a one-act play by the end of the semester. Plays by students are considered for staging. Writing sample and instructor permission required.

The elements of line, texture and color, and their application to design and character delineation. Research of clothing styles of various cultures and eras. Enrollment limited to 15.