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Comparative Literature

Department Secretary: Elizabeth Bigongiari, Wb 205A, 702-8486

Although the Department of Comparative Literature does not offer a concentration program leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree, a number of comparative studies courses are open to properly qualified College students. Normally, the prerequisite for these courses is the ability to read literary texts in at least one foreign language. More specific and/or extensive prerequisites may apply for some courses. College students wishing to pursue interdisciplinary literary studies should also consult the offerings of the Committee on General Studies in the Humanities. For courses, please consult the quarterly Time Schedules.

College students who wish to prepare themselves for graduate work in comparative literature should acquire strong preparation in at least one foreign language and some knowledge of at least one other foreign language. A concentration in a national literature (English, French, German, etc.) and a minor field in another national literature are often required. For information about specific requirements for graduate work in comparative literature, interested students should consult with a member of the faculty.

Faculty

W. R. JOHNSON, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor of Classical Languages & Literatures, Department of Comparative Literature, Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World, and the College

FRANçOISE MELTZER, Professor, Departments of Romance Languages & Literatures and Comparative Literature and the College

MICHAEL J. MURRIN, Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature and Comparative Literature, the Divinity School, and the College; Chairman, Department of Comparative Literature

KENNETH J. NORTHCOTT, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Comparative Literature and Germanic Languages & Literatures, Committee on General Studies in the Humanities, and the College

FRANTISEK SVEJKOVSKY, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages & Literatures, and Committee on Analysis of Ideas & Study of Methods

EDWARD WASIOLEK, Avalon Foundation Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Comparative Literature, English Language & Literature, and Slavic Languages & Literatures, and the College

ANTHONY C. YU, Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities and the Divinity School, Departments of Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages & Civilizations, and English Language & Literature, and Committee on Social Thought Go to top of document
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Courses

311-312. Twentieth-Century Slavic Literary Theory I, II (=GnSlav 288-289/388-389). The primary goal in the first quarter of this two-quarter sequence is to outline the major trends in Slavic literary theory in the twentieth century, especially Russian Formalism, Structuralism (Prague School and its diaspora), and Cultural Semiotics. Attention is paid both to the cultural contexts in which these ideas arose and to their applicability to literary texts. The second quarter of the course is designed to bring Slavic and non-Slavic theoretical traditions into dialogue with one another. It examines the most recent developments (or discoveries) in Slavic literary theory (including Bakhtin, Lotman, theories of the private sphere, and models of cultural mythology) in comparison with developments in Western Post-Structural theory (especially psychoanalytic theory, sociology of culture, New Historicism, and deconstruction). Readings in English. D. Powelstock. Winter, Spring.

360. Cinema and Culture of the 1930s: Germany and Europe (=German 351, Hum 278). PQ: Knowledge of German helpful but not required. This course considers the dislocations of German cinema in the 1930s (the transition from Weimar to Nazi cinema) within a broad European context and in relation to the coming of sound. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between "commitment" and modernism; the rise of fascist and Popular Front cinemas and their new representations of the nation state; the impact of sound on film aesthetics and film genre, ethnographic and documentary filmmaking; the rise of the musical; the realignment of sight and sound; the voice and the body; surrealism; and the politics of eroticism. Films studied are by Fritz Lang, Hans Richter, Joseph von Sternberg, Douglas Sirk, Leontine Sagan, Leni Riefenstahl, Rene Clair, Jean Renoir, Carl Dreyer, Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock, Sergei Eisenstein, and Dziga Vertov. K. Trumpener. Winter.

363. History of Criticism: Classical to the Eighteenth Century (=Eng 114/316). This course examines the history of classical and neoclassical criticism from the Greeks to the late eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on criticism as a kind of literary production and on the interaction between literary theory and contemporaneous practice. The course considers both the "literary" qualities of critical works about literature and literary works that explicitly thematize critical concepts. Authors include Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Montaigne, Sidney, Jonson, Corneille, Dryden, Addison, Pope, Johnson, and Burke. J. Scodel. Winter.

377. Medieval Drama (=Eng 148/358, GS Hum 246/346). This course surveys medieval drama in a historical framework from its beginnings in the tenth century through the early sixteenth century. Cross-disciplinary, especially at first, we look at Latin and Anglo-Norman drama written chiefly on the Continent. As the course progresses, we focus increasingly on the English religious drama of the later Middle Ages: the great cycle plays, saints' plays, and moralities (these latter are read in their Middle English original, with editorial assistance provided). Readings and discussions focus on primary material, along with recent criticism. D. Bevington. Winter.

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