Undergrad. Catalog 06: Comparative Literature

Revised May 2006

Interdisciplinary Programs

Comparative Literature Studies Program

537 Main Hall
610-436-2469/2822
Christian Awuyah, Coordinator
cawuyah@wcupa.edu

PROFESSORS: K. Myrsiades, L. Myrsiades, Ramanathan, Schlau

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS: Awuyah, Ward

PROGRAM FACULTY: Esplugas, Larsen, Maltby, Verderame

This program provides a curriculum option for students with an interest in international studies by offering a broad background in European and non-Western culture and literature.

This program is responsive to recent developments in professional business, law, and medical schools, which stress admission of students with humanities backgrounds or humanities complements to their scientific or technical backgrounds, and it reflects the growth of professional school programs that include more options in the humanities.

More specifically, this program is designed to answer student requests for a program that supplies a greater breadth of literature than is commonly offered in a language program and a greater variety than that offered in an English department.

BACHELOR OF ARTS - COMPARATIVE LITERATURE STUDIES

120 semester hours

1. General ed. requirements, see pages 37-41 (48 semester hours)

2. Foreign language requirement (3-12 semester hours)
(Culture cluster option cannot be substituted for foreign language requirement.)

3. Concentration or minor electives (18 semester hours)

4. Cognate requirements (6 semester hours)
Under advisement

5. Comparative literature core (15 semester hours)
CLS 200 or equivalent, 201 or 367 or 368, 260, 261, 310 or equivalent, 361 or 362, and 400

6. Comparative literature electives (15 semester hours)
Five electives that reflect a variety of genres, periods, traditions, approaches, and theoretical concerns, selected from those courses listed below. Students wishing to take courses other than those courses listed below must have the written approval of the Comparative Literature Committee.

7. Literature in the original language (6 semester hours)
Two courses in the literature of a language other than English.

Minor in Comparative Literature (18 semester hours)

Select ONE course in each of the areas listed below.*

1. Literature and the other arts
CLS 201, 304, 365, 368, 370, 371, or 400-level course

2. Theory, intellectual history, or literary criticism
CLS 310, 352, or 400-level course

3. National literatures, themes, genres, movements
CLS 203, 260, 261, 297, or 351

4. Relationship, influence, or intertextuality
CLS 304, 309, 326, 350, 363, 367, or 400

5. Non-Western literature or literature in a language other than English
CLS 255, 400, 411

6. Women's literature
CLS 258, 259, or 304

NOTE: Not all course numbers available for each category above are listed. Please check with the comparative literature studies coordinator in 537 Main Hall (610-436-2915) for other possible substitutions.

* For course descriptions, see English and Foreign Language sections in this catalog. For related departments other than English or Foreign Languages, consult the Handbook for Comparative Literature Studies available from the program coordinator.

Minor in Film Criticism (18 semester hours)

1. Required course (3 semester hours)
FLM 200

2. Elective courses (15 semester hours)
Any 15 credits selected from the following list with approval of the adviser:
CLS 304, 363, 364, 368, 369, 400, and 410; COM 217 and 317; EGE 404, 405; EIT 260; FLM 201, 202, 300, 301, and 400

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE STUDIES

Symbol: CLS

165 Introduction to World Literature (3) This course is designed to introduce students to literature representative of both Western and non-Western cultures and can be taken as an alternative to LIT 165. Not open to English majors.
Diverse communities course

201 Classical Mythology in the 20th Century (3) Classical myths and their significance in selected works of literature, film, and art.
Approved interdisciplinary course

203 African Studies (3) This course studies African culture through literature, anthropology, and history. It focuses on the socio-cultural and historical contexts of African writing through the colonial and postcolonial periods.
Diverse communities course

225 Twentieth Century Native American Literature (3) This course investigates the struggle of the Native American author to represent his/her own cultural experience as a voice.

258 Women's Literature I (3) A survey of world women's literature from 800 B.C. - 1800. Readings are chosen from the works of Sappho, Diotima, Mutta, Auvaiyar, Sei Shonagan, Sule Sankavya, Murasaki, Hildegard, von Bingen, Mirabai, Marguerite de Navarre, Phillis Wheatley, Aphra Behn, Madame de Stael, Jane Austen, and Fanny Burney among others.
Diverse communities course

259 Women's Literature II (3) A survey of women's literature from 1800 to the present. Readings are chosen from the works of Harriet Jacobs, Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Bronte, Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras, Christa Wolf, Merce Rodoreda, Jamaica Kincaid, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Alifa Rifaat, Louise Erdrich, Cherrie Moraga, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Arundati Roy among others.
Diverse communities course

260 World Literature I (3) A survey of world literary texts from pre-classical times to 1600.
Diverse communities course

261 World Literature II (3) A survey of world literary texts from 1600 to the present.

270 Life, Death, and Disease (3) A course treating the study of literary works, film, and selected readings from other areas (history, science, fiction, and nonfiction) to generate an understanding of the relationship of human values to medicine, illness, and issues of related importance to physicians.
Approved interdisciplinary course

297 Themes in Contemporary Literature (3) Topics to be announced each time course is offered.
This course may be taken again for credit.

304 Women and Film (3) An examination of the role of women in contemporary world cinema and the feminist film.

309 Literature Translation Workshop (3) A writing workshop on the theory and practice of literary translation.

311 Contemporary Latin-American Narrative (3) An examination of Latin-American narrative (short story, novella, novel, and testimonial literature). Spanish- and Portuguese-language writers from South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean will be studied, from the period of magical realism (1950's and 1960's) through the present. They may include Isabel Allende, Jorge Amado, Miguel Angel Asturias, Jorg Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Clarice Lispector, Elena Poniatowska, and Luis Rafael Sánchez.
Culture cluster

329 Gender and Peace (3) An examination of the ways in which social constructions of gender intersect with perceptions and experiences of war and peace.
Approved interdisciplinary course

333 Latina Writing (3) An examination of the literary works produced by Latinas in the 20th century. The study of this literature will include a cross-cultural approach that will elucidate socipolitical themes emerging from the texts.

334 Politics and Economics in the Literature of the Modern Americas (3) A comparative historical and literary examination of political and economic issues reflected in 20th century U.S. and Latin American literature. The study of representative texts of various genres will also elucidate issues of race, class, and gender.

ESP/CLS 335 Latino Literatures in the U.S. (3) This course examines the history of Latino groups (e.g., Mexicans, Cubans, and South Americans) in the U.S. through literary texts written by Latinos, and studies the cultural, economic, and political experiences leading to their acculturation or alientation in mainstream America.
Culture cluster
Diverse communities course
Crosslisted course. Students may not take both courses for credit.

350 Computer Applications in the Humanities (3) This course is designed to provide an introduction to the computer and its applications in a number of humanistic disciplines (literature, history, and writing, but some attention also will be given to foreign languages, linguistics, music, and art).

351 African Literature (3) A study of the representation of Africa through the perspectives of African and non-African writers.

352 Modernity/Postmodernity (3) A critical analysis of the modernity/postmodernity debates from the integrated perspectives of literature, philosophy, history, and politics.
Approved interdisciplinary course

361 Modern World Drama (3) This course seeks to develop and to extend an understanding of the basic elements of drama. The student will be exposed to a range of theatrical practices and diverse traditions of world drama.

362 Modern World Fiction (3) This course seeks to develop and to extend an understanding of the basic elements of fiction. The student will be exposed to a range of fictional practices and diverse traditions of world fiction.

363 Soviet Literature and Film (3) A comparative approach to selected 20th century Soviet works of fiction, poetry, drama, and film.

365 African-American Film (3) This course will study the history, form, and content of African-American film. The films chosen are from various genres and cover older and contemporary films.

367 Classical Mythology (3) An examination of Greek mythology through the works of Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, and Greek lyric poets.
Diverse communities course

368 Culture, Myth, and Society (3) An examination of how the culture, mythology, and politics of ancient Greece from Homer to Plato determine how a period is represented through its literary, historical, and philosophical texts and how contemporary culture rewrites these texts.
Approved interdisciplinary course

369 Literature and Film (3) The interrelationship between selected works of world fiction and their film adaptations.

371 Law, Literature, and Communication (3) A look at the presentational aspects of law- legal writing and oral argument-its constructions in narrative-law as literature and literature as law-and the relationship of law to anthropology, psychology, history, and sociology.
Approved interdisciplinary course

400 Comparative Literature Seminar (3) Topics such as Homer and the modern Western race and legal narrative, interrelations of African and African-American literature, sexual politics in modern drama, and visual culture in Third World film are offered. Required of comparative literature majors in their junior or senior year.
This course may be taken again for credit.

410 Independent Study in Comparative Literature (3)
This course may be taken again for credit.

411 Foreign Study in Comparative Literature (3)
This course may be taken again for credit.

FILM THEORY AND CRITICISM
Symbol: FLM

200 Introduction to Film (3) A critical and analytical approach to world cinema covering film theory and the major film movements (Soviet Realism, German Expressionism, Italian Neo-Realism, French New Wave, Cinema Nuovo, New German Cinema, and Surrealism) from the beginning to present. (Group E)**
** See the department handbook for group descriptions.

201 American Film (3) The function of cinema in contemporary society as a socio-cultural, economic, and political object as seen through critical analysis of American films. (Group E)**
** See the department handbook for group descriptions.

300 Private Screening (1) Eight to 12 narrative film classics per semester on a specific topic or theme.

301 Documentary Film (3) Understanding and enjoying the social, philosophic, economic, and political aspects of documentary film. (Group E)**
** See the department handbook for group descriptions.