Fall 2006 - Lincoln Center

COEU 1210  Literature and Society  (A. Hoffman)
What is the relationship between a work of art and the social world in which it is produced? We will study 19th and 20th-century works that have provoked readers, sparked controversies, come into conflict with censors, and led to legal battles. Sections of this course will introduce students to the methods and theories of comparative studies in literature, as well as complete the literature requirement of the Core Curriculum.

COEU 3000  Theories of Comparative Literature
A review of theories and methods of comparative literary studies, using literary theory and criticism as primary readings in conjunction with works of literature drawn from a range of literary traditions.

COLU 3211  Evil in Literature  (F. Harris)
Evil as portrayed in literature from the late eighteenth-century to the end of the twentieth. Authors studied may include Balzac, Baudelaire, Bronte, Genet, Laclos and Wilde.

COLU 3553  Twenty-First Century Romantics  (V. Atchity)
In this course, contemporary romantic lyric poetry, prose, and film will be examined in historical context, and compared with traditional (i.e., 18/19th century) romantic texts. We will explore the evolution of the term "romantic" within popular culture. The making of romantic icons, or the popular romanticization of the author/artist figure, will be a chief theme throughout the course.

COLG 3664  Postcolonial Literature in English  (F. Mustafa)
A survey of the post-independence Anglophone literatures of the Caribbean, Africa, and South Asia, including the literatures of their respective Diasporas. We will also read some translations from the Francophone, Lusophone, and Hispanophone traditions.

Cross-listed Courses

CMLU 3432  French Film  (E. Stadler)
A study of the development of cinema in France from the 1920's to the present. Analysis of individual films in the context of major movements and theoretical issues: the Avant-garde of the 20's; Poetic Realism; the New Wave; "Auteur Cinema"; film and literature; women filmmakers and feminist theory.

FRLU 3333  Tableaux: Art and Theater 1700s  (A. Clark)
In this course, we will examine the changing articulation of the tableau and how it informed important aesthetic developments in 18th-century theater and painting. We will read theoretical texts on the theater such as Diderot’s De la Poésie dramatique and Mercier’s Du théâtre, theatrical works by Marivaux, Voltaire, Diderot, Beaumarchais, Mercier, and Olympe de Gouges, in addition to the critical texts on the French Salons and an examination of a number of paintings in NY museums.  This course is particularly recommended to students studying theater and/or art history, but is open to all students who have completed a 2000-level course in French.

LLEU 3344  Law, Literature, and Latinos  (E. Estela)
This course examines the relationship between criminal law and literature. We will study how writers use stories about the law to express ideas of humanity. We will also examine the interplay between law and morality and discuss how authors have viewed the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on the experience of Latinos. The reading list will include criminal law and criminal procedure law, as well as works by Latino fiction writers such as Bodega Dreams, Carlito’s Way, and House of the Spirits, and by non-Latino writers such as Billy Budd and The Trial.

SPLG 3625  Spanish American Short Fiction  (C. Vich)
A study of short stories by different Spanish American authors from the beginnings of the 20th century to the present. We will cover the basics of short story analysis (the identity and perspective of the narrative voice, the construction of the plot and the characters, etc.) to discuss short narratives grouped either thematically or by common socio-historical contexts. Topics to be discussed are: the contrast between realist & fantastic literature, how internal and external migration questions the traditional rural vs. urban opposition, the dynamics of social conflict, etc.

CORG 1250  Traditions of Storytelling  (N. Pitchford)
From the ancient world to the recent past, this course examines the human need to tell stories. Through the study of narrative works that are both epic in scope and confessional in nature, we will consider the importance of storytelling to our experience and understanding of ourselves as individuals who also belong to larger social groups. This course will introduce students to the methods and theories of comparative studies in literature, as well as complete the literature requirement of the core curriculum.

CORU 4013  Fiction and Human Rights  (N. Pitchford)
This senior seminar, counting toward both the Comparative Literature* and English majors, will explore the ethical, artistic, and political questions that arise when writers employ fictionalized means, rather than the direct and “authentic” voice of first-person testimony, to address global human rights violations. We will focus on recent fiction (novels, short fiction and plays) from an array of different nations, including the United States, which we will situate within the context of international human rights discourse. To that end, we will also read official documents on human rights policy (such as the UN's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights") and examine the rhetoric and representational strategies of activist organizations; I will invite a number of professional human rights workers to be guest speakers. The course requires an interdisciplinary paper/project—which can potentially be expanded for Service Learning credit—wherein students will consider literature alongside other ways of rendering human rights violations visible and compelling to a global audience. *NOTE: this course counts as a capstone seminar for CO majors.

Cross-listed Courses

ENRU 3109  Arthurian Literature  (M. Erler)
Readings will include excerpts from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, and Layamon, on the origins of the idea of Arthur. Later we will read Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot or The Knight of the Cart; part of The Prose of Merlin; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell; part of the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the conclusion to Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Arthur.

ENRU 3045  Theory for English Majors  (E. Badowska)
Major requirement; can substitutefor CO*U 3000. This course introduces the English major to debates in literary and critical theory. The goal of the course is to reflect on reading strategies, textual practices and language itself.

ENRU 3357  Introduction to Asian American Literature  (J. Kim)
Reading works by Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, and Filipino Americans, this survey course will consider some of the following topics: the global context of Asian immigration to the United States, the politics and poetics of detention, the formation of minority subjectivity and diasporic consciousness, the internment of Japanese American during World War II, and the complex intersections of race and gender.

FRRU 3360  Autobiography  (L. Schreier)
Autobiography as a genre and a practice involves making public intensely personal traumas and triumphs and using intimacy as the center of an artistic project. In this class, we will explore the tension between sincerity and creativity, between "objective" representations of the self and respect for the literary canon, and between memory and fiction. Readings will include poetry, memoirs, travel journals, letters, and diaries. We shall also discuss a number of autobiographical documentary films.

ITRU 3051  Survey of Literature  (A. Polcri)
Sacred and Profane in the Italian Tradition of the Renaissance. The relationship between the sacred and the profane is a central theme in the poetry, prose, and dramatic Italian literature of the Renaissance. In this course we will consider the intellectual debate on sensual and spiritual love and will study the moral tradition represented by the literary production of such preachers as San Bernardino from Siena, as well as the allegorical works of Angelo Poliziano and Luigi Pulci. Finally, we will pay particular attention to the profane “novelle” of major authors such as Boccaccio and Lorenzo de’ Medici, and to theatrical masterpieces like Niccolò Machiavelli’s Mandragola and Giordano Bruno’s Candelaio.