Summer 2004

E f316K • Masterworks of Literature: World

Course Description

This version of the World Literature course will take several strands of literature that describe the encounter with new worlds. Our first strand begins with an Arabian Classic, The Thousand and One Nights, and follows the original text into some modern permutations of the theme. Our second strand is meant to develop understanding of modern periods in European/Western literature, and begins with the traveler Candide, ends on the Congo with Marlowe and Kurtz. The third strand is an encounter with African literature, from the Nigerian encounter with the new world in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, eventually coming full circle, back to Northern Africa and the narrative of women’s lives.

Students will be encouraged to develop an active engagement with the diverse texts we’ll be reading. By the end, students should have gained a good understanding of a glossary of terms, from animism to griot, existentialism to naturalism, romanticism to postmodernism.

Grading Policy

Ten Quizzes on reading for the day. Best 7 taken for grade. 15%
Test #1 20%
Test #2 25%
Final Exam 30%
Class Participation 10%
Attendance is required. For each absence beyond 4, 8 points will be taken from the final average

Texts

Longman’s Anthology of World Literature (Boxed Set with Volumes D,E,F)

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