Course Descriptions

Instructor:  Doherty, B            Areas:  n/a

Unique #:  35230-35275            Flags:  Global cultures

Semester:  Fall 2012            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  C L 315            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Completion of at least thirty semester hours of coursework, including E 603A, RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 603A, and a passing score on the reading section of the Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) test.

Description: Global Modern Literature--

We will use the divisions made in our anthology, thus there will be three historical foci: Modernity and Modernism; Postwar and Postcolonial Literature; and Contemporary World Literature. We will examine how history transforms literary values and the impact of individual authors on their literary descendants. Students should acquire a solid idea of what it is that constitutes modernism in literature, as well as an understanding of such terms as postmodernism, postcolonialism, Marxism, realism, etc. It is hoped that from this wide variety of modern and contemporary authors, students will construct the foundation for a lifetime of substantive and enriching literature.

Texts: The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume F, Third Edition. (Cover art is a painting called Tamara in the Green Bugatti).

Requirements & Grading: Test #1 (on Modernity and Modernism), 20%; Essay Test (on texts from Postwar writing; take home), 25%; Final Exam (on texts from 2nd and 3rd section of course), 35%; TA Section Participation, 15%; Live World Literary Culture Review, 5%.

Instructor:  Kaulbach, E            Areas:  n/a

Unique #:  35280            Flags:  Global cultures

Semester:  Fall 2012            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  C L 315            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Completion of at least thirty semester hours of coursework, including E 603A, RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 603A, and a passing score on the reading section of the Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) test.

Description: This is a course in early Classics: Classics of the West, of Africa, of the Middle East, and of the Far East. We will read nothing written after the 1400s. Works will be interpreted by teachers of the works, as nearly contemporaneous with the works as possible. Class lectures will tell you how and why these selections are important.

Texts: Norton Anthology of World Literature, 2nd edition, Volume A; Timaeus and Critias, ed. Desmond Lee; Sundiata, ed. D.T. Niane; Xerox packet (at IT Copy and Printing, on corner of MLK & Lavaca).

Requirements & Grading: An average of three areas, each of which counts 1/3 of your grade: attendance and quizzes, mid-term essay, final exam. To receive an “A” you must have an “A” in all three areas; same for a “B”. If you fail any area, you fail the class. Miss more than two classes and your attendance grade is reduced by one full grade.

This survey course introduces students without any background in Iranian Studies or the Persian language to translations of classic texts of Persian literature, which has a history of 1,100+ years and which has long struck many readers and critics as having one of the richest traditions of poetry in the world. Moreover, Persian literature, especially poetry and especially pre-modern Persian, have special culture significance in Iranian society. Consequently, familiarization here means both the appreciation of the literary or aesthetic features of classic poems, short stories, novels, and plays and the appreciation of those texts as windows into Iranian culture.

The chief two-fold activity is the close reading and group discussion of course texts with three aims: accounting for the bases for the literary appeal and enjoyment of specific texts, discerning non-Western features in those texts that may play roles in the Iranian appreciation of them as classics, and accounting for culture-specific features and content in the texts.

Texts

The four required course texts are:

• Attar, Faridoddin. Conference of the Birds. Translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi. Penguin Classics, 1984.

• Ferdowsi, Abolqasem. The Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. Translated by Dick Davis. Penguin Classics, 2009.

• Hillmann, Michael Craig. Compiler and editor. Classics of Persian Literature, 900–2000. Unpublished manuscript, 2005.

• Nezami Ganjavi. Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance. Translated by Julie Scott Meisami. Oxford World Classics, 1995.

• Parsipour, Shahrnoush. Women without Men. Translated by Faridun Farrokh. Feminist Press, 2012 (second edition).

Grading

Course grades are based on class participation (20% of the course grade), assigned recitations and reports (30%), two review tests (15% of the course grade each), and a term paper (20%). The course has no final examination.

In this course we will examine representative works from 19th and 20th-century French literature, from Balzac’s Realism of the 1830s to Duras’s post-modern novel of the 1980s.  We will consider literature in its relation to history, with special attention both to form and style in the development of narrative, prose poetry and avant-garde theatre.  All students will be expected to give one in-class presentation on an aspect of French culture and history related to one of the works we are reading, and this presentation will be turned into a brief (5-7 page) paper.  A final paper on a French novel from this period not included on the syllabus will be due the last day of class.

The events of the Holocaust changed Western culture in fundamental ways. Not only was a great part of Jewish culture in Europe destroyed, the circumstances of the Nazi genocide as a modern, highly rationalized, efficient form of mass murder which took place in the heart of civilized Europe changed the conception of the progress of modernity and the Enlightenment in fundamental ways. This course explores the historical, political, psychological, theological, and cultural fall-out, as well as literary and cinematic responses in Europe and the U.S. to these events as they first became known, and as one moved further away from it in time and came to understand its pronounced and often problematic after effects. Central to our inquiry is the realization that the events of the Holocaust have left indelible traces in European and U.S. culture and culture production, of which a closer look (first, decade by decade, then moving on to a number of themes and questions), reveals profound insights into current day culture, politics, and society.

The worldwide success of Iranian films in the past decade has garnered an international reputation for Iranian filmmakers and respect for Iranian cinema. While the image of the Iranian government has been in general viewed negatively, Iranian filmmakers have helped the formation of a more positive image of Iran and its people, especially in the mind of moviegoers in other countries. The New Wave in Iranian Cinema will also be compared with Italian neorealism and French New Wave. We will view and examine the works of major Iranian directors, including Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Daryush Mahrju'i, Amir Naderi, Ali Hatami, Puran Derakhshandeh, Bahram Beyza'i, Marziyeh Meshkini, Ebrahim Mokhtari, and Tahmineh Milani in the context of artistic, socio-political, economic, and cultural developments as well as in terms of various aspects of globalization. Texts/Readings

Dabashi, Hamid, Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past Present, and Future, New York: Verso Books, 2001

Sadr, Hamid Reza, Iranian Cinema: A Political History, London: I.B. Tauris and Co., 2006.

Tapper, Richard, The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity, London: I. B. Tauris and Co., 2002.

Grading Policy

In order to earn a grade of C-, C, or C+, students are required to attend all classes, read all required materials, write the weekly assignments, make a 15 minute presentation, and write a five-page final paper. In order to earn a grade of B-, B, or B+, students are reuired to attend all classes, read all required materials, write the weekly assignments, make two thirty-minute presentations, and write a five-page mid-term and a five-page final paper. In order to earn a grade of A- or A, students are required to attend all classes, read all required materials, write the weekly assignments, make two one-hour presentations, and write a twelve-page mid-term and a twelve-page final paper.

Description:

 The Danish author Karen Blixen (1885-1962) is one of the most enigmatic and famous literary personalities in the 20th century. Her privileged but unhappy childhood, her marriage to Baron Blixen and their immigration to Africa on the eve of World War I, and her passionate affair with Denys Finch Hatton are among the distinctive events in a life that was full of tragedy and triumph.

Her literary career began in earnest with the undisputed masterpiece, Seven Gothic Tales, which was first published in the U.S. in 1934 under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen, a pseudonym she chose – of course – to ensure that her works in a male-dominated world were accepted by publishers and the public. Her second book, now the best known of her works, was Out of Africa, published in 1937, and its success firmly established her reputation as an author. Later followed books such as Winter´s tales, Anecdotes of destiny and Last tales that made her one of the most talked about authors of her day. The two movies Out of Africa (1985) and the adaptation of a story from Anecdotes of destiny, Babette´s feast (1987), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture, further increased the public awareness about Karen Blixen as did Judith Thurman´s biography, Isak Dinesen – The life of a storyteller (1983).

In this course we will make close readings of Karen Blixen´s works in order to get a deeper understanding of her artistic means. Furthermore, we will look at Africa in a post-colonial context, sexuality as empowerment, Blixen´s occupation with destiny and the timelessness in her traditional storytelling. Lastly, we will examine Karen Blixen´s position within the literary tradition.

The course aims at increasing your ability to think and work analytically. This includes developing the ability to read and analyze literary and non-literary texts, to voice criticism through coherent argumentation, to reason by analogy, to pose interesting questions and to communicate your discoveries to others.

Course materials:

Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: Seven gothic tales

Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: Out of Africa / Shadows on the grass

Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: Winter’s tales

Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: Anecdotes of destiny / Ehrengaard

Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: Last tales

Grading:

Writing assignments/essays: 25%

Quizzes: 20%

Midterm: 15%

Participation: 20%

Final essay: 20%

Participants in this course will examine various definitions and cultural representations of love, as expressed in major Eastern and Western literary works, and explore the question, "To what extent do conceptions and representations of love differ cross-culturally?"  Class activities will include mini-lectures and performance reading, as well as comparative analysis and discussion of the portrayal of topics like "love and beauty," "love and separation,"  "love and madness," "love and marriage," "love and time," "love and war," "love and self-sacrifice," "love and death," and "love for the divine and love for the human".  Participants will also, on occasion, be introduced to significant musical, visual art and cinematic forms/productions related to the poetry, prose and theatrical works read.  Students’ engagement in reader response writing and peer review of that writing will enhance the quality of their small and large group discussions.  This course hold a UT Writing Flag.

As all texts will be read in English translation, there is no language prerequisite.  However, students capable of reading some texts in the original language/s will be encouraged to do so.

Prerequisites:  The course has no prerequisites.

Languages Across the Curriculum Component:  Students who have completed the Intermediate Turkish sequence (ie. have earned a grade of C or higher in TUR 320L) are eligible to sign up for an additional credit hour in Turkish language via the “Languages Across the Curriculum Program”.  Students taking this credit hour with Dr. Okur will read and discuss short texts in Turkish (and view and discuss additional Turkish films) related to the main course topics.

Texts

The Story of Layla and Majnun by Nizami; The Romance of Tristan and Iseult; Yusuf and Zuleyha. An Allegorical Romance;  The Sorrows of Young Werther;  Jamilia;  The Forty Rules of Love. A Book of Rumi.

Grading Policy

Attendance and Participation       20%

Reader Response Papers   15%

Mid-Term Exam        15%    

Final Paper/Presentation  35%

Final Exam    15%

Course Description

This course will attempt the impossible: to explain why Americans are so fascinated by Russia . The answer may lie in the fact that this expansive maxi-country (or mini-world), separated from our own country at the Bering Strait by a mere 2.5 miles of shallow seawater, is both a mirror-image of America and its opposite. The feeling is mutual: Russia has gone from a colonial conquerer of its continent and indigenous people to being the Anti- (Bizarro?) America to unbridled commercial capitalism, all the time trying to relate itself to Europe in particular and history in general. Understanding this relationship could lead to better understanding ourselves.

Coursework will consist of lectures, reading, and discussion in English on the political and cultural history of Russia , from its prehistoric origins to the events of 1917 leading to communist rule.. Special emphasis will be on enduring themes of cultural identity, imagination, and conflict, both with neighboring peoples and within.

The backbone of the course is a sketch of the history of the Russian people, from their origins to today. From this structure we will make forays to sample the best of the cultural world at each period in time. Class presentations will highlight creative work especially in art, architecture, and music. Included will be tours of Russia 's capitals Moscow and St. Petersburg as fascinating preserves of historical and cultural values, alongside the delights of modern urban life.

Text 

Hosking, Geoffrey. Russia and the Russians: A history . Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press, 2003. Paperback.

Additional readings will be made available in a course packet.

Requirements and Grading

Three in-class exams:         40%

Four writing assignments:    50%

Class participation:            10%

Meets with CL 323

[All lectures, discussion and readings in English.]

Required Text:

John Minford and Joseph S.M. Lau, eds. Classical Chinese Literature – An Anthology of

     Translations, Volume I: From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty (Columbia, 2002)

Supplementary Background Reading:       Articles and book chapters will be posted on

     Blackboard.  (See Course Documents.) 

Course Description

 [This course is open to all students – no previous background in Chinese language, culture or literature is required.]

This course will provide an introduction to the so-called supernatural and otherworldly phenomena in traditional Chinese literature and “pseudo-history.”  Readings in English translation will encompass a selective sampling of prose, short fiction, and drama/opera from pre-modern China (end of imperialism in early 20th century).  Lectures and discussions will focus on the literary, cultural, historical, social, political, philosophical, and religious background against which these representative works arose.  Background reading will be assigned to supplement the primary works of literature and pseudo-history.  Course emphasis will be given to close and critical reading of primary works (in English translation) which were originally written in Classical Chinese and vernacular Classical Chinese.  Topics covered include otherworldly concepts of the Dao (the Way) and various interpretations of the afterlife, with an introduction to differences between spirits, souls, ghosts and other ethereal beings in various Chinese secular and religious belief systems.  Readings introduce Chinese notions of the supernatural in the form of such beings as immortals, goddesses, and shape-shifters. 

Global Cultures

This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.

Course grade based on the following:

• There is a class attendance policy for this course.
• There is no final exam in this course.

15%     Class and online discussion, participation and preparation (Attendance policy)

50%     Reading and Discussion Questions (Response “Quizzes”)

20%     One Research Inquiry Paper (5-7 pages)

10%     One Oral Presentation/Lead Discussant

5%       Creative Writing – short story/prose/dramatic act (Evaluated CR/NC)

In this course, we will study the religion of Islam through its sacred text, the Qur’an. To this end, this course will entail extensive reading of the Qur’an itself, as well as of other texts. In our studies, we will focus on the following themes of the Qur’an: cosmology and theology, ethical principles, ritual prescriptions, and legal injunctions. We will also examine some of the prominent symbols, images and rhetorical structures of the Qur’an. Through reading the prophetic narratives, we will have an opportunity to compare Qur’anic and Biblical accounts of the major prophets shared by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The syllabus also includes an inquiry into role of the Qur’an in Muslim devotion and as a medium for artistic expression. We will also discuss the tradition of interpretation (or “exegesis”), especially as it pertains to those verses that engender the most debate today: those surrounding politics, intercommunal (i.e. interreligious) relations, and women/gender. Prior knowledge of Islam is helpful but not required for this course.

Instructor:  Richmond-Garza, E            Areas:  III / U

Unique #:  35610            Flags:  Global cultures, Writing

Semester:  Fall 2012            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  C L 323; REE 325            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: Art in the theater is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.

            (Jerzy Grotowski, “Statement of Principles,” Towards a Poor Theater)

Drama is necessarily public and commercial, paid for and solicited by bourgeois patrons and therefore interacts dynamically with culture and society. The aim of this course will be two-fold: to give an acceptable overview of the rich textuality and performance potential of modern European Drama and to situate its production within the context of the politics and aesthetics of world literature more generally.

The course will focus on the work of six playwrights: Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilde, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, and Pinter. Each of these major playwrights will be paired with other playwrights whose work either continues or disrupts his imperatives. We will begin by looking at the great theatrical explosion of the turn of the century in Ibsen and Chekhov, who will be read, along with Wilde and Shaw, in the context of fin-de-siècle aesthetics and politics. We will then trace the development in the 1920s and 1930s of absurdist theatre in the plays of Pirandello, who will be paired with Ionesco, and of “epic” and political theatre in Brecht, who will be read together with Italian Futurism. A selection from Beckett’s plays will be read in the contexts of the two World Wars and the deconstruction of a confident European political or artistic order. The canon will be completed with Ionesco’s and Pinter’s plays and a selection of recent radical political plays, including those of Genet, Soyinka, Puig, Petrushevskaya, and Fugard, that reflects the creation and dissolution of the European empires in Latin America and Africa especially.

Much of the excitement of looking at theatrical texts derives from their multi-mediality, and we shall pillage the UT and on-line resources for performance material and footage. No previous familiarity with drama is expected or even solicited, and I will provide those introductions to theatre and performance theory that I think might be provocative.

Requirements & Grading: 1. Attendance of all class meetings and a 15-minutews oral report. (10%); 2. A book of “Director’s Notes” collected in two halves. (5% + 5%); 3. A short assignment which considers a single play (5 pages). (20%); 4. A research report and commentary (2 pages). (5%); 5. A formal prospectus (100 words). (5%); 6. A longer research essay, on a topic of the student’s choice. (10 pages) (35%); 7. A third assignment (3 pages) (15%).

How did Czechs imagine and construct themselves and the "other," and how, by contrast were they perceived by others? What did Czechs create, and how do they relate to other Slavs, Germans, and wider world? Is there a Czech identity and culture? To what extent did Czechs construct their identity based on the difference from others, and how accommodating they were to “strangers” in their midst? What was the role of translation, creation of language, and literature in negotiating their identity? What did the Czechs gain and lose by attaining their own linguistically and nationally defined culture? We will read authors such as Palacký, Havlíček, Masaryk, Hašek, Kafka, Patočka, and Havel, and secondary texts on Central Europe, translation, nationalism, transnationalism, and “Orientalism.” We will pay special attention to the role of language and translation, to Czech Jews and anti-Semitism, Roma (Gypsies), Germans, and the complex identities of Prague German Jewish authors such as Kafka, Werfel, Rilke, Brod, and Eisner. The course materials will include literary texts, films, and artworks.

Prerequisites:

Readings:  The Czech Reader; selection of texts assembled by the instructor. 

Grading: Midterm 20%, Research Paper 30%, Response Papers, Participation, Presentation 50%.

Students will study cultural and intellectual history represented in the major works of Polish literature in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Readings and discussions are in English.  No knowledge of Polish is required.

Students who read Polish are encouraged to do so.

Films will be used to show the media interpretation of the major works of Polish literature.

Prerequisites: None

Readings:

The History of Polish Literature by Czeslaw Milosz

Selected readings

Movies

Grading:

10% Attendance

20% Participation

10% Readings Quizzes

10% Movie Quizzes

10% Literary Works Quizzes

20% Project

20% Final Paper

Instructor:  Wilks, J            Areas:  V / G

Unique #:  35535            Flags:  Global cultures, Writing

Semester:  Fall 2012            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  AFR 374F, C L 323            Computer Instruction:  No

Only one of the following may be counted: E 360L (Topic: Caribbean Literature), 379N (Topic: Caribbean Literature), 379S (embedded topic: Caribbean Literature).

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: Through a survey of texts from English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking islands, this course seeks to address the complexity of the Caribbean as a geographic construct, that is, the chain of islands stretching from North to South America, and as an imagined site, that is, the tropical destination marketed to North American and European tourists. To do so we will supplement our reading of literary texts from the region with the examination of travel-related texts about the region. Throughout the semester we will consider how the dynamics of slavery and colonialism differed from island to island and explore the multiple manifestations of “postcolonial” life that have emerged across the archipelago since the 1960s. The course will conclude with an examination of the migration of Caribbean authors and texts to the United States and of the resulting development of hyphenated Caribbean-American identities. All texts will be read in English, and the list of proposed texts is subject to change.

Texts: Derek Walcott, “The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory,” What the Twilight Says; Edwidge Danticat, The Farming of Bones; Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Requirements & Grading: Two short papers (4 pages each), 40%; Final critical essay (8-10 pages), 25%; Reading journal, 15%; Rough draft, 10%, Class presentation, 10%.