Requirements for the Major in World Literatures
Major Requirements
Requirements Print version [PDF] | worksheet | (download Acrobat)The World Literatures major requires 55 credits:
- three courses in Comparative Studies that introduce students to historical, practical, and theoretical questions involved in the study of diverse literary traditions
- eight literature courses taken in departments across the College of Humanities. Students must take at least one course representing each of five world regions (Africa, the Middle East, Europe/North America, Latin America/Caribbean, and East and South Asia/Pacific). Students may take no more than a total of two courses at the 200 level and three courses at the 300 level.
Comp St. 273 Introduction to World Literature (Intro to Comparative Literature through Autumn 2006)
Comp St. 373 Problems in Literary and Cultural Translation
Comp St. 573 World Literature: Theory and Practice
Distribution Requirement (40 credit hours):
All five geo-political regions must be represented by at least one course (25 credit hours) and three regions must each be represented by two courses (15 credit hours). One cross-cultural course may be substituted, but each of the five regions must be represented by at least one course.
The five regions are:
Africa
Middle East
Europe/North America
Latin America/Caribbean
East and South Asia/Pacific
Courses that fulfill the distribution requirement are listed below.
Electives
Africa
African American and African Studies251 Introduction to African Literature
271 Contemporary Black Drama
367.04 Black Women Writers: Text and Context
460 Political Thought in African Literature
581 Philosophy in Contemporary African Literature
H584 Literature and Modern Experience in Africa
East And South Asia / Pacific
Chinese251 Chinese Literature in Translation
501 Chinese Poetry in Translation
502 Chinese Fiction in Translation
503 Modern Chinese Literature in Translation
504 Chinese Drama in Translation
651 History of Chinese Literature I
652 History of Chinese Literature II
East Asian
675 Women Writers, Culture, and Society in East Asia
Japanese
251 Japanese Literature in Translation
252 Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
501 Japanese Literature in Critical Perspective
654 Japanese Literature: Classical Period
655 Japanese Literature: Medieval and Edo Periods
656 Japanese Literature: Modern Period
Korean
251 Korean Literature in Translation
505 Korean Drama in Translation
654 Korean Literary Traditions
Latin America / Caribbean
African American and African Studies351Caribbean Literature in English
Portuguese
330 Introduction to Brazilian Culture
Spanish
330 Reinventing America
331 Caribbean Cultures
520 Latin American Literatures (in translation): Fiction and Reality
Middle East
Arabic371 Classical and Medieval Arabic Literature in Translation
372 Modern Arabic Literature in Translation (cross-listed with Women's Studies)
671 The Qur'an in Translation
672 Arabic Folk Narrative in Translation
Hebrew
370 Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature in Translation
371 Medieval Hebrew Literature in Translation
372 Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation
373 Prophecy in the Bible and Post-Biblical Literature
374 Women in Biblical and Post-Biblical Literature
376 The Jewish Mystical Tradition
378 Biblical and Post-Biblical Wisdom Literature
671 The Problem of Evil in Biblical and Post-Biblical Literature
Persian
370 Persian Mythology and Folklore
371 Persian Literature in Translation
Turkish
371 Turkish Sufism
372 Turkish Literature in Translation
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
271 Sacred Texts of the Near East
272 Masterpieces of Near Eastern Literature in Translation
360 Sheherazade and Company: Sex, Gender and Power in Middle Eastern Storytelling
370 Mythology of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
371 Songs of Kings and Lovers: Literature of the Ancient Near East
372 Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World
374 The Novel in the Middle East
671 Canon and Communities in the Near East
Women's Studies
372 Modern Arabic Literature in Translation (cross-listed with Arabic)
North America and Europe
African American and African Studies254 Themes in African-American Literature
271 Contemporary Black Drama
367.02 African-American Theatre History
367.03 African-American Voices in U.S. Literature
367.04 Black Women Writers: Text and Context
Arabic
367 Issues in Arab-American Society, Culture, and Literature
Chinese
678 Studies in Chinese-American Literature (cross-listed with Comparative Studies and English)
Classics
222 Classical Mythology
H223 Topics in Ancient Literature and Society
301 Greek & Roman Epic
302 Greek & Roman Drama
303 Comic Spirit in Antiquity
310 Topics in Ancient Literature & Culture
322 The Hero in Classical Mythology
323 Religion in the Greco-Roman World
324 Magic in the Ancient World
326 Christian Heroes: Byzantine Saints' Lives
508 Gender and Sexuality in Antiquity
Chinese
678 Studies in Chinese American Literature (cross-listed with English and Comparative Studies)
Comparative Studies
205 Literature and Ethnicity
314 Women in East Asian and Asian-American Literature
543 Studies in Asian American Literature and Culture (cross-listed in English)
544 Studies in Latino/a Literature and Culture (cross-listed in English)
645 Studies in Korean-American Literature (cross-listed with Korean and English)
665 Studies in Japanese-American Literature (cross-listed with Japanese and English)
678 Studies in Chinese-American Literature(cross-listed with Chinese and English)
English
513 Introduction to Medieval Literature
514 Middle English Literature
515 Chaucer
520 Shakespeare
521 Sixteenth-Century Literature
522 Early 17th-Century Literature
531 Restoration & Early 18th-Century Literature
533 Literature of the 18th Century
535 The Early British Novel: Origins to the 1830s
540 Poetry and Poetics of the British Romantic Period
541 Victorian Poetry & Poetics
542 The Victorian Novel
543 20th-Century British Fiction
547 20th-Century Poetry
549 Modern Drama
550 Colonial and U.S. Literature to 1830
551 U.S. Literature, 1830-1865
552 U.S. Literature, 1865-1914
553 20th-Century U.S. Fiction
560 Special Topics in Poetry
561 Special Topics in Fictional and Nonfictional Narrative
562 Special Topics in Drama
563 Contemporary Literature
575 Special Topics in Literary Forms and Themes
580 Special Topics in Gay and Lesbian Literature
581 Special Topics in U.S. Ethnic Literatures
582 Studies in African American Literature
586 Studies in American Indian Literature and Culture
587 Studies in Asian American Literature and Culture (cross-listed in Comparative Studies)
588 Studies in Latino/a Literature and Culture (cross-listed in Comparative Studies)
H590 Honors Seminar: Major Periods in Literary History
H591 Topics in English Studies
592 Special Topics in Women in Literature
H598 Honors Seminar: Selected Topics in Literature and Literary Interpretation
681.01 Studies in Korean-American Literature (cross-listed in Korean and Comparative Studies)
681.02 Studies in Japanese-American Literature (cross-listed in Japanese and Comparative Studies)
681.03 Studies in Chinese-American Literature (cross-listed in Chinese and Comparative Studies)
French
250 Topics in French Literature and Culture in Translation
German
250 German Literature and Popular Culture
261 German Classics in Translation
262 Modern German Literature in Translation
H263 The Faust Theme
291 Early German Literature in Cultural Context
292 Modern German Literature in Cultural Context
299 Weimar and the Third Reich in German Literature and Film
399 The Holocaust in Literature and Film
Japanese
665 Studies in Japanese-American Literature (cross-listed in Comparative Studies and English)
Korean
645 Studies in Korean-American Literature (cross-listed in Comparative Studies and English)
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
504 Arthurian Legends
Modern Greek
371 Modern Greek Literature in Translation
Polish
630 Polish Literature to 1900
631 Polish Literature 1900 to Present
Russian
250 Masterpieces of 19th Century Russian Literature
251 Masterpieces of 20th and 21st Century Russian Literature
520 The Golden Age of Russian Literature
521 Russian Literature in the Age of Realism
522 Modernism and Revolution in Russian Literature
523 Rise and Fall of Soviet Literature
644 Russian Folklore
650 Dostoevsky
651 Tolstoy
653 Russian Drama
656 Russian Women Writers
Scandinavian
222 Nordic Mythology and Medieval Culture
500 Masterpieces of Scandinavian Literature
Slavic
245 Introduction to Slavic Literature and Culture
367 The East European Experience in America
Spanish
320 Don Quixote in Translation
321 The Spanish Don Juan Theme in the Theatre
Women's Studies
367.01 U.S. Women Writers: Text and Context
367.02 U.S. Latina Writers: Text and Context
367.04 Black Women Writers: Text and Context
540 Studies in Women of Color Writing Culture
Yiddish
367 Jewish-American Voices in U.S. Literature
371 Yiddish Literature in Translation
399 The Holocaust in Literature and Film
641 Places in Ashkenaz
Cross-Cultural Courses (Only one course may be chosen and counted toward one of the regions; all five regions must be represented.)
African American and African Studies451 Black Experience in Caribbean, African, and African-American Literatures
551 Selected Topics in African-American and Related Literatures
Comparative Studies
201 Literature and Society
202.01 Literature and Religion
203 Literature and the Self
204 Literature, Science, and Technology
301 Love in World Literature
306 The Quest in World Literature
308 Representations of the Experience of War
314 Women in East Asian and Asian-American Literature
358 Film and Literature as Narrative Art
508 Utopia and Anti-Utopia
510 The Twentieth-Century Novel: Transnational Contexts
660 Modernism: Its Origins and Development in 20th-Century Culture and Politics
672 Poetry and Politics in the 20th-Century Mediterranean (cross-listed with NELC)
East Asian Literatures and Languages
H399 East Asian Thought in the Western Imagination, 1600-2000
English
583 Special Topics in World Literature in English
Linguistics
375 Language across Cultures
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
672 Poetry and Politics in the 20th-Century Mediterranean (cross-listed with Comparative Studies)
Women's Studies
215 Reading Women Writers
