CO100-Introduction to Comparative Literature
Block I: Lisa B. Hughes, CO100, Introduction to Comparative Literature—Literary
Metamorphoses
Block II: William Davis, CO100, Introduction of Comparative Literature—Literary
Metamorphoses
The course as a whole meets Critical Perspectives: The West
in Time (2 units).
What is literature? What are genres? How should they be read, interpreted
and evaluated? What social and personal functions does writing have? How is
writing related to oral tradition? How do writers compare themselves to others
(admiration and imitation, rejection, transformation)? Why are so many authors
obsessed with the morphic qualities of the human and of language? As the subtitle
of this course indicates, we will treat literature as a venue for experiences
of transformation and recognition such as Odysseus' return in Homer's Odyssey,
the origins of the Athenian legal system when the ancient laws of retribution
are pushed to their conceptual limits in Aeschylus' Oresteia, Shakespeare's
exploration of the physical boundaries of civilization in The Tempest, Blake's
inquiry into the transposition of innocence and experience, Orlando's experience
of gender morphing over time in Woolf's Orlando, and Gregor Samsa's awakening
as a bug in Kafka's The Metamorphosis. As the above texts suggest, we will
also look at the morphic capacity of genre itself. This course emphasizes
close reading of literary texts as well as critical research, analysis, and
writing. CO100 fulfills the entry course requirement for the Comparative Literature
major.
A two-block course with one instructor in each block; one grade will be given
for the course as a whole.