World Literature Program

General Description

PROGRAM

Overview
Director
Faculty
Authors & Works
Special Events
Contact Info

COURSES

World Literature I
World Literature II

 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

As part of the College of Arts and Sciences' Core Curriculum requirements, students must complete the six-hour sequence of courses ENG 120-121: World Literature I and World Literature II (also listed as CNE 120, and, in the Honors Program, as ENG/CNE 122- ENG 123). Based on English originals and translations of foreign-language texts, the two courses cover, respectively, the literature from antiquity to the Renaissance and from the seventeenth-century to the present. While including many canonical works of the Western and English literary traditions—such as Homer's Odyssey, Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cervantes's Don Quixote, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land—the courses also stress the importance of non-Western texts and works by women and minorities. In addition to issues of literary history, terminology and concepts, the courses emphasize the close reading, analysis, and interpretation of the texts as well as the development of students' oral and written expression. In order to encourage personalized instruction, classes in the program are kept small, to a maximum of 25 students per section. Close attention is given to students' individual needs and interests through faculty-student conferences and intensive student participation in class discussions. In its present form, the program numbers approximately 30 faculty serving about 700 students each semester. While all sections of the courses teach a core of required texts-providing a common literary experience-individual instructors are given substantial freedom to choose and experiment with optional and additional readings from broad lists of texts. Through those lists, the program strives to recognize the breadth, diversity, and ever-changing character of the literary canon. While the World Literature Program is administered by the English Department, its teaching staff includes faculty from English, Classics & Near Eastern Studies, and Modern Languages. In addition to regularly scheduled classes, students and faculty attend special out-of-class events-such as lectures by guest speakers, poetry and fiction readings by distinguished writers, films, plays, art exhibits, concerts, and other live performances-specifically designed to enhance the understanding of the courses' materials and facilitate the accomplishment of the program's goals.

 

last updated: 7/31/2003