Department of Comparative Literature

Chair

Thomas W. Hare

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Susana Draper

Director of Graduate Studies

Claudia Joan Brodsky

Professor

April Alliston
Wendy Laura Belcher
David M. Bellos
Sandra L. Bermann
Claudia Joan Brodsky
Marina S. Brownlee
Maria A. DiBattista
Thomas W. Hare
Daniel Heller-Roazen
Eileen A. Reeves

Associate Professor

Benjamin Conisbee Baer
Susana Draper
Karen R. Emmerich
Lital Levy

Assistant Professor

Erin Y. Huang

Associated Faculty

Eduardo L. Cadava, English
Steven Chung, East Asian Studies
Devin A. Fore, German
Rubén Gallo, Spanish & Portuguese
Simon E. Gikandi, English
Anthony T. Grafton, History
Brooke A. Holmes, Classics
Thomas Y. Levin, German
F. Nick Nesbitt, French & Italian
Sara S. Poor, German
Rachel L. Price, Spanish & Portuguese
Efthymia Rentzou, French & Italian
Michael A. Wachtel, Slavic Lang & Literatures
Christy N. Wampole, French & Italian
Max D. Weiss, History

Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts

Maya Kronfeld

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Program Information

Information and Departmental Plan of Study

The Department of Comparative Literature invites students to approach literature from a broad, cross-cultural perspective. The curriculum encompasses literatures, languages, and cultures from around the world—including those of Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—as well as interdisciplinary work of many types. While each student in the department is expected to focus their studies on a particular language and literature, an interest in the way different literatures illuminate one another, or enter into dialogue with other disciplines, media, or forms of art, is fundamental to our work. Students motivated by a desire to understand literature in the broadest terms, as well as those interested in particular examples of literary comparison, will find an intellectual home in the Department of Comparative Literature.

The flexibility of the concentration has always been one of its strong points. With the guidance of the director of undergraduate studies and the junior and senior faculty advisers, each student creates a program of study tailored to their intellectual interests, choosing courses and independent projects that contribute to the whole.

Graduates successfully pursue many diverse careers, including law, medicine, business, overseas service, computing and technology, international investments and banking, creative writing, publishing and journalism, filmmaking, and education at the secondary and university levels. Many comparative literature students have gone on to graduate study in the field and now teach at a wide range of institutions in the United States and abroad.

Prerequisites

Language Requirement. To enter the department, students must be sufficiently knowledgeable in one language other than English to take an upper-level course in it during their junior year.

Plan to read a second language before graduation. Proficiency in only one non-English language is required for admission to the department. However, students who concentrate in comparative literature are also expected to study at least one other non-English language and to be able to read in the language by the time they graduate. Such language study may take place before or during their years as departmental concentrators. Some students demonstrate their competency by taking an upper-level course in the literature of that language. Other students gain this competency by taking three terms of language study at Princeton, or two terms and an intensive language course in the summer, or (especially in the case of languages that are no longer spoken) an intensive language course in the summer. A few take a language test administered by the relevant department during the summer.

Introductory Courses. Students who wish to concentrate in comparative literature are advised (though not required) to take COM 205-206, HUM 216-219, or TRA 200 in their sophomore year or earlier.

Early Concentration

Qualified students may elect early concentration and enroll in the department at the beginning of the spring term of sophomore year. They may begin their departmental course of study as well as their independent work, if they wish.

Program of Study

Students in comparative literature select courses from a wide range of offerings throughout the University and are encouraged to construct a program of study to match their individual interests. Nine departmental courses are required of each student, chosen according to the type of comparative work pursued. COM 300, the Junior Seminar, counts as one of the nine. This course is especially designed to introduce students to the history and methodology of the field as well as to different avenues of comparative study. Concentrators must take the course in the fall term of their junior year, unless they are studying abroad, in which case the course may be taken in their senior year instead. Two other courses must be taken within the Department of Comparative Literature with core faculty (i.e., listed or cross-listed as a COM course).

Regardless of the area of study elected, all concentrators must take four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature departments. These courses must move beyond a primary focus on grammar and vocabulary, and entail study of texts in the language, not in translation. Students in the department have studied language literatures in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Swahili, Hindi, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Syriac, and Armenian. Upper-level courses, generally 300- or 400- level courses, are encouraged, but reading-intensive 200-level courses may be counted.

The remaining two courses are taken in appropriate departments throughout the University according to the student's area of study. Course selections generally fall into one of the areas described below. Each represents the study of literature in a different comparative context and includes all nine required courses:

Path A. Comparative work in literatures in at least two languages. Students in this track choose four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature; three courses listed or cross-listed with comparative literature (one of which is COM 300); and two upper-level courses in literature in any other language (including English and courses on readings taught in translation).

Path B. Comparative work in literature and a traditional textual discipline (that is, in the humanities [e.g., philosophy, art and archaeology, classics, or religion] or social sciences [e.g., anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, politics, economics, or public policy]). Students in this track choose four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature; three courses listed or cross-listed in comparative literature (one of which is COM 300); and two upper-level courses in the relevant textual discipline.

Path C. Comparative work in literature and another medium (that is, photography, film, art, art history, architecture, or music). Students in this track choose four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature; three courses listed or cross-listed in comparative literature (one of which is COM 300); and two upper-level courses in the relevant medium. Both courses must be in the same medium.

Path D. Comparative work in literature and regional or ethnic studies (that is, African [AFS], African American [AAS], American [AMS], East Asian [EAP or EAS], European [ECS or EPS], Hellenic [HLS], Judaic [JDS], Latin American [LAS], Latino [LAO], Near Eastern [NES], or South Asian [SAS].) Students in this track choose four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature; three courses listed or cross-listed in comparative literature (one of which is COM 300); and two courses in the relevant region or ethnicity.

Path E. Comparative work in literary study and the creative arts (that is, creative writing [poetry, the novel, short stories, drama, memoir], screenwriting, translation, dance, theatrical performance, visual arts, film, or video). Students choose four reading-based courses in non-English-language literature; three courses listed or cross-listed with comparative literature (one of which is COM 300); and two courses in the relevant creative art. Both courses must be in the same area of study. Students entering the department select this program provisionally. Final admission depends upon the acceptance of the creative thesis proposal by the department and by an adviser from the relevant creative arts program.

Departmental Distribution Requirement. One course, which may or may not be one of the nine courses taken for the major, must be dedicated in its entirety to historical periods, literature, or cultures before 1800 C.E.

Theory and Methods of Comparative Literature. Theoretical issues naturally arise in the study of comparative literature. They may also function as the main focus of a student's work. Theoretical issues are specifically addressed in two departmental courses: COM 303, Comparative History of Literary Theory and COM 301, Theory and Methods of Comparative Literature: Critical and Literary Theory. Upper-level courses in theory, methodology, and criticism are offered by other humanities and social science departments as well.

Independent Work

Junior Year. Concentrators must write two junior papers. The first paper, some 3,000 words in length, will normally involve the close study of a work from one of the non-English-language literatures in which the student has linguistic competence. Its purpose is to develop the student's basic skills as a reader of complex texts. The second paper should be wider in scope, and might serve as the beginnings of a senior thesis. It will normally be some 8,000 words in length.

Senior Year. Concentrators must write a senior thesis, normally between 15,000 and 20,000 words, which is comparative in nature and should reflect the student's ability to relate and analyze materials in the area chosen. Creative theses must be accompanied by a substantial critical essay.

Senior Departmental Examination

Concentrators must take the senior departmental examination, which is a written exam to test their ability to analyze texts and make connections among them. The student consults with their senior faculty adviser to select specific titles from a broad reading list, reads them, and answers questions based on the student's particular language proficiency and chosen program of study. Students will also be asked to analyze a passage in their primary language.

Study Abroad

Summer Study Abroad. There are numerous opportunities for summer study abroad, some partially supported by University funds. A summer abroad can increase fluency in the language of concentration. It may also be an effective way to satisfy the departmental requirement of acquiring reading knowledge in a second language. For further information about available programs, students should consult Princeton Summer Abroad Study Programs. Some departmental funding is available for summer language study for concentrators.

Summer Work Abroad. Princeton offers some excellent work abroad programs, including Princeton-in-France and the German summer work abroad program, to which qualified students from the department are encouraged to apply. The Office of International Programs also offers a selection of worldwide summer internships for which comparative literature students may be eligible.

Study and Work Abroad

The department strongly encourages its students to undertake a semester, a year, or a summer abroad, in order to gain fluency in the language of concentration and to pursue further study in its literature and culture. Many opportunities are available for study abroad.

Additional Information

Certificate Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication. Since concentrators in comparative literature consider texts from an international and interdisciplinary perspective, and often with an emphasis in the creative arts, questions of translation and intercultural communication often arise. Majors in the department may write translation theses, for instance, or put theoretical problems associated with translation or cross-cultural comparisons at the center of their departmental work. In these cases, they might choose to combine the concentration with a certificate in the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication.

Certificates in University Programs. Students in comparative literature frequently choose to combine their concentration with certificates from Princeton programs and centers. Concentrators interested in these certificates should consult with the director of undergraduate studies and the director of the relevant program.

Courses

COM 202 Introduction to Jewish Cultures (also

JDS 203

/

REL 203

) Spring EM

This introductory course focuses on the cultural syncretism and the global diversity of Jewish experience. It provides a comparative understanding of Jewish culture from antiquity to the present, examining how Jewish culture has emerged through the interaction of Jews and non-Jews, engaging a wide spectrum of cultures throughout the Jewish world, and following representations of key issues such as sexuality or the existence of God in different eras. The course's interdisciplinary approach covers Bible and Talmud, Jewish mysticism, Zionism, Jewish cinema, music, food, modern literature, and graphic arts. All readings and films are in English. Instructed by: L. Levy

COM 203 Passion Fall LA

Passion is a common word with a long, complicated history; the diverse meanings we associate with it engage our experience on the most ethereal and abstract as well as the most visceral and profane levels. In this course we will study range of films from the past eight decades with the aim of understanding how the films situate their subjects, how they narrate and illustrate passion, and how they engage personal, social, and political issues in particular aesthetic contexts. Instructed by: T. Hare

COM 205 The Classical Roots of Western Literature (also

HUM 205

/

HLS 203

) Fall CDEM

An introduction to the methods and some major texts of comparative literary study. It will focus on the Greco-Roman tradition, asking what it means to call a work a "classic": it will consider the outstanding characteristics of this tradition, how it arose and gained influence and attempt to place it in a global context. Readings will be divided into three topics: Epic Heroes (centering on Homer's Odyssey), Tragic Women (in ancient and modern drama), and the "invention" of modernity (Aeneid). Selected additional readings in non-Western literatures and in influential critical essays. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: L. Barkan

COM 206 Masterworks of European Literature (also

HUM 206

) Spring LA

This course seeks to discover (or rediscover) a series of significant works in the European tradition, and also to ask once again what a tradition is. The focus will be firmly on the close reading of particular texts, but discussions will also range freely over large questions: What is a classic, what difference does language make, can we think both about world literature, in Goethe's phrase, and about the importance of national and local loyalties? No easy answers promised, but astonishing adventures in reading guaranteed. Instructed by: Staff

COM 209 Thinking Translation: Language Transfer and Cultural Communication (See TRA 200)

COM 215 Creative Writing (Literary Translation) (See CWR 206)

COM 220 Introduction to Literary Theory Not offered this year LA

An introductory course in the history of European literary theory. Readings include Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Boccaccio, Dryden, Corneille, Schiller, Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, Barthes, Derrida. Theories will be related to selected literary texts in an effort to explore how theory illuminates literature while shedding light upon larger human questions. One lecture, one two-hour seminar. Instructed by: S. Bermann

COM 233 East Asian Humanities I: The Classical Foundations (See HUM 233)

COM 234 East Asian Humanities II: Traditions and Transformations (See HUM 234)

COM 239 Introduction to African Literature and Film (also

AFS 239

/

AAS 239

/

HUM 239

) Fall CDLA

African literature and films have been a vital (but often unacknowledged) stream in and stimulant to the global traffic in invention. Nigerian literature is one of the great literatures of the 20th century. Ethiopian literature is one of the oldest in the world. South Africans have won more Nobel Prizes for Literature in the past forty years than authors from any other country. Senegalese films include some of the finest films ever made. In this course, we will study the richness and diversity of foundational African texts (some in translation), while foregrounding questions of aesthetics, style, humor, and epistemology. Instructed by: W. Belcher

COM 248 Topics in Hindi/Urdu (See HIN 305)

COM 249 Creative Writing (Literary Translation) (See CWR 205)

COM 300 Junior Seminar: Introduction to Comparative Literature Fall LA

Introduction to Comparative Literature for departmental concentrators. What is it to read comparatively across languages, disciplines, and media? How does Comparative Literature relate to a globalized world with its many cultures, languages, and literatures? What is the place of translation in this picture? We will address these questions by both looking at Comparative Literature as a historical institution and as a site at which disciplines, methods, and positions blend and clash. Readings from a wide variety of texts: fiction, poetry, travel writing, theory, history; consideration of other media such as visual culture and music. Instructed by: A. Alliston

COM 301 Theory and Methods of Comparative Literature: Critical and Literary Theory Spring LA

A course in the formative issues of contemporary critical theory. Questions of the relationships between literature, philosophy, aesthetics, and linguistics will be treated with regard to the rise of modern philology, new criticism, hermeneutics, speech act theory, semiotics, structuralism, Marxism, the Frankfurt School, and poststructuralism. Readings in Auerbach, Spitzer, Brooks, Wimsatt, Schleiermacher, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Austin, Burke, Frye, Propp, Saussure, Jakobson, Lévi-Strauss, Barthes, Jameson, Adorno, Derrida, de Man. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

COM 303 Comparative History of Literary Theory (also

ENG 302

) Not offered this year LA

A historical introduction to literary theory from Plato to the present. By reading philosophers, critics, and creative writers, students consider issues such as mimesis, imagination, religion, sexuality, and ethics, noting how each casts light on our understanding of literature and its cultural roles. Past terms and current problems are related to an inquiry into the nature--and the power--of literature through the ages. Students will read critical works from Plato and Aristotle, through Nietzsche, Beauvoir, Benjamin, Derrida, and Achebe, as well as poetry and plays by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Eliot, and Brecht. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: S. Bermann

COM 304 The East European Novel of the 20th Century Not offered this year LA

Caught between Russia and the West, traded off among European empires, the peoples of Eastern Europe are again independent in the postcommunist era. For them, surviving the 20th century became, literally, an art. After a geopolitical introduction to the region, students will read modern proseworks from the Polish, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian traditions, including novels cast as national epics during times of total war, as fantasy or science fiction, and as the tragicomedy of everyday life. Five films built off these novels will be screened during the course. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: Staff

COM 305 The European Novel: Cervantes to Tolstoy Not offered this year LA

The emergence and development of the major forms of the novel as seen in the works of Cervantes, Mme. de Lafayette, Diderot, Laclos, Goethe, Balzac, Stendhal, Gogol, Turgenev, Flaubert, and Tolstoy. Emphasis is placed on the novel as the expression of human relationships with individuals and with society. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: M. Wood

COM 306 The Modern European Novel (also

ENG 440

) Not offered this year LA

Using Flaubert's Madame Bovary as a paradigm of the major thematic and technical preoccupations of the novel, lectures offer detailed interpretations of Ulysses, The Magic Mountain, Swann's Way, and theoretical speculations on symbolism, stream-of-consciousness, linguistic structures, psychoanalysis. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: M. DiBattista

COM 309 The Lyric (also

ENG 420

/

SPA 349

) Not offered this year LA

The lyric as a form of literary art, as distinct from narrative or drama. Readings encompass a variety of lyrical forms and a number of different cultures. Translations will be used. One lecture, one two-hour seminar. Instructed by: S. Bermann

COM 310 The Literature of Medieval Europe (also

HUM 312

/

MED 308

) Not offered this year LA

An introductory survey of major representative Latin and vernacular texts in modern English versions, including hagiography, romance, lyric and philosophical poetry, allegory, religious and secular prose, and drama. Special attention will be paid to Christian transformations of classical traditions and to the emergence of the Continental vernaculars of the late Middle Ages. Lecture and preceptorials. Instructed by: D. Heller-Roazen

COM 311 Special Topics in Performance History and Theory (See THR 331)

COM 312 Contemporary Literary Theory (See ENG 305)

COM 314 The Renaissance (also

ART 334

) Not offered this year LA

An introduction to the literature of the Renaissance in Europe and in England. Emphasis upon major genres--lyric, drama, pastoral, and prose-fiction--as they arise in Italy, France, Spain, and England. Readings from Boccaccio, Castiglione, Lope de Vega, Sidney, Shakespeare, Erasmus, Rabelais, and Cervantes. Two 90-minute seminars. Instructed by: L. Barkan

COM 315 Cervantes and His Age (See SPA 306)

COM 317 Communication and the Arts (See ECS 331)

COM 318 The Modern Period (also

ECS 319

) Not offered this year LA

Modern Western literature in the perspective of its development since the Industrial Revolution. The peculiarity of "modernist'' style exemplified by various genres. Significant philosophical trends that define the parallel development of modern art and thought. Texts from English, German, French, and other literatures. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Instructed by: S. Draper

COM 319 Topics in Germanic Literatures (See GER 324)

COM 320 Masterworks of European Literature: The Romantic Quest (See GER 320)

COM 321 Modern Drama I (See ENG 364)

COM 323 Self and Society in Classical Greek Drama (See CLA 323)

COM 324 The Classical Tradition (also

HLS 324

) Spring LA

Classical mythology in the arts from Ovid to Shakespeare, from Zeuxis to Titian, with a particular emphasis on the subject of love. Introductory discussions on the nature of myth in its relation to the literary and visual arts. Readings will include major literary works from antiquity to the Renaissance integrated with the study of mythological painting, principally from 15th- and 16th-century Italy, including the works of Botticelli, Correggio, and Titian. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: L. Barkan

COM 326 Tragedy (also

HLS 326

) Not offered this year LA

The tragic vision as expressed by Greek, Renaissance, and modern writers who dramatize the relationship between human suffering and human achievement. Readings in Aeschylus, Sophocles, the Old Testament, Shakespeare, Milton, Chekhov, Ibsen, Sartre, Brecht, Beckett, and T. S. Eliot. One lecture, one two-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

COM 327 Modernism in Fiction (also

LAS 327

) Not offered this year LA

A study of early to mid-20th century fiction, focusing on the question of modernity both as a literary and a historical-philosophical problem. Attention will be given especially to experimentation with literary form and the relation of narrative forms to specific cultural practices. Authors read in the course include Joyce, Woolf, Kafka, Proust, Beckett, Borges. Students will also study essays reflecting the debates of the period (Brecht, Adorno, Lukács, Benjamin). One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

COM 328 Modernism in Poetry Not offered this year LA

A study of the relation between the writing of poetry and the question of modernity as a theoretical and cultural problem. The course will take into account the various experimental movements that opted for poetry as their primary medium (imagism, dadaism, surrealism, futurism), as well as the work of certain poets who have indelibly marked the 20th century's poetic landscape (Yeats, Brecht, Neruda, Cavafy, and others). Students are expected to know at least one of the foreign languages involved well enough to read the original texts. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: M. Wood

COM 330 Literature and Law Not offered this year LA

An introduction to literature as a vehicle of thought about law, morality, and the tensions between them. Readings include ancient legal codes, selected biblical texts, Greek tragedies, Norse sagas, medieval satirical epics, Renaissance drama, 18th-century drama, and modern fiction. Emphasis on revenge codes, the shift from prelegal to legal societies, the Christianization of Germanic law, equity, contract, critiques of law and legal systems. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

COM 333 The Chinese Novel (See EAS 333)

COM 334 Modern Transformations of Classical Themes (See CLA 334)

COM 337 Really Fantastic Fiction Not offered this year LA

Fiction by writers of a fundamentally realist persuasion who nevertheless depict in their work the intrusion of the supernatural and the fantastic into everyday life. Gogol, Kleist, James, Olesha, Nabokov, Bradbury, García Márquez, and Calvino are among the authors read. One lecture, one two-hour seminar. Instructed by: E. Reeves

COM 338 Forms of Short Fiction Not offered this year LA

The short story and other forms of brief imaginative prose as they have developed in English and the European languages during the 19th and 20th centuries. The seminar discussions will examine selected works of such authors as Chekhov, Lawrence, Kafka, Joyce, Hemingway, Faulkner, Borges, Nabokov, W. C. Williams, Welty, Cheever, Flannery O'Connor, Tournier, and Barthelme. One lecture, one two-hour seminar. Instructed by: D. Bellos

COM 340 Literature and Photography (See ECS 340)

COM 341 What is Vernacular Filmmaking? - Rhetoric for Cinema Studies (also

ECS 341

/

HUM 341

/

VIS 339

) LA

In this course we will study films that address global audiences yet ground themselves in particular, local, vernacular sources of artistic creation. Our focus will be on three exciting postwar cinematic movements (Italian Neorealism, Iranian New Wave, the Danish Dogma 95), but we will also discuss parallels in American filmmaking. Familiarity with Homer's Ulysses, Virgil's Aeneid and Shakespeare's Hamlet will be helpful since they serve as the frame of reference for many of the examined films. Instructed by: E. Kiss

COM 342 Topics in 18th-Century Literature (See ENG 339)

COM 344 Postwar Japanese Narrative: Modern to Postmodern (See EAS 344)

COM 346 Modern Latin American Fiction in Translation (See SPA 346)

COM 348 New Diasporas (See ENG 397)

COM 349 Texts and Images of the Holocaust (also

ECS 349

/

GER 349

/

JDS 349

) Not offered this year EM

In an effort to encompass the variety of responses to what is arguably the most traumatic event of modern Western experience, the Holocaust is explored as transmitted through documents, testimony, memoirs, creative writing, historiography, and cinema. In this study of works, reflecting diverse languages, cultures, genres, and points of view, the course focuses on issues of bearing witness, collective vs. individual memory, and the nature of radical evil. One three-hour seminar, plus weekly film showings. Instructed by: Staff

COM 354 Topics in Gender and Representation (See SPA 353)

COM 355 Advanced Creative Writing (Literary Translation) (See CWR 305)

COM 356 Advanced Creative Writing (Literary Translation) (See CWR 306)

COM 357 Tales of Hospitality: France, North Africa, and the Mediterranean (See FRE 327)

COM 359 Acting, Being, Doing, and Making: Introduction to Performance Studies (See THR 300)

COM 361 The Cinema from World War II until the Present (See VIS 342)

COM 363 Philosophy of Art (See PHI 326)

COM 368 Topics in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Culture (See SPA 301)

COM 369 Beyond Crisis Contemporary Greece in Context (also

HLS 369

/

HUM 369

/

ECS 369

) Fall SA

This course examines an emergent historical situation as it unfolds: the ongoing financial, social, and humanitarian "crisis" in Greece, including the "refugee crisis." It offers a comparative approach to current Greek cultural production, through literature and film of the past decade and writings drawn from history, anthropology, political science, economics, news sources, and political blogs. We also probe terms like "crisis," exploring how language shapes our understanding of events and how our perceptions of an unfamiliar culture, history, and society are mediated not just by linguistic translation but by market forces and media spin. Instructed by: K. Emmerich

COM 370 Topics in Comparative Literature (also

ECS 386

/

HUM 371

) Not offered this year LA

Study of a selected theme or topic in comparative literature. Subjects will range from historical and cultural questions (literature and politics, the literature of the avant-garde) to the study of specific literary themes or topics (feminine autobiography, the grotesque in literature). Instructed by: Staff

COM 371 Milton (See ENG 325)

COM 372 The Gothic Tradition (also

ENG 303

) Spring LA

An exploration of the cultural meanings of the Gothic mode through a study of its characteristic elements, its origins in 18th-century English and German culture and thought, its development across Western national traditions, and its persistence in contemporary culture, including film, electronic media, clothing, social behavior, and belief systems, as well as literature. Films, artifacts, websites, and electronic publications will supplement readings. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: A. Alliston

COM 378 Topics in Hindi-Urdu (See HIN 304)

COM 379 Topics in 19th-Century Italian Literature (See ITA 311)

COM 380 Politics and Society in the Arabic Novel and Film (also

NES 380

) LA

This course examines how Arab writers have used the craft of fiction to address major social and political issues such as displacement, labor migration, war, social repression, and dictatorship. The course covers novels from Egypt, the Sudan, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, and Iraq. Topics covered include the Lebanese Civil War, the Palestinian struggle, Islamic fundamentalism, and Iraq under the Baathist regime. The course will also look more broadly at experiences of exile and migration and the postcolonial world as reflected in modern Arabic writing. All readings are in English translation. Instructed by: L. Levy

COM 389 Cultural Systems (See ECS 321)

COM 390 Studies in the Classical Tradition (See CLA 335)

COM 392 The Bible as Literature (See ENG 390)

COM 393 Nietzsche (See PHI 306)

COM 395 Topics in Hindi/Urdu (See HIN 303)

COM 400 Seminar: Literary Imagination and the Image of History Not offered this year LA

Literary texts from two or more national cultures will be viewed in a historical perspective of a specific period (the Renaissance or the Enlightenment) or a significant event (the French Revolution or World War I) or a social phenomenon (the Industrial Revolution). The mutual relationship between the image of the world created by writers and the impact of writers upon the world they reflect. Instructed by: Staff

COM 401 Seminar. Types of Ideology and Literary Form (also

ENG 419

/

GSS 401

) EM

Relationships between conceptions of literary form and developments in intellectual history, spanning different genres and cultural traditions. Some examples: modernism in the context of 20th-century ideological conditions; the rise of the novel traced through philosophies of the 18th and 19th centuries. Instructed by: A. Alliston

COM 403 Seminar. The Aesthetic Movement: Forms of Excitement Not offered this year LA

An examination of selected works of European literature, chiefly around the turn of the 20th century, that provoke distinctive "forms of (literary) excitement." Topics will include decadence, ecstasy, ekphrasis, self-mirroring, asceticism, sadomasochism, dandyism, epiphany, and l'art pour l'art. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: Staff

COM 404 Literature Across Languages Not offered this year LA

Studies in the international exchange of literary forms and ideas, intellectual and artistic movements. The topic will be drawn from among the following or others similar in scope: the literature of exile, the avant-garde, formalism and structuralism, Byronic hero and antihero, literary relations between East and West, surrealism and its legacy, the international response to individual writers. Instructed by: Staff

COM 405 Senior Seminar Not offered this year LA

The course will deal with a theme, author, or problem in comparative literature studies. Instructed by: Staff

COM 406 Vladimir Nabokov (See SLA 417)

COM 409 Translation, Migration, Culture (See TRA 400)

COM 410 Bakhtin, the Russian Formalists, and Cultural Semiotics (also

SLA 410

) Not offered this year LA

A survey (in English) of three influential schools of 20th-century Russian literary criticism: the major Russian formalists (1920s); Mikhail Bakhtin (1920s-70s), and the cultural semiotics of Yury Lotman and his "Tartu School" (1960s-80s). The course will include both primary and secondary texts; major essays will be read in conjunction with sample literature that illustrates the critical approach. Two 90-minute seminars. Instructed by: C. Emerson