LC 250 A1: Masterpieces of Classical Chinese Literature (in English Translation)
Panoramic overview of three thousand years of Chinese literature from its beginnings to the threshold of modernity. Discusses masterpieces of one of the world’s oldest continuous traditions in their cultural context and in the context of literatures around the world. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
LC 285 A1: Topics in Chinese Literature (in English Translation)
Topic for Spring 2019: Old Tales for New Times: Folklore in Modern and Contemporary China. An interdisciplinary approach to China’s most famous folk tales such as the Weaving Maiden and the Ox Herder, and the White Snake and Mulan. Traces the development of these stories in premodern times and their modern incarnation. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS |
LC 480 A1: Modern Chinese Literature and Film
A seminar on the major works of modern Chinese literature and cinema from the May Fourth period to the present, with a focus on close reading and visual analysis. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Course meets with CAS CI 480 A1.
LG 250: Masterpieces of German Literature (in English Translation)
Introduction to the major works of German literature, emphasizing methods of close reading and the art of critical writing. Texts by Johannes von Saaz, J.W. Goethe, Heinrich von Kleist, Georg Bochner, Robert Musil, Ingeborg Bachmann and others. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
LJ 250 A1: Masterpieces of Japanese Literature (in English Translation)
An introduction to Japanese literary history. Topics include mythic beginnings, conceptions of nature and death, flowering of a court aesthetic, the writer as hermit-sage, the Tokugawa stage and its love suicides. Use of literary and visual materials. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
LJ 283 A1: Modern Japanese Culture in Cinema (in English translation)
Japanese film from the silent era to contemporary animation, with attention to the intersection of cinematic and cultural analysis and genres such as yakuza movies. Directors studied may include Ozu, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Miyazaki Hayao. Also Offered as CAS CI 260. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
LR 250 A1: Classics of Russian Prose (in English translation)
Prose works that define the Russian literary tradition, including Pushkin’s Queen of Spades, Gogol’s Overcoat, Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
LR 355 A1: Chekhov: The Stories and Plays (in English Translation)
Explores Chekhov’s major plays and a wide selection from his prose (in English translation); studies the arc of his career, his aesthetic innovations, moral psychology, philosophical perspective. Includes practicum in which students produce a play composed of scenes from Chekhov. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Teamwork/Collaboration.
LZ 470 A1: Persian Autobiography
Topics in Persian Literature and Culture. May be taken multiple times for credit as topics change. Readings and assignments in English; readings also available in Persian. Topic for Fall 2019: Persian Autobiography.
XL100: Explorations in World Literature
Growing up. Moving to the big city. Wisdom quest. Immigration. Tourism. How have the world’s great literatures portrayed and shaped these experiences? How have literary works themselves found new worlds through translation and adaptation? Counts for credit toward all WLL majors. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS
XL223: Introduction to Middle Eastern Literatures
Introduces basic methods of comparative literary study through close readings of some of the most influential texts of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew literature. Readings may include The Arabian Nights, Shahnameh, lyric poetry, and novels from the twentieth century. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
XL244: Greek Drama
The history and development of ancient Greek theater; study of important plays in the genres of tragedy, comedy, and satyr drama by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to CAS CL 324. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration.
XL 281: Representations of the Holocaust in Film and Literature
Questions of representation in literature and film about the Holocaust, including testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, Ozick, and others; films include documentaries and feature films. Discussions of the Holocaust as historical reality, metaphor, and generative force in literature. Also offered as CAS CI 269 A1 and CAS RN 385 A1. |
XL 343 A1: Alexander the Great in the East
Study of the various narratives about Alexander the Great, also known as Sikandar or Iskandar, as conqueror, philosopher-king, and hero, in medieval Middle Eastern and Asian literatures. Modern filmic representations of the historical figure are also compared. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
XL380 A1: Gender and Identity in Middle Eastern Film
An exploration of representations of gender and identity in contemporary Middle Eastern films by male and female directors reflecting on the impact of modernization, globalization, war and trauma through different visual genres. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression. Also offered as CAS CI 380 and WS 380.
XL 470 A1: Topics in Comparative Literature: Queer Theory
May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Topic for Fall 2019: Queer Theory. Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler’s Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer- of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism.