Three topics are offered Fall 2014. Students may take one, two, or three for credit. Section A1: Literature in Iran and Afghanistan. Readings are premodern and modern texts, as well as film viewings, with the aim of understanding how the two nations have received a shared literary heritage. What modern cultural concerns are reflected in the different views of the Persian past? Also offered as CAS LZ 380 A1. Section B1: Russia in the Middle East: Literary Encounters. How have Russian writers imagined the Muslim world? How have Arab writers imagined Russia and the USSR? What happened when these fantasies collided during real-life encounters (diplomacy, study abroad, war, exile)? Knowledge of Arabic or Russian useful but not necessary. Also offered as CAS LY 470 A1 and CAS LR 456 B1. Section C1: Melodrama. Melodrama as genre of fiction and film with focus on Japanese texts, viewed from a comparative perspective. Reading and discussion in English. Also offered as CAS LJ 451 A1.