Intro to Comp Lit

What can literature tell us about lives shaped by war and displacement? Over the course of the semester, we will approach this question through a comparative analysis of literary texts that foreground refugee experience. We will read several novels and short stories written by Vietnamese diasporic authors, as well as texts addressing the experiences of refugees in African and global contexts. In our discussions, we will consider several interrelated topics: how do refugee writers render into narrative profound historical ruptures and geographic displacements? To what extent do literary narratives of displacement invite readers to empathize with refugee characters? When and why do they resist the dynamics of empathy? In what ways do they question the very possibility of narrating refugee experience? In our discussions, we will consider the specificity of each text while remaining open to insights made possible by reading comparatively; our goal will be to to analyze individual texts while remaining attentive to common textual strategies, formal elements, and practices of representation. Authors considered will likely include Linda Lê, lê thi diem thúy, Nam Le, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kim Thúy, Marie NDiaye, Mohsin Hamid.