Introduction to Comparative Literature
University Fictions
In this course we will analytically and self-reflexively explore the genre of the academic or campus novel in its historical development and contemporary permutations. How have campus novels evolved and what can they tell us about our own anxieties and desires for academic experience? Although most of the texts we read will deal with the university campus, we will also look at some other settings, including the nursery school, boarding school and independent study. Texts will be chosen from works by Owen Johnson, Enid Blyton, Kingley Amis, David Lodge, Vladimir Nabokov, Muriel Spark, Shirley Jackson, Barry McCrae, Mary McCarthy, Gustave Flaubert, Zadie Smith, Shirley Jackson Jane Gallop and Jeffrey Eugenides. Critical reading 2 papers, several shorter writing assignments. Lots of reading, much of it enjoyable and all of it educational.
Reading List
1.Owen Johnson. Stover at Yale B004QZA2TE (ASIN), FQ Pub Books
Please note: “Stover at Yale” will not be available at the Cal Textbook Store. We recommend that you purchase through Amazon or other vendor. This will be the first book read in class, so plan to purchase it in time for the beginning of the semester.
2. Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, ISBN-13: 978-0312424442, Picador
3. Mary McCarthy, The Groves of Academe, 978-0156027878, Mariner Books
4. Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin, 978-0679723417, Vintage
5. David Lodge, Campus Trilogy. 978-0143120209, Penguin
6. Elif Batuman, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, 0374532184, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
7. Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot. 978-0374203054, Farrar, Straus, Giroux
8. Jane Gallop Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment, 978-0822319184, Duke UP