From Louis Bonaparte’s 1798 conquest of Egypt to the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), colonialism has been a determining force in the shaping of Arab modernity. For almost two centuries, the Arab region has undergone a major restructuring along the nation-state model after the dismantling of the Ottoman empire and the peripheral integration into global capitalism.

This introduction to the study of literature in comparative contexts focuses on the essay in writing, film, and photography. As a form that wonders and wanders, taking readers down circuitous paths, in playful, exhilarating, and disturbing ways, the essay makes a habit of leaving us with more questions—often without the comfort of tidy closure or a domesticated subject. As students of the essay, we will analyze its exploratory disposition toward writing while developing a robust critical language to describe the work of the essay and its social implications and engagements.

What do demons want? Why do spirits possess? How do humans and vampires interact? And when do the dead come back to life or remain in limbo? In this course we will address the appearance of fantastic creatures in literature from across time, place, and language, and explore various theoretical modalities to contend with cultural representations of the supernatural.

In this introduction to the discipline of comparative literature, we will compare figures of writing--marks, traces, signs of passage--in various examples of world literature and literary theory. Taking our cue from Shakespeare’s phrase, we will explore circuits of partial transfers, incomplete translation and transformation in various material practices of inscription, citation, dictation, dissemination, erasure and preservation.

Physically, New York and Los Angeles spread across the map and encompass multiple neighborhoods and communities, seemingly facilitating our ability to access, explore, and find new connections in the concrete jungle of the metropolis. Socially and economically, both cities have been figured as distinctly 'American' dreamscapes—places of refuge and freedom, success, and self-invention—that hinge on the promise that the American city works like an open circuit, enabling unrestricted movement and mobility to and for everyone who visits or decides to make it home.