In “The Arts of Epic” we shall study the purposeful crafting and re-crafting of stories from ancient tragedy into epic and finally into epic’s derivatives (and mockeries) for the literary founding of cultural narratives, moral and ethical frameworks, and personal, artistic fame.  We shall pay particular attention to techniques of allusion, paraphrase, representation, and re-contextualization within literary recollection and invention.  Throughout the course we shall study examples of the visual and performing arts inspired by epic to consider the virtues and limitations of non-literary aest

Very close, intense, sustained–and a lot–of reading in: lyric poetry (mostly later 20th C., some early-mid 20th C., some 21st C., some 19th C.). Also, readings in related texts by poets (letters, essays, meditations, journals) and critics, theorists, and philosophers.  The overarching concern will be the relationship between modern lyric poetry and sociohistorical, political, and ethical concerns (especially the questions of engagement, intervention, and/or activism). Prerequisite: Background in 19th- and 20th-century poetry.

The course will focus on Arthurian romance in medieval French, Welsh, and English literatures.  The figure of Arthur—his image and social function—will be examined in the three cultural contexts with special attention devoted to how his reception in each culture reflects the concerns of that particular milieu.

The two decades that followed the civil war in Greece were a period of reconstruction, modernization and intense social change. The social change came about primarily in two ways, through internal migrations and urbanization. According to government statistics, in 1951, 37.7% of the population lived in towns of ten thousand or more. In 1961, urban populations rose to 43.3% and in 1971, to 53.2%.

The literary avant-garde of the early twentieth century was the most radical expression of European modernism in literature and art. We will be focusing on the four most radical and creative of the avant-garde movements to have swept through Europe between the 1910’s and the 1930’s: Italian and Russian futurism, dada in Zurich and Paris, and French surrealism.  We will be reading avant-garde poetry, manifestoes, performance texts and plays, experimental fiction and memoirs. We will also be paying close attention to parallel developments in the visual arts.

(cross-listed as Near Eastern Studies 190C)

Disc. Sec 101: F 10-11:00, 78 Barrows,   Disc. Sec. 102: F 11-12:00, 78 Barrows

In this course we explore the diverse constructions of gender, erotic love and human sexuality in the Hebrew Bible, and some of the ways in which modern poets have recycled and reinscribed these foundational texts.

This Course examines forms of writing (prose, poetry, drama) in Modern Greek and the reading of literary texts as auxiliary to the acquisition of compositional skills.

Prerequisite: 112A, or consent of the instructor.

In this course we will consider a selection of texts produced within the past thirty years, all of which foreground the movement of individuals or communities across national borders.  Over the course of the semester, we will discuss a number of interrelated questions: how do contemporary immigrant writers attempt to come to terms with the profound historical ruptures and geographic displacements brought about by the experience of transnational movement?  How do they seek to render into language and narrative the confusion of conflicting cultural structures, and in what ways are their chara

We often don’t think of the U.S. as an empire, but history doesn’t bear this out, as the nation’s past (and present) is characterized by conquest and expansion, conflict and resistance, as well as immigration and incorporation.  The connections and clashes between cultures, races, and empires are central to U.S. history. Over the course of the 19th century, guided by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the US expanded to the geographical limits of the continent–and beyond.

Screenings: Th 5-8, 219 Dwinelle