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A major presupposition we often take for granted when we teach a literature class is that students and teacher alike know what *literature* is. And of course, we may well do. We may well know, that is to say, what literature is in our culture — despite all difficulties we would meet if asked to provide a generally acceptable definition of it.
In an attempt to answer the question posed by its title, this course looks at the shifting meaning of literature in both time and place. In the first part, we will look at the pre-history of literature — namely, to rhetoric and poetics in classical Greece (Plato and Aristotle), Rome (Horace), and Islam (Al-Jahiz and Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz). The second part is devoted to the emergence of literature itself in the context of modern Europe. In the final part of the course, we will pose the question of world literature in extra-European contexts.
In an attempt to answer the question posed by its title, this course looks at the shifting meaning of literature in both time and place. In the first part, we will look at the pre-history of literature — namely, to rhetoric and poetics in classical Greece (Plato and Aristotle), Rome (Horace), and Islam (Al-Jahiz and Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz). The second part is devoted to the emergence of literature itself in the context of modern Europe. In the final part of the course, we will pose the question of world literature in extra-European contexts.
Syllabus
January 11. Times They Are a-Changing
Introduction
January 18. No Republic for Poets
Plato, from Republic (Critical Theory, pp. 19-40)
Plato, from Laws (Critical Theory, pp. 41-46)
January 23-25. Mimesis, Catharsis, Taxonomy
Aristotle, Poetics (Critical Theory, pp. 47-66)
Averroës, "Short Commentary on Aristotle's Poetics." Download here.
Alfarabi, The Philosophy of Plato. Download here.
Hermann the German, Translation of Averroës' "Middle Commentary" on Aristotle's Poetics. Download here.
January 30-February 1. Is Poetry Good for You?
Aḥmad Ibn Burd al-Aṣgha, "The Debate of Pen and Sword." Download here.
Horace, Art of Poetry. Download here.
Plotinus, "On Intellectual Beauty" (Critical Theory, pp. 105-113)
February 6-8. Allegory
Bernard of Clairvaux, "Commentary on Song of Songs". Download here.
Dante Alighieri, from The Banquet (Critical Theory, pp. 120-121)
Dante Alighieri, Epistle to Cangrande della Scala. Download here.
Giovanni Boccaccio, from Genalogy of the Gentile Gods (Critical Theory, pp. 127-135)
February 13-15. Perspective, Imitation, and the Emergence of the I
Pietro Bembo and Gianfrancesco Pico, Controversies Over the Imitation of Cicero in the Renaissance. Download here.
Julius Caesar Scaliger, from Poetics (Critical Theory, pp. 136-143)
Ludovico Castelvetro, from The Poetics of Aristotle Translated and Explained ((Critical Theory, pp. 144-154)
Philip Sidney, "An Apology for Poetry" (Critical Theory, pp. 154-157)
Jacopo Mazzoni, from On the Defense of the Comedy of Dante (Critical Theory, pp. 178-191)
February 20-22.
Midterm Examinations
February 27-March 1. Rules
NO CLASS on February 27
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, "The Art of Poetry" (Critical Theory, pp. 192-194)
John Dryden, An Essay on Dramatic Poetry (Critical Theory, pp. 227-257)
March 6-8. You Say Potato…
Herder, "On Taste." Download here.
David Hume, "On the Standard of Taste" (Critical Theory, pp. 313-323)
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, from Laocoön (Critical Theory, pp. 348-352)
Immanuel Kant, from Critique of Judgement (Critical Theory, pp. 377-399)
March 13-15
Spring Break Recess
March 20-22. National and World Literature
Immanuel Kant, from Critique of Judgement (Critical Theory, pp. 377-399)
Anne-Louise-Germaine Madame de Staël, from On Literature Considered in its Relationship to Social Institutions. Download here.
Friedrich von Schiller, from Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (Critical Theory, pp. 417-431)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from Conversations with Eckermann (Critical Theory, pp. 514-516)
March 27-29 Novel Problematics
John Stuart Mill, "What is Poetry?" (Critical Theory, pp. 536-543)
Charles Augustine Saint-Beuve, "What is a Classic?" (Critical Theory, pp. 555-562)
Walter Scott, General Preface to the Waverley Novels. Download here.
Walter Scott, Preface and Dedicatory Epistle to Ivanhoe. Download here.
April 3-5 Human Documents
Hyppolite Taine, from History of English Literature (Critical Theory, pp. 601-614)
Henry James, "The Art of Fiction" (Critical Theory, pp. 660-670)
Émile Zola, from "The Experimental Novel" (Critical Theory, pp. 646-659)
Anatole France, "The Adventures of the Soul" (Critical Theory, pp. 671-75)
April 10-12 Épater les bourgeois
Oscar Wilde, "The Decay of Lying" (Critical Theory, pp. 672-686)
Stéphane Mallarmé, "The Evolution of Literature"; "The Book: A Spiritual Instrument"; "Mystery in Literature" (Critical Theory, pp. 687-694)
F. T. Marinetti, The Founding Manifesto of Futurism. Download here.
Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto. Download here.
Virginia Woolf, Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown. Download here.
April 17-19. Structure
Vladimir Propp, from Morphology of the Fairy-Tale. Download here.
Roman Jakobson, "The Metaphoric and Metonymic Pole" (Critical Theory, pp. 1113-1116)
Boris Eichenbaum, "The Theory of the "Formal Method'" (Critical Theory, pp. 828-846)
Roland Barthes, "The Structuralist Activity" (Critical Theory, pp. 1195-1200)
April 24 European, Comparative, World, and Global Literature
Ferdinand Brunetière, "European Literature". Download here.
Eric Auerbach, "Philology and Weltliteratur". Download here.
Pheng Cheah, "World against Globe: Toward a Normative Conception of World Literature.". Download here.
April 26
Final examination.
Requirements
Students are expected to read the material, do homework assignments, attend class, and be prepared to engage in classroom discussion. There will also be two examinations (midterm and final) consisting of multi-choice and short-response questions.
Final grades will be composites of:
Class Attendance and Participation: 40%
Midterm Examination: 30%
Final Examination: 30%
Grade Scale:
98-100 – 100%: A+
93 – 97%: A
90 – 92%: A-
88 – 89%: B+
83 – 87%: B
80–82%:B-
78–79%:C+
70–77%:C
60–69%:D
00–59%:F
Final grades will be composites of:
Class Attendance and Participation: 40%
Midterm Examination: 30%
Final Examination: 30%
Grade Scale:
98-100 – 100%: A+
93 – 97%: A
90 – 92%: A-
88 – 89%: B+
83 – 87%: B
80–82%:B-
78–79%:C+
70–77%:C
60–69%:D
00–59%:F
Meeting Time & Place
MW 10:05AM - 11:20AM, Languages 207