Literature
Overview
The Literature Area of Concentration (AOC) allows students to study literature from diverse national and linguistic traditions, gaining a familiarity with genre and periodization across literary fields and an understanding of literary works in a comparative context. Our curriculum includes surveys of literary history and courses that focus on specific historical periods, genres, or thematic questions. The AOC serves students wishing to study literature broadly, including works written in English as well as in other languages; most courses are taught in English or English translation and some are offered for students who can read foreign languages in the original. The requirements and procedures for areas of concentration in specific literary traditions (Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Latin, Russian, Spanish, and Classics) are distinct from those given below. Students should see the catalog entries regarding these other areas of concentration and consult their sponsors and Literature AOC faculty members about which concentration is best for them.
Faculty in Literature
Tom Bailey, Professor of Creative Writing
Melanie Hubbard, Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Sonia Labrador-Rodríguez, Associate Professor of Spanish Language and Literature
Fang-Yu Li, Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Culture
Mariam Manzur-Leiva, Adjunct Instructor of Spanish Language and Literature
Alicia Mercado-Harvey, Assistant Professor of Spanish
David Mikics, Professor of English
Nova Myhill, Professor of English and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies/Director of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
John Park, Assistant Professor of English
José Alberto Portugal, Professor of Spanish Language and Literature/PepsiCo Professorship
Amy Reid, Professor of French Language and Literature (on leave)
Wendy Sutherland, Professor of German and Black European and Diaspora Studies
David Rohrbacher, Professor of Classics/ Provost
Carl Shaw, Professor of Classics
Avni Vyas, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
Alina Wyman, Professor of Russian Language and Literature
Jessica Young, Assistant Professor of Global English (on leave)
Florence Zamsky, Visiting Associate Professor of French Language and Literature
Robert Zamsky, Professor of English/Associate Provost
Jing Zhang, Professor of Chinese Language and Culture/Director of International and Area Studies
Requirements for the AOC in Literature
A minimum of eight (8) academic units, although ten (10) are recommended. The AOC in Literature should include work in at least three language traditions (selected from Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Latin, Russian, and Spanish).
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| Introduction to Literature 1 | |
| LIT 2005 | Introduction to Literature: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love |
| LIT 2030 | Introduction to Poetry |
| Literary Methods 2 | |
| Select two; examples include: | |
| LITR 3255 | Dialectics of Romanticism and Realism |
| LITR 3230 | Critical Theory in the United States: An Introduction |
| RUT 3930 | Special Topics in Russian Literature |
| Electives | |
| Select three to five literature courses of your choice, including at least one course focused on literature before 1900 and one course focused on poetry or poetics. Literature courses offered in the original language are, of course, eligible. Examples include: | |
| Landscape in Chinese Literature* | |
| Women in Russian and East European Literature | |
| Renaissance Epic | |
| Nature and the Environment in English Literature | |
| Making of Modernism | |
| Black, White, and German: Afro-Germans and German Identity* | |
| Latin American Storytellers* | |
| Black Mountain and New York School Poetry | |
| Ecopoetics | |
| Modern and Contemporary Poetry* | |
| Español avanzado: Perspectivas Latinoamericanas | |
| Additional Requirement | |
| Senior Capstone Project or Senior Thesis in Literature, and Baccalaureate Exam | |
| Additional Expectations | |
| Language study or competency equivalent to at minimum a 3rd-semester level (not included in total course count) | |
- 1
This category includes Literature courses that focus on close reading and textual analysis.
- 2
This category includes courses at 3000-level or above that focus on literary critical methods, include secondary criticism, or take a particular approach to literary material.
Requirements for the Joint AOC in Literature
A minimum of five (5) academic units. The Joint AOC in Literature should include work in at least three language traditions (selected from Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Latin, Russian, and Spanish).
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| Introduction to Literature 1 | |
| LIT 2005 | Introduction to Literature: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love |
| LIT 2030 | Introduction to Poetry |
| Literary Methods 2 | |
| Select one; examples include: | |
| LITR 3255 | Dialectics of Romanticism and Realism |
| LITR 3230 | Critical Theory in the United States: An Introduction |
| RUT 3930 | Special Topics in Russian Literature |
| Electives | |
| Select two to three literature courses; at least one should be a poetry course. Examples include: | |
| Ecopoetics | |
| Nature and the Environment in English Literature | |
| Writing the Self: Autobiography, Testimony, and Biography* | |
| Latin American Storytellers* | |
| Black Mountain and New York School Poetry | |
| Black, White, and German: Afro-Germans and German Identity* | |
| Modern and Contemporary Poetry* | |
| Chaucer and Medieval Narrative | |
| Optional | |
| Senior Capstone Project or Senior Thesis, and Baccalaureate Exam | |
- 1
This category includes Literature courses that focus on close reading and textual analysis.
- 2
This category includes courses at 3000-level or above that focus on literary critical methods, include secondary criticism, or take a particular approach to literary material.
Representative Senior Theses in Literature
- The Canterbury Tales: How Gendered Narrative Authority Shaped Medieval Society's Perception of Women
- A Close Reading of Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World: Violence, Memory and a Uniquely American Representations of History
- Desgracia Y Poesia: Tranformando La Lira Cubana
- The Other Side of Paradise: An Exploration of the Masculine Crisis within the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Art of the Alien Timeline: Exploring how Nonlinear Narratives Achieve Brecht’s Theory of Alienation in Run Lola Run and Memento
- Uncovering Gide
- Dostoevsky and the Problem of Microcosm: Bakhtin, "Bobok" and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man"
- Pursuit, Punishment, and Perversion: Variation in Ovid's Metamorphoses
- The Adaptation and Appropriation of Shakespeare in Neil Gaiman's Graphic Novel The Sandman
- Place and Space in J.R.R. Tolkien's and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings