Reading World Literature (201-0-20)
Instructors
Wenhan Zhang
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
Reading World Literature: Thus Conscience?
Description - This course introduces students to a diverse range of important works of world literature and the central debates and questions about the idea of conscience. While we are probably familiar with the prince's woeful lament in Hamlet that "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all," in this course we take the idea of conscience further into and beyond the play's Judeo-Christian context. We will read a more nuanced and variegated set of texts in world literature, trying to understand the critical yet problematic manifestations of conscience in diverse linguistic traditions and cultural backgrounds. In what way is conscience different from modern understandings in Machiavelli's comedy The Mandrake? Why is conscience intimately bound up with colonialism and slavery for Mark Twain? How can one navigate its dictate when one is caught between revenge and redemption in Kikuchi Kan's Beyond the Pale of Vengeance? What is its role in contemporary anti-war narratives and medical ethics? Above all, how does world literature respond to the problems of conscience that face the world at large? Theoretical works read in this course to deepen our understanding of these questions include those of Aquinas, Freud, Judith Butler, Kwame Nkrumah, and Wang Yangming.
Class Materials (Suggested)
Available on Canvas
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area