Introduction to Literary Theory (200-0-20)

Topic

What is Comp Lit?

Instructors

Alejandra Uslenghi
847/467-1713
3-113 Crowe

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 106: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

What is Comparative Literature? How do we compare literary traditions?

In this class we explore the foundational questions of Comp Lit as a field of inquiry as well as a methodology for literary analysis. We read and discuss literary theory as a framework to develop answers to: What is Fiction? And how literary prose is different from other forms of narrative? How we move from a text in one "original" language to read its translation in another? How we traverse and cross the boundaries of languages and literature traditions?

We explore the ways in which we move beyond boundaries — in languages, time period, regions, art forms and disciplinary discourses— when reading literature across these differences. We reflect on how our imaginaries about the World or the Nation are informed by these cultural boundaries.

We explore the very definition of aesthetic experience and aesthetic forms as Humanist modes of knowledge, building on a critical vocabulary borrow from philosophical reflections that are anchored in our contemporary perspectives.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro