First-Year Courses in Comparative Literature This page was created at 6:50 PM on Mon, Jan 21, 2002. Winter Academic Term, 2002 (January 7 - April 26) Open courses in Comparative Literature (*Not real-time Information. Review the "Data current as of: " statement at the bottom of hyperlinked page) Wolverine Access Subject listing for COMPLIT Winter Academic Term '02 Time Schedule for Comparative Literature. COMPLIT 140. First-Year Literary Seminar. Section 001 – Whitman & the Americas. Instructor(s): Justin A Read Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May be repeated for a total of six credits. First-year seminar Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Walt Whitman is largely credited with both the invention of modern free verse and with the invention of a distinctly American voice in literature. In this course, we will read Whitman's poetry in conjunction with a wide variety of twentieth-century poets from throughout the Americas in order to gauge the connection between literature and community. Some of the poets we will read (for example, Carl Sandburg, Allen Ginsberg, and José Martí) clearly model their work upon Whitman's style. Others (such as Marianne Moore, Amiri Baraka, and Ferreira Gullar) clearly diverge from Whitman. But all of the poets in this course share a common desire to capture the collective voice of American communities, whether those communities be defined by ethnicity, nationality, region, or generation. In readings from Spanish America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and the U.S. (including African-American, Jewish-American, European-American, and Latino-American communities), we will examine the possibilities of creating American or "New World" traditions. We will come to terms with how poetry shapes and defines, reflects and refines – and ultimately alters – our visions of the Americas. Moreover, we will engage many of the debates conflicts, and struggles over identity and culture that have shaped literary studies over the past century. First and foremost, however, this course has been designed as a primer for poetic reading. One does not read a poem as one would a novel or a newspaper; many of us are therefore thoroughly perplexed or confused by poetry. You may think of this course, then, as training in how to read a poem. No previous knowledge of poetry is required for this course, only the desire to read it. All texts will appear in English (in facing-page translation with the original when available); knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese is helpful, but not necessary. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: 1 This page was created at 6:50 PM on Mon, Jan 21, 2002. University of Michigan | College of LS&A | Student Academic Affairs | First-Year Handbook | First-Year Information | Parent Handbook | LS&A Bulletin This page maintained by LS&A Academic Information and Publications, 1228 Angell Hall Copyright © 2001 The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA +1 734 764-1817 Trademarks of the University of Michigan may not be electronically or otherwise altered or separated from this document or used for any non-University purpose.