Transfer Student Courses in Comparative Literature (Division 354)

Winter Term, 2000 (January 5 - April 26, 2000)

To see what Transfer Student courses have been added or changed in Comparative Literature this week go to What's New This Week.

Section 001 – Mysteries and Enigmas

Instructor(s): Catherine Brown (mcbrown@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Comp. Lit. 240 recommended. (3). (HU).

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The stories we will read in this course are woven of mysteries and enigmas. They want very much to answer questions of life and death (what went wrong? who done it? why?), but often pose more questions than they answer. Some of our questions, then: What makes a detective? What does she or he want? What does it mean to solve a problem? How do we know when it's completely solved? We will explore these questions, working under the hypothesis that asking questions is as important as answering them. Readings will include:

• Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd;
• Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes;
• Sigmund Freud, Dora;
• Jonathan Spence, The Question of Hu;
• Paul Auster, City of Glass.

Section 003 – Middle Eastern Responses to Modernity.

Instructor(s): Meyer

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to comparative strategies in reading literature, and specifically to compare literature of the Middle East with Western texts. The course will be divided into five units, each focusing on a different problem of modernity. Each unit will pair a reading from the Middle East with one from the West.

To what extent does the Middle Eastern literature mirror or echo the Western literature? In discussing this question, we will consider the historical and cultural context of these works as well as the nature of their literary response. The Middle Eastern readings will represent Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Israel, Iran, and Turkey. The requirements for the course include class participation 25%, short reader response papers 25%, and a single term paper of at least 10 pages 50%.

Section 001 – Literature of Metamorphosis

Instructor(s): Timothy Bahti

Prerequisites & Distribution: Upperclass standing. (3). (HU). May be repeated for a total of nine credits.

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Literature transforms things, experiences, and desires into words. At the limit, it transforms other arts, and our languages themselves. This seminar will study the literature of metamorphosis in three stages. First, we will study selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses and the tradition that follows this seminal Western text, from Chaucer and Shakespeare to such contemporary poets as Jorie Graham and Alice Fulton. Next, we will study two masterly stories of ghostly and grotesque transformations, Kleist's "The Foundling" and Kafka's "The Metamorphosis." Finally, we will study instances of transformations of visual art into literature, and of literature into film – in the latter instance, the radical metamorphosis that occurs between Flaubert's tale "A Simple Heart" and Peter Handke's film "The Left-Handed Woman." Students will be evaluated by their regular classroom participation, an oral presentation, and a final paper. Texts to be purchased will include three paperback books (available at Shaman Drum) and a course pack.

Section 001 – Platonic Love, Ancient and Modern. Meets with English 317.001

Instructor(s): David Halperin (halperin@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Junior standing. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Lab Fee: Laboratory fee ($35) required.

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See English 317.001.