World Literature

Focusing on the contents of a single anthology, this course attempts to expose students to the variety of literary genres and types around the world from the earliest times to the present day. We discuss a variety of topics, including the problems of translation, the nature of excerpts, the nature of the hero, the formation of an authorial voice, and genres such as lyric, drama, proverb, myth, and epic. We read three major plays entire, including Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Ibsen's A Doll's House.