.png?lmsauth=aeb003561ff92466c0363039bcfbf9b70d9841ad){kind=logo}
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE: CONTEXT AND INTERPRETATION - LIT200 Fall 2024
Course
Andrew Giarelli
Course Contents: The Reading and Interpretation of Literature; the Reading and Interpretation of Other Historical Epochs & Cultures; the Comparison of Differing Cultural Traditions
Introduction To Literature: Contexts and Interpretations
Course code: LIT 200
Semester and year: Fall 2024
Day and time: Mondays, 15:30-18:15 Room 3.12
Instructor: Andrew L. Giarelli, Ph.D.
Instructor contact: andrew.giarelli@aauni.edu (for course matters, please use NEO email)
Consultation hours: Tuesdays 12:00-14:00 on MS-Teams or by appointment
|
Credits US/ECTS |
3/6 |
Level |
Introductory |
|
Length |
15 weeks |
Pre-requisite |
|
|
Contact hours |
42 hours |
Course type |
Bachelor Required |
1. Course Description
Students will be introduced to classics of world literature with the goal of acquiring skills in close reading of narrative literature and poetry, to compare literature from different cultures and historical periods, and to increase understanding of other cultures besides their own. Literary texts will be read in English translation.
2. Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
● Commit to group discussion and show consistent ability to explore textual nuance via instructor’s questions.
● Comprehend and have a clear understanding of key periods in literary history across various cultures worldwide.
● Understand and analyze literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning.
● Place in context the great works of literature from other cultures, enriching their own perspectives.
3. Reading Material
Required Materials (all materials are on NEO site)
● Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “Birdsong”. The New Yorker, Sept. 20, 2010.
● Anonymous, The Thousand and One Nights. Tr. Edward William Lane. London: Chatto and Poole, 1912.
● Anonymous, Gilgamesh. N.K. Sandars, tr. London: Penguin, 1960. Assyrian International News Agency Books Online. http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.htm
● Boccaccio, Giovanni, The Decameron. Tr. Wayne A. Rebhorn. New York: Norton, 2013, 38-42, 319-29, 526-30, 572-82, (“Day 1, Introduction”; “Day 4, Story 2”; “Day 7, Story 2”; “Day 7, Story 9”).
● Chekhov, Anton. “The Lady With the Dog,” 1899. Tr. Ivy Litvinov. New York: Bedford St. Martins Web Publications (public domain). URL:
● Deledda, Grazia. “While the East Wind Blows”, 1926. Tr. Anders Hallengren. NobelPrize.org.
URL: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1926/deledda/prose/
● Eminescu, Mihail. “A Dacian’s Prayer.” Tr. Corneliu M. Popescu. All Poetry. URL: https://allpoetry.com/A-Dacian's-Prayer
● Euripides, Elektra. George Theodoridis, tr., 2006. A.S. Kline, Poetry in Translation. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/EuripidesElectra.php
● Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The New England Magazine, Jan. 1982, 647-656.
● Ha Jin, “Saboteur”. The Antioch Review 54.4 (1996), 409-419.
● Heine, Heinrich. The Book of Songs. Tr. A.S. Kline, 2004. Poetry In Translation. URL: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Heine.php
● Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The New Yorker, June 26, 1978. URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl
● Leopardi, Giacomo. The Canti. Tr. A.S. Kline, 2003. Poetry In Translation. URL: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/Leopardi.php#anchor_Toc38684157
● Marie de France, “Lai Yonec,” in The Lais of Marie de France, tr. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante. Ada, Mich.: Baker Books, 1995.
● Mieckiwicz, Adam. “Within Their Silent Perfect Glass”, “The Three Brothers Budrys”. Tr. Cecile Hemley. All Poetry. URL: https://allpoetry.com/Adam-Mickiewicz
● Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”. Tr. Gregory Rabassa. Playboy, Nov. 1971.
● Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, Chapter 4, “Yugao.” Tr. Arthur Waley. London: Tuttle Publishing, 2010 (reprint of 1921-33 editions).
● Obrecht, Tea. “Blue Water Djinn”. The New Yorker, July 26, 2010.
● Ogot, Grace. “The Rain Came.” Land Without Thunder and Other Stories. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 2008 (1968), 127-137.
● Rifaat, Alifa. “Another Evening At the Club.” Inside Stories II, ed. Glen Kirkland and Richard Davies. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 1999, 255-261.
● Tu Fu, “Spring in Chang’An.” A.S. Kline, Like Water Or Clouds, Poetry In Translation. URL: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Chinese/AllwaterTuFu.php
● Twain, Mark. “” The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut.”
● Wordsworth, William. “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye, 1798. Poetry Foundation. URL: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45527/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798
● Wyatt, Sir Thomas. “They Flee From Me.” The Poetry Foundation. URL: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-wyatt
Recommended Materials
● Acocella, Joan. “Renaissance Man.” The New Yorker, Nov. 11, 2013.
● Kline, A.S. Like Water Or Clouds: The T’ang Dynasty and the Tao. Poetry in Translation, 2000. URL: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Chinese/Allwaterhome.php.
● Priest, Judith. “Marie de France’s Yonec: Sex, Blood and Shapeshifting in a Twelfth Century Verse.” Paper Given at the 1st Global Conference: Magic and the Supernatural, Salzburg, Austria, 2010. URL: https://www.medievalists.net/2011/03/marie-de-france%E2%80%99s-yonec-sex-blood-and-shapeshifting-in-a-twelfth-century-verse/
4. Teaching methodology
Classes will consist of directed close reading, in which individual students will be asked precise questions about assigned texts in order to gradually unfold the layers of meaning in literary works. Student participation is thus more intense than in a normal lecture course, though considerable time will also be devoted to lectures.
PLEASE NOTE: Besides the two announced quizzes listed below, I will give 1-3 unannounced reading quizzes at the start of some classes, each worth 1-2 percent of your total grade. These cannot be made up without an official absence excuse.
5. Course Schedule
|
Date |
Class Agenda |
|
Session 1 Sept. 2 |
Topic: World Literary Cultures and Close Reading of Literature Description: We’ll examine ways to read three short pieces of literature from three different cultures and periods. Reading: Sir Thomas Wyatt, “They Flee From Me”; Tu Fu, “Spring In Chang’An”; Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 2 Sept. 9 |
Topic: Ancient Literature I Description: One of the earliest known written tales, from Mesopotamia’s Sumerian/Babylonian/Assyrian cultures. Reading: Anonymous, Gilgamesh Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 3 Sept. 16 |
Topic: Ancient Literature II Description: A complex, powerful tale of a woman’s revenge in the shadow of the gods, revealing the underpinnings of ancient Greek tragedy. Reading: Euripides, Elektra Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 4 Sept. 23 |
Topic: Two Medieval Women Writers Description: Two tales of tragic love and redemption, from Japan and Brittany. Reading: 1) Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, Chapter 4, “Yugao” 2) Marie de France, Lai Yonec. Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 5 Sept. 30 |
Topic: Tales Within Tales. Description: A sampling from two great tale collections, one from the East and one from the West, that are ultimately about tale telling itself. Reading: 1) Anonymous, One Thousand and One Nights, Prologue and Nights 1-7 2) Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron. “Day 7, Story 2”; “Day 7, Story 9”. NOTE: NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS SESSION! Moved to Session 8, Catch-Up. Assignments/deadlines: Early Term reading quiz. Posted on NEO and Due 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4. Worth 3 percent of total grade. |
|
Session 6 Oct. 7 |
Topic: A “Modern” Tragedy Description: Is Hamlet the quintessential modern human tragedy as well as a Renaissance one? We’ll delve into this play’s labyrinth of language and examine the myriad ways critics have read it. Reading: Hamlet, Acts I-II Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 7 Oct. 14 |
Topic: A “Modern” Tragedy Description: Is Hamlet the quintessential modern human tragedy as well as a Renaissance one? We’ll delve into this play’s labyrinth of language and examine the myriad ways critics have read it. Reading: Hamlet, Acts II-III (note change because we've fallen behind) |
|
Session 8 Oct. 21 |
Topic: Catching Up Description: Often, at this point we still have Act V of Hamlet to discuss and sometimes another work skipped or given short shrift due to time constraints. We will catch up on these and have more fun examining multiple film interpretations of works studied in the semester’s first half to inspire your paper-writing. Reading: Hamlet, finish Act III, Acts IV-V (note catch-up change) Assignments/deadlines: Essay 1 due on NEO 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. |
|
Oct. 28 |
NO CLASS: Holiday (Foundation of the Independent Czechoslovak Republic) |
|
Session 9 Nov. 4 |
Topic: Poetic Interlude: Romanticism Across Europe Description: An introduction to a movement that countered 18th century Enlightenment rationalism and still shapes many worldviews today. Reading: 1) William Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey” 2) Giacomo Leopardi, “The Infinite”, “The Solitary Bird” 3) Heinrich Heine, “There lies the heat of summer” (“Es liegt der heisse Sommer“), “I Can’t Forget“ (“Ich kanne es nicht vergessen”), “Still Is the Night” (“Still ist die Nacht”) 4) José de Espronceda, “Sonnet”, “Revolutions of the Globe” 5) Rosalia de Castro, “The Carillon” 6) Adam Mickiewiecz, „Within Their Silent Perfect Glass”, “The Three Brothers Budrys” 7) Mikhail Lermontov, “Death of a Poet” 8) Mihai Eminescu, “A Dacian’s Prayer” 9) Taras Shevchenko, “The Caucasus” Assignments/Deadlines:
|
|
Session 10 Nov. 11 |
Topic: 19th Century Short Fiction Description: Russian and American examples of the genre. Reading: 1) Mark Twain, “The Facts Behind the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut” 2) Anton Chekhov, “The Lady With the Dog” 3) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 11 Nov. 18 |
Topic: Early 20th Century Modernism Description: A classic tale of paranoia. Reading: Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis. Assignments/deadlines: Late term reading quiz. Posted on NEO and due Sunday, Nov. 29 at 11:59 p.m. Worth 3 percent of total grade. |
|
Session 12 Nov. 25 |
Topic: 20th Century Short Stories I Description: A brief tour of short fiction from the last century’s first half. Reading: 1) Edith Wharton, “Roman Fever” 2) F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams” Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 13 Dec. 2 |
Topic: 20th Century Short Stories II Description: A brief tour of short fiction from the last century’s second half. Reading: 1) Gabriel Garcia Márquez, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World” 2) Grace Ogot, “The Rain Came” 3) Ha Jin, “Saboteur” 4) Alifa Rifaat, “Another Evening At the Club” Assignments/deadlines: |
|
Session 14 Dec. 9 |
Topic: Contemporary Short Fiction. Description: Two early 21st century short stories. Reading: 1) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “Birdsong” 2) Téa Obreht, “Blue Water Djinn” Assignments/deadlines: Essay 2 due on NEO 11:59 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13. |
6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)
|
Assignment |
Workload (average) |
Weight in Final Grade |
Evaluated Course Specific Learning Outcomes |
Evaluated Institutional Learning Outcomes* |
|
Attendance and Class Participation |
42 |
20% |
Commitment to group discussion and consistent ability to explore textual nuance via instructor’s questions. |
1,2,3 |
|
Essays (2) |
80 |
60% (30% + 30%) |
Understand and analyze literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning. Comprehend and have a clear understanding of key periods in literary history across various cultures worldwide. |
1,2 |
|
Reading Quizzes |
18 |
10% |
Ability to answer fact-based questions designed to test whether student has done the assigned reading. |
2 |
|
Forum Posts |
10 |
10% |
Place in context the great works of literature from other cultures, enriching their own perspectives. |
1,2,3 |
|
TOTAL |
150 |
100% |
|
|
*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action
7. Detailed description of the assignments
Assignment 1: Class Participation. Here you will not only show me that you are carefully reading the works assigned, but also develop and practice the skills you will use in your essays (see below). I will ask each student questions designed to elicit hard thinking about the text in question, at least until and if we develop a pattern of full class participation.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Proof that you have read the text |
50 |
|
Engagement in close reading with instructor and classmates |
50 |
Assignment 2: Essays (2). Each essay must be approximately 1500 words, about one of the works studied during the period leading up to which the essay is due. Your first essay must be about one of the works studied in Classes 1-7, and your second about one of the works studied in Classes 8-14 (however, you cannot write two essays about Hamlet). Moreover, the essays are not supposed to be about the historical context of the work or biographical information about the writer. Indeed, the task is much more difficult: to find meaning via careful, persuasive analysis of very specific passages in the works studied. The best models for the essays will be the weekly close readings in class.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Factual knowledge of text |
20 |
|
Incisive, persuasive textual analysis |
60 |
|
Clear writing and correct grammar |
|
Assignment 3: Reading Quizzes. There will 3-5 of these, two longer ones on assigned dates in the syllabus each worth 3 percent of your total grade, 1-3 unannounced ones each worth 1-2 percent of your total grade. Unless you have an official absence excuse, you cannot make up these latter unannounced ones.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Proof that you have read the text |
100 |
Assignment 4: Forum Posts. Three or four times during the semester I will continue in-class analysis with a prompt question or set of questions on NEO Forums.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Engagement in ongoing group textual interpretation. |
100 |
8. General Requirements and School Policies
General requirements
All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar
with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the
highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. Please see the AAU
intranet for a summary of key policies regarding coursework.
Course-Specific Requirements
Because this course is all about your own close reading of literary texts, no AI-generated text is allowed in writing assignments. Any use of it will result in a failed grade for the assignment and could result in failing the entire course.
Prepared by and when: Andrew L. Giarelli, April 27, 2024
Approved by and when: Ted Turnau, June 3, 2024
Here is the course outline:
1. Lesson 1, Monday Sept. 2: World Literary Cultures and Close Reading of Literature
Sep 2 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
We’ll examine ways to read three short pieces of literature from three different cultures and periods. |
2. Lesson 2, Monday Sept. 9: Ancient Literature I (Gilgamesh)
Sep 9 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
One of the earliest known written tales, from Mesopotamia’s Sumerian/Babylonian/Assyrian cultures. |
3. Lesson 3, Monday Sept. 16: Ancient Literature II (Elektra)
Sep 16 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
A complex, powerful tale of a woman’s revenge in the shadow of the gods, revealing the underpinnings of ancient Greek tragedy. |
4. Lesson 4, Monday Sept. 23: Two Medieval Women Writers
Sep 23 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
Two tales of tragic love and redemption, from Japan and Brittany. |
5. Lesson 5, Monday Sept. 30: Tales Within Tales
Sep 30 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
A sampling from two great tale collections, one from the East and one from the West, that are ultimately about tale-telling itself. |
6. Lessons 6-7, Monday Oct. 7 and 14: Hamlet I and II
Oct 7 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
: Is Hamlet the quintessential modern human tragedy as well as a Renaissance one? We’ll delve into this play’s labyrinth of language and examine the myriad ways critics have read it. |
7. Lesson 8, Monday, Oct. 21: Hamlet finished; Catching Up
Oct 21 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
|
8. Lesson 9, Monday Nov. 4: Romanticism Across Europe |
9. Lesson 10, Monday Nov. 11: 19 Century Short Fiction
Nov 11 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
Russian and American examples of the genre. |
10. Lesson 11, Monday, Nov., 18: Metamorphosis
Nov 18 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
A classic modern tale of paranoia. |
11. Lesson 12, Monday Nov. 25: 20th Century Short Stories I
Nov 25 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
A brief tour of short fiction from the last century’s first half. |
12. Lesson 13, Monday Dec. 2: 20th Century Short Stories II
Dec 2 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
A brief tour of short fiction from the last century’s second half. |
13. Lesson 14, Monday Dec. 9: Contemporary Short Fiction.
Dec 9 3:30pm .. 6:15pm
Two early 21st century short stories. |
14. Excellent Essay Examples |