Comparative Literature 323: Fall 2012

"Literature and Revolution"

This course examines the relationship between literature and revolution in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, post-War II. The principal works of interest will be drawn from the post-revolutionary period in Egypt and Argentina (twentieth and twenty-first century), though we will also look at several major developments in the arts (film, painting, sculpture, and literature) from Iraq, Algeria, Mexico and Cuba. Students will be asked to think and write critically about the possibilities and limitations of art in documenting history, the meaning of political transformation to artistic production, citizenship, and the relationship between individual freedom and social cohesion.

Comparative Literature 315: Fall 2011

"The Middle East through Cinema"

 The UN estimates the population in the Middle East and North Africa (M.E.N.A) will reach 430 million by 2020. 280 million are expected to live in urban environments.This course will examine how filmmakers in the region have been grappling with this phenomenon and how film, as a medium, can illuminate the experience of social existence en masse.  The class will center on key films from the Twenty-First Century about life in five of the largest metropolises in the region: Casablanca, Cairo, Tel Aviv and Tehran. Students will be expected to view the films, in their entirety, either during special screening hours or independently. Readings and additional screening material will accompany each film. Assignments will include two papers and a final presentation.

“Post-European Realism”

 “The central aesthetic problem of realism” wrote Georg Lukács, “is the adequate presentation of the complete human personality.” This course exams key works of realism beyond the shores of the U.S. and Europe— from the Middle East and Latin America in particular— and explores how authors from emerging nations have employed a largely nineteenth century European mode of writing to capture and define new “complete” personalities in the midst of radically shifting social milieus. To understand the full significance of these works, the course will include a course packet with historical and journalistic pieces relevant to the time and place in which the author is writing and critical essays that help situate the author’s production within regional literary traditions. We will also a film by the late American realist, Elia Kazan and episodes from David Simon’s The Wire. Students will be asked to think and write critically about the possibilities and limitations of fiction to document history; the role of narrative in shaping the reception of socio-political phenomena and the relationship between art and politics more broadly.