UC Davis General Catalog, 2006-2008 - General Catalog - UC Davis

182 Comparative Literature
14. Introduction to Poetry (3)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours. Prerequisite: completion
of Subject A requirement. Comparative study of
poetry in a variety of lyric and other poetic forms
from different historical periods and different linguistic,
national, and cultural traditions. Offered in alternate
years. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—(I.)
20. Man and the Natural World (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Examination
of the changing relationship between the individual
human being and his “natural” environment,
whether cultivated or wild, as reflected in literary
works from ancient times to the present by such
authors as Hesiod, Virgil, Rousseau, Wordsworth,
and Thoreau. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—I. (II.)
McLean
25. Ethnic Minority Writers in World
Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Consideration of a
broad range of writers who speak from an ethnic
perspective different from the nominally or politically
dominant culture of their respective countries and
who explore the challenges faced by characters significantly
affected by their ethnic minority status. GE
credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—(I.) Blanchard
53A. Literature of China and Japan (3)
Lecture—2 hours; discussion—1 hour. Introduction to
representative masterpieces of East Asia with readings
from such works as The Story of the Stone, The
Peach Blossom Fan, T’ang and Sung poetry, classical
Japanese poetry, drama, and travel diaries, and
The Tale of Genji. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.
53B. Literature of India and Southeast Asia
(3)
Lecture—2 hours; discussion—1 hour. Introduction to
representative masterpieces of South Asia with readings
from such works as the Mahabharata and
Ramayana, The Cloud Messenger, Shakuntala, The
Little Clay Cart, and the stories and poems of both
ancient and modern India and Southeast Asia. GE
credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—(III.) Schildgen
53C. Literatures of the Islamic World (3)
Lecture—2 hours; discussion—1 hour. Introduction to
classical Islamic culture through translations of literature
primarily from Arabic and Persian, as well as
other languages. Topics include the concept of the
self, society and power, spirituality, the natural
world, the cosmos, and the supernatural. GE credit:
ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—I. Sharlet
90X. Lower Division Seminar (1-2)
Seminar—1-4 hours. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Examination of a special topic in a small group
setting.
98. Directed Group Study (1-5) I, II, III. The
Staff (Director in charge)
Restricted to lower division students. (P/NP grading
only.)
99. Special Study for Undergraduates (1-5)
(P/NP grading only.)
Upper Division Courses
120. Writing Nature: 1750 to the Present
(4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
completion of Subject A requirement and at
least one course in literature. Study of representations,
descriptions, and discussions of humankind’s
problematical relationship with the non-human world
in texts written in a variety of European and American
traditions between 1750 and the present.
Offered in alternate years. GE credit: ArtHum,
Wrt.—(III.) McLean
135. Women Writers (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. An exploration
of women’s differing views of self and society
as revealed in major works by female authors of various
times and cultures. Readings, principally of fiction,
will include such writers as Lady Murasaki,
Mme de Lafayette, and Charlotte Bronte. GE credit:
ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—I, III. (I, II.) Lokke, Schiesari
138. Gender and Interpretation (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
completion of Subject A requirement and at
least one course in literature. Study of the representation
of gender roles and gender hierarchy in literary
texts from various periods, societies, and cultures in
light of research and theory on gender, with attention
to gender as a topic for literary interpretation.
GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—II. Schiesari
139. Shakespeare and the Classical World
(4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
at least one course in literature. Shakespeare’s
representations of the classical world in the light of
selected ancient texts and Renaissance conceptions
of Antiquity, with special attention to the depiction of
politics and history. Offered in alternate years.—(II.)
Schein
140. Thematic and Structural Study of
Literature (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Interpretation
of selected works illustrating the historical evolution
of themes, as well as of formal and structural
elements. May be repeated for credit when substance
of course varies. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—
(II.)
141. Introduction to Critical Theoretical
Approaches to Literature and Culture (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
one upper division literature course or consent
of instructor. Introduction to critical theory and its use
for interpreting literary texts, film, and media forms
in our present global culture. (Same course as Critical
Theory 101.) GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—III. (III.)
142. Critical Reading and Analysis (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
consent of instructor. Close reading of selected
texts; scrutiny of very limited amount of material,
with attention to the problems of texts in translation.
144. The Grotesque (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
completion of Subject A requirement and at
least one course in literature. Study of the “grotesque”
in selected texts from the Renaissance to the
20th century, with attention to the “grotesque” as a
means of social, cultural, and political commentary,
as well as of aesthetic innovation. Offered in alternate
years. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—(I.)
145. Representations of the City (4)
Lecture—2 hours; discussion—1 hour; writing. Exploration
of the representation of the city in major translated
literary texts from a variety of literary traditions
and periods. Emphasis on the diversity of urban
experience in literature. Topics include public and
private space, memory, and gender. Offered in alternate
years. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—I. Sharlet
146. Myth in Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite: course 6
recommended. Comparative study of different versions
of one or more central myths, with attention to
their cultural settings, artistic and literary forms of
representation, as well as to their psychological
dimensions. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—(II.)
147. Modern Jewish Writers (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
completion of the Subject A requirement and
one lower division literature course. Problems of the
modern Jewish experience from the perspective of
the writer’s construction of the self in relation to the
future and to the non-Jew. Draws upon Russian, German,
Yiddish, and American traditions. GE credit:
ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—II. (III.) Schein
151. Colonial and Postcolonial Experience
in Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite: completion
of Subject A requirement and at least one
course in literature. A literary introduction to the cultural
issues of colonialism and postcolonialism
through reading, discussing and writing on narratives
which articulate diverse points of view. GE
credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—II. (III.) Blanchard, Larsen
152. Literature of the Americas (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
completion of Subject A requirement and at
least one course in literature. Study of the various stylistic,
historical, social and cultural factors that contribute
to a hemispheric vision of American literature,
encompassing works by Canadian, United States,
Caribbean, Brazilian, and Spanish-American writers.
Offered in alternate years. GE credit: ArtHum,
Div, Wrt.—I. (I.) Blanchard
153. The Forms of Asian Literature (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite:
upper division standing. Introduction to distinctive
Asian literary forms, such as haiku, noh, the
Chinese novel and tale, through reading of major
works. Comparison with Western genres and study
of native and Western critical traditions. GE credit:
ArtHum, Div, Wrt.
154. African Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite: completion
of Subject A requirement and at least one
course in literature. Pre- and post-colonial sub-
Saharan African literature and the African oral traditions
from which it emerged. Genres and themes of
African literature in the 19th and 20th centuries. GE
credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—III. (I.) Schildgen
157. War and Peace in Literature (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term papers. Prerequisite:
course 1, 2, or 3, or consent of instructor.
Through study of a few major works from Western
and non-Western literature the course seeks to illuminate
the way in which literature from antiquity to the
present has dealt with the antinomy peace/war
through the ages. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.
158. The Detective Story as Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Study of the origins,
literary and social background, development and
implications of the literature of detection in a comparative
context. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—I. Cannon
159. Women in Literature (4)
Lecture—3 hours; term paper. Prerequisite: course 1,
2, 3, or 4 or the equivalent recommended. Portrayals
of women in literature, comparing selected heroines
who represent a particular theme, period, or
genre. Texts range around the globe and from
ancient to modern works, such as Lysistrata, Emma,
Hedda Gabler, The Makioka Sisters, and Top Girls.
GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.
160A. The Modern Novel (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. The changing
image of man and his world as seen in novels by
such writers as Joyce, Proust, and Mann. GE credit:
ArtHum, Wrt.—III. (III.)
160B. The Modern Drama (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Readings
in representative authors such as Ibsen, Strindberg,
Chekhov, Pirandello and Brecht. GE credit: ArtHum,
Wrt.—I. (II.) Finney
161A. Tragedy (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Persistent
and changing aspects of the tragic vision in literature
from ancient times to the present. GE credit:
ArtHum, Wrt.
161B. Comedy (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Comic attitudes
towards life in literary works of different ages.
GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.
163. Biography and Autobiography (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Portrayals
of a human life in biographies and/or autobiographies
of different countries and ages. Offered in
alternate years. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—II. (I.)
164A. The Middle Ages (4)
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; term paper. Readings
in heroic epics, chivalric romances, and such major
authors as Dante and Chaucer, with emphasis on
shared assumptions concerning man’s place in the
world. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.—I.
Quarter Offered: I=Fall, II=Winter, III=Spring, IV=Summer; 2007-2008 offering in parentheses
General Education (GE) credit: ArtHum=Arts and Humanities; SciEng=Science and Engineering; SocSci=Social Sciences; Div=Social-Cultural Diversity; Wrt=Writing Experience