Department of Comparative and World Literature
San Francisco State University

 

 
  Course Descriptions Fall 2006  
     
 

*CWL 214  SECOND YEAR WRITTEN COMPOSITION:  WORLD LITERATURE

Selected focus on a major author, genre or theme germane to the  literatures and cultures of the 20th-century.  This course will emphasize training in expository and analytic writing with a view to preparing students for advanced study in literature, especially comparative literature.  By reflecting on the diversity of world’s literatures, we will examine texts that require us to write and think imaginatively about human experience.

1410-1525      M W                      CALKINS

  
     
 

* CWL 230 INTRODUCTION TO WORLD LITERATURE

This course is an introduction to the literature of the world from the earliest literature to about 1600; it is also an introduction to literary studies more generally. Surveying a vast array of texts varying in time, place, genre, and purpose, we will pay particular attention to how these writings both represent and create cultural identities, while also indulging in the joy and challenge of contemporary close reading.

1100-1215       T TH                    KHANMOHAMADI

  
     
 

*CWL 250  FABLES AND TALES

Analysis and discussion of a major narrative tradition.  Narrative forms such as the animal fable, fairy tale, and remarkable voyage; central themes and techniques in the traditio of didactic and fantastic fiction.

1310-1400      M W F                   CALKINS     

1100-1215      T TH                      SAMMONS

1610-1855      TUE                      WINEGARDEN

  
     
 

*CWL 260  MYTHS OF THE WORLD

 This course is an introduction to myths from around the globe as well  as an  introduction to the study of myth in general.  Reading a vast  array of  texts both closely andcritically, we will pay particular  attention to how these stories both represent and create cultural  identities, while also exploring the place of myth in our modern world.

1010-1100      M W F                   JOHNSON

1235-1350      T TH                      CALKINS

  
     
 

CWL 400 APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Gateway to undergraduate study in comparative literature. History of comparing literature, contemporary methods, materials for comparative literary studies, literary and critical theory and practice.             

1210-1300      MWF                   JOHNSON

  
     
 

CWL 420.1 TRAVEL AND THE LITERARY IMAGINATION

This course will consider the relationship between travel and literary invention in a variety of pre-modern fictional and non- fictional canonical texts. Why are so many literary representations inspired by notions of an other-world? How do these other-world spaces function for narrative movement and significance? What do imaginative texts of cultural encouner reveal about notions of the home and the foreign? What differentiates imaginative representations of cultural encounter from their 'realistic' forms?

1510-1625      T TH                    KHANMOHAMADI

  
     
 

*CWL 430 HERO TALES - MEDITERRANEAN

Ancient, medieval and modern hero tales and epics are the primary sources. Reading and discussion will challenge students to identify characteristics unique to the tales of specific cultures as well as those held in common by the cultures which have occupied the eastern Mediterranean and Near East over the past 4000 years. Readings include tales and epics from several literatures, including Persia, Turkey, Israel/Palestine, Greece, Babylon, and Assyria

1235-1350      T TH                    MILLET

  
     
 

CWL 800 INTRODUCTION TO GRADUATE STUDY IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Examination of theories and problems in the comparative approach to literary study. Emphasis on the definition and function of comparative literature; introduction to graduate study; and introduction to literary theory (especially structuralism, deconstruction, feminism, and cultural studies).

1610-1855       WED                    KHANMOHAMADI

  
     
 

CWL 825 ADVANCED STUDY IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Synthesizing prior knowledge about theory and practice of comparative literature; developing scholarly and professional skills for culminating experience and beyond; exploring post-M.A. paths.

1610-1855      TUE                    JOHNSON

  

 

* Approved for General Education  

 

Updated June 15, 2006