Course Descriptions

This course examines representations of male relationships in literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and film. Ranging from classical texts such as the Bible and Cicero's "De Amicitia," to the cinema of Almodovar and Truffaut, we will study the rhetorical and social construction of male friendship and its relationship to gender, class and cultural politics. Texts will be drawn from the following literary and critical works: Aristotle, Martial, Montaigne, Balzac, Twain, Whitman, Nietzche, Freud, D.H. Lawrence, Waugh, Ben Jalloun, Alan Bennett, and Derrida.

"Immigrants, we get the job done!" – thus sings the chorus in the Broadway smash-hit Hamilton. Essentially a nation of immigrants, the United States has long been considered a land of opportunity. But what does it take to succeed here? In this course, we study narratives (memoirs, novels, poems, feature and documentary films, a play, a graphic novel, and a musical) about and by those who came to this country during the last 100 years—be it eagerly, reluctantly or clandestinely—to understand processes of assimilation and acculturation. At the same time, we will examine the premises and practices of comparative literature as a discipline that has been largely shaped by immigrant scholars.

This course will examine the experiences of exile and immigration through the art, literature and films of individuals who have left their homelands or who were born in exile and immigration. In addition to such authors as Homer and Eva Hoffman, we will read Caribbean, Asian-American, and Black British writers. We will address questions of identity and alterity (belonging vs. 'unbelonging', home vs. exile, assimilation vs. hybridisation), and we will explore such concepts as diaspora, migrancy, displacement, and home.

Translation has been a target of censorship and control over several centuries. In this course, we will use Ukraine as a case study to trace and discuss the relationship between translation and censorship, with close references to other countries of Eastern Europe, in particular the Baltic states under Soviet rule and those belonging to soviet bloc, such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc., as well as new countries appeared in the place of old Soviet entities.   

The course will function as a specialized workshop for students who would like to explore the craft of literary translation. In addition to opportunity to hone their translation skill by practicing the craft, students will get the chance to take part in discussions about the merit and quality of works of literary translation by studying and providing feedback on translations prepared by their peers. Occasionally, the instructor will distribute short samples of published translations or selections of texts of translation theory for consideration, to complement questions that emerge from classroom discussion

The course takes a multi-dimensional look at translation as an arena and reflection of (post)colonial situation, with multiple case studies. We will get to know the theories of postcolonial translation, the features and tricks of translation as a "channel of colonization." We'll consider the topics of decolonizing translation from the 18th to the early 21st century based on case studies conducted around the globe, revisit the concept of world literature, and reconsider translational imagination.

In his book, What is World literature?, David Damroch argues that world literature is not a canon of texts but rather a mode of circulation and reading that gains in translation. Sufism, often referred to in English as "Islamic mysticism", has long appealed to many literary traditions and informed multiple aesthetic projects around the globe –evolving in significance as it circulated through translation. This course offers an introduction to Sufism as world literature. It explores its universal appeal (in such languages as Arabic, English, Persian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu etc.) and its many aesthetic manifestations and transformations around the world. In addition to the thematic, the course offers an extensive and diverse (but not exhaustive) survey of Sufism's impact on literary genres.

Some of the questions we will ask in this course include: what happens to Sufi concepts when they cross linguistic borders? Can we speak of multiple literary Sufisms? What about Sufism appealed to various authors? How did authors incorporate Sufi elements into their craft? What kind of worldview did it help them develop? How did literary adaptations of Sufism map over already-existing local mystical and aesthetic traditions?

Advanced reading ability in a second language is preferred but not required as all class materials are available in English.

This course is an introduction to the history of feminism in the Arab world from the 19th century to the present. It examines some of the most important socioeconomic and political issues as well as aesthetic trends that were or continue to be central to feminist activism and cultural production in the region. Throughout the term students will engage with a wide range of primary sources (newspaper articles and op-eds, memoirs, novels, poems, photographs and films) that will help them develop a nuanced and critical understanding of the diverse and dynamic experiences of women in the Arab world.

Environmental crises are occurring around the world at a rate never seen before. Lake Chad. Indonesia. The DRC. Martinique. The Niger Delta. These places have become tragically associated with most of the ecological issues threatening our planet. In this course, we will turn to recent texts and media to investigate the extent of rising waters and displacement, drought and exodus, pollution, and deforestation, as such and as linked to human rights, in an attempt to understand the violence of the contemporary crises playing out in locations already plagued with inequalities and human rights violations. In our analysis, we will also consider the rise of climate migration and what it means for the future of these regions, as well as what literature has to offer to represent environmental crises.