Lower Division Courses
Comparative Literature 001. Major Books of Western Culture: The Ancient World (4 units)
Section |
Instructor |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
Linda Matheson |
TR 12:10-2:00P |
267 Olson Hall |
17864 |
002 |
Anna Einarsdottir |
TR 2:10-4:00P |
105 Wellman Hall |
17865 |
003 |
Deb Young | MW 2:10-4:00P | 207 Wellman Hall | 17866 |
Course Description: An introduction, through class discussion and frequent written assignments, to some of the great books of western civilization from The Epic of Gilgamesh to St. Augustine's The Confessions. This course may be counted toward satisfaction of the English Composition Requirement in all three undergraduate colleges. Limited to 25 students per section; pre-enrollment is strongly advised. Emphasis is on classroom discussion of the readings, supplemented by occasional lectures. Students write papers and take a final examination.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
(Note: This course cannot be used to satisfy a college or university composition requirement and GE writing experience simultaneously).
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.
Sample Readings (vary from section to section):
The New Oxford Annotated Bible; Homer, The Odyssey; Virgil, The Aeneid; Plato, The Symposium; The Epic of Gilgamesh; St. Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions; Sophocles, Antigone; Salvatore Alloso, A Short Handbook for Writing Essays about Literature.
Comparative Literature 002. Major Books of Western Culture: From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (4 units)
Section |
Instructor |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
Amanda Batarseh |
MW 2:10-4:00P |
105 Wellman Hall |
17867 |
002 |
Jeffrey Weiner |
TR 4:10-6:00P |
90 Social Sciences Building |
17868 |
003 | Sara Petrosillo | MW 4:10-6:00P | 1130 Bainer Hall |
45097 |
Course Description: An introduction to some major works from the medieval period to the "Enlightenment"; close readings and discussion, supplemented with short lectures to provide cultural and generic contexts. May be counted toward satisfaction of the English Composition requirement in all three undergraduate colleges. Limited to 25 students per section; pre-enrollment is strongly advised. Emphasis is on classroom discussion of the readings, supplemented by occasional lectures. Students write short papers and take a final examination.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
(Note: This course cannot be used to satisfy a college or university composition requirement and GE writing experience simultaneously).
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.
Sample Readings (vary from section to section):
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote; Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method; William Shakespeare, Othello; Dante, The Inferno; Beowulf ; Salvatore Alloso, A Short Handbook for Writing Essays about Literature.
Comparative Literature 003. Major Books of Western Culture: The Modern Crisis (4 units)
Section |
Instructor |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
Jeremy Konick-Seese |
MW 4:10-6:00P |
1342 Storer Hall |
17870 |
002 |
Magnus Snaebjoernsson |
TR 4:10-6:00P |
235 Wellman Hall |
17871 |
003 | Jeffrey Weiner | TR 12:10-2:00P | 293 Kerr Hall |
17872 |
004 Honors |
Celine Piser | @ | @ | @ |
Course Description: An introduction, through class discussion and the writing of short papers, to some of the great books of the modern age, from Goethe's Faust to Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Limited to 25 students per section; pre-enrollment is strongly advised. Emphasis is on classroom discussion of the readings, supplemented by occasional lectures. Students write short papers and take a final examination.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
(Note: This course cannot be used to satisfy a college or university composition requirement and GE writing experience simultaneously).
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.
Sample Readings (vary from section to section):
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust (Part One); Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents; Franz Kafka, The Trial; Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot; Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment ; Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own; Salvatore Alloso, A Short Handbook for Writing Essays about Literature.
Comparative Literature 004. Major Books of the Contemporary World (4 units)
Section |
Instructor |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
Amy RIddle |
MW 2:10-4:00P |
107 Wellman Hall |
17873 |
002 |
Sean Sell |
MW 8:00-9:50A |
244 Olson Hall |
17874 |
003 | D Dayton | TR 4:10-6:00P | 107 Wellman Hall |
17875 |
Course Description: Comparative study of selected major Western and non-Western texts composed in the period from 1945 to the present. Limited to 25 students per section; pre-enrollment is strongly advised. Emphasis is on classroom discussion of the readings, supplemented by occasional lectures. Students write short papers and take a final examination.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
(Note: This course cannot be used to satisfy a college or university composition requirement and GE writing experience simultaneously).
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.
Sample Readings (vary from section to section):
Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; Jhumpa Lahari, The Namesake; J.M. Coetzee, Foe: A Novel; Elfriede Jelinek, Women As Lovers; Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North; Jose Saramago, The Cave; Alice Notley, Descent of Alette.
Comparative Literature 005. Fairy Tales, Fables and Parables (4 units)
Noha Radwan
Lecture:
TR 7:30-8:50A
100 Hunt Hall
Discussion Sections:
Disc. Section |
Discussion Leader |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
01 |
Elizabeth Matthews |
W 5:10-6:00P |
80 Social Sciences Building |
43982 |
02 |
Elizabeth Matthews |
W 6:10-7:00P |
80 Social Sciences Building |
43983 |
03 |
Carmine Morrow |
R 5:10-6:00P |
226 Wellman Hall |
43984 |
04 |
Carmine Morrow |
R 6:10-7:00P | 226 Wellman Hall |
43985 |
05 |
Dorothee Hou |
F 10:00-10:50A | 101 Olson Hall |
43986 |
06 |
Dorothee Hou |
F 11:00-11:50A | 101 Olson Hall |
43987 |
Course Description: This course is an introduction to fairy tales, fables, and parables as recurrent forms in literature, emphasizing the origin of these popular or “folk” genres, and following their development into modern forms. The class surveys social, political, psychological, and literary elements of these genres in their various incarnations throughout time and space.
Prerequisite: None.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.
Textbooks:
- The Classic Fairy Tales, edited by Maria Tatar (W.W. Norton & Company, 1999)
- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan: Peter and Wendy and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (Penguin Classics, 2004)
Comparative Literature 006. Myths and Legends (4 units)
Cheri Ross
Lecture:
MWF 1:10-2:00P
2 Wellman Hall
Discussion Sections:
Disc. Section |
Discussion Leader |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
Young Hui |
W 4:10-5:00P |
244 Olson Hall |
17877 |
002 |
Young Hui |
W 5:10-6:00P |
244 Olson Hall |
17878 |
003 |
Tianya Wang |
R 5:10-6:00P |
141 Olson Hall |
17879 |
004 |
Tianya Wang |
R 6:10-7:00P |
141 Olson Hall |
17880 |
005 |
Nicholas Talbott |
F 10:00-10:50A |
229 Wellman Hall |
17881 |
006 |
Nicholas Talbott |
F 11:00-11:50A |
229 Wellman Hall |
17882 |
Course Description: Myths and legends are the most ancient and yet most influential stories worldwide. In different ways, across various cultures, myths and legends express ideas about humans in relationship to phenomena and experiences higher and greater than the mundane: connecting everyday experience both to metaphysical realms and to the natural world. Myths and legends also express deep thought about the complexities of human experience: moral values and obligations (often conflicting ones), insiders and outsiders, individual and community.
Prerequisite: None.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.
Textbooks:
- Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by W.S. Merwin (Knopf, 2004)
- Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald (Mariner Books, 2002)
- William Shakespeare, Four Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth (Signet Classics, 1998)
- Anonymous, Gilgamesh [The New English Version], translated by Stephen Mitchell (Atria Books, 2004)
Comparative Literature 010L. Master Authors: Mental Health and Emotional Regimes (2 units)
Patrick Cabell
Section |
Day / Time |
Room |
CRN |
001 |
M 2:10-4:00P |
103 Wellman Hall |
17889 |
002 |
T 2:10-4:00P |
207 Wellman Hall |
17890 |
Course Description: Designed primarily to acquaint the non-literature major with a cross-section of writings by the world's most important authors; readings in English translation. Winter topic: "Mental Health and Emotional Regimes." May be repeated for credit in different subject area.
COM 10 is a 2-unit reading course without a writing requirement, taken for Pass/No Pass.
Grading: PASS/NO PASS (P/NP) ONLY.
Prerequisite: None.
GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): None.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 2 hours.
Textbooks:
- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood, translated by Jay Rubin (Vintage Books, 2000)
- Sianne Ngai, Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting (Harvard University Press, 2015)
- The Affect Theory Reader, edited by Melissa Gregg and Gregory J. Seigworth (Duke University Press, 2010)
- Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star [Second Edition], translated by Benjamin Moser (New Directions, 2011)
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016)
- Shulamith Firestone, Airless Spaces (Semiotext(e), 1998)
Upper Division Courses
Comparative Literature 110. Hong Kong Cinema (4 units)
Sheldon Lu
Lecture:
TR 1:40-3:00P
55 Roessler Hall
Film Viewing:
R 5:10-8:00P
55 Roessler Hall
CRN 17894
Course Description: This course is a study of the cinema of Hong Kong, a cultural crossroads between East and West. Students examine the history, genres, styles, stars, and major directors of Hong Kong cinema in reference to the city's multi-linguistic, colonial, and postcolonial environment. The course pays special attention to Hong Kong cinema's interactions with and influences on other filmic traditions such as Hollywood and Asian cinema. Topics will include: characteristics of Hong Kong cinema as a local, regional, and global cinema; historical evolution of film genres and styles; major directors and stars; film adaption of literary works about Hong Kong; Hong Kong cinema's international influence.
Prerequisite: Upper division standing or consent of instructor (shlu@ucdavis.edu).
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Film Viewing - 3 hours.
Textbooks:
There are two required reading materials, each of which has their method of access listed beneath them:
1. David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment [2nd Edition] (Irvington Way Institute Press, 2011)
The Bordwell text is available only as an Adobe PDF file at http://www.davidbordwell.net/books/planethongkong.php.
2. Blackwell Companion to Hong Kong Cinema, edited by Esther Cheung, Gina Marchetti and Esther Yau (Wiley Blackwell Books, 2015)
The Blackwell Companion is available as an e-book in the UC Davis library system.
Comparative Literature 141. Introduction to Comparative Critical Theory (4 units)
Joshua Clover
TR 10:30-11:50A
110 Hunt Hall
CRN 17895
Course Description: This course will be a relatively broad and historically grounded introduction to critical theory. It will leave a lot out because there is a lot of critical theory and each takes time and commitment to get a handle on. In general, we will read in pairs, with a foundational thinker and a modern theorist. Along the way we will occasionally apply theoretical approaches to literary texts. For the final paper, students will select a literary text from an extensive list and bring it into conversation with one of our theorists. All students will take turns leading class discussions. Grades based on preparation, contribution to discussion, and final project. Theorists will include Marx/Adorno, Freud/Lacan, materialist feminism/Butler, Hegel/Fanon. Students should expect this course to feature a heavy work load.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbook:
- Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction [2nd Edition] (Oxford University Press, 2011)
Comparative Literature 146. Myth in Literature (4 units)
Cheri Ross
MWF 11:00-11:50A
163 Olson Hall
CRN 43989
Course Description: This course will investigate a selection of classical myths whose characters, plots, and/or themes are re-envisioned and reworked by later writers, visual artists, and filmmakers. The emphasis will be on close reading/viewing, analysis, and interpretation through sustained, guided discussion, supplemented by short lectures to provide historical, cultural and literary formal contexts.
Prerequisite: Comparative Literature 006 recommended.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- TBA
Comparative Literature 160B. The Modern Drama (4 units)
Gail Finney
TR 1:40-3:00P
163 Olson Hall
CRN 43990
Course Description: The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the phenomenon of modernism in the theater through close study of selected plays, criticism, and theoretical writings by some of its major representatives. Dramatists such as Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, Elizabeth Robins, George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett will be studied.
Prerequisite: None.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- TBA
Comparative Literature 164A. The European Middle Ages (4 units)
Brenda Deen Schildgen
TR 12:10-1:30P
1342 Storer Hall
CRN 43991
Course Description: Focusing on the formal development of medieval literary genres as the foundation for “modern” literary forms, this course discusses the major topics, themes, and conventions (love, God, vision, nature, history and politics, sign theory) of the period. The course will explore questions of cultural conformity, convergence, syncretism, and divergence in the medieval mixture of philosophical, religious, and literary traditions, particularly the intermingling of Islamic, ancient Greco-Roman, Hellenistic-Hebraic roots and medieval Christian civilization.
Prerequisite: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement.
GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- Peter Abelard, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, translated by Betty Radice (Penguin Books, 2004)
- Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, translated by Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella (Signet Classics, 2010)
- Marie de France, The Lais of Marie de France, translated by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby (Penguin Classics, 1999)
- Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, translated by William W. Kibler and Carleton W. Carroll (Penguin Classics, 1991)
- Fernando de Rojas, The Celestina, translated by Lesley Byrd Simpson (University of California Press, 2007)
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Bantam Classics, 1982)
- Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, translated by Earl Jeffrey Richards (Persea, 1998)
- Dante Alighieri, Vita Nuova, translated by Barbara Reynolds (Penguin Books, 2004)
Graduate Courses
Comparative Literature 210. Imagined Communities and the 19th Century European Novel (4 units)
Olga Stuchberukhov
M 2:10-5:00P
203 Wellman Hall
CRN 17934
Course Description: Comparative, interpretive study of the treatment of specific topics and themes in literary works from various periods, societies, and cultures, in light of these works' historical and sociocultural contexts. May be repeated for credit when topic differs.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Comparative Literature, English, or a foreign-language literature, or consent of instructor (oastuch@ucdavis.edu).
Format: Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- TBA