Winter 2018

Lower Division Courses

Comparative Literature 001. Major Books of Western Culture: The Ancient World (4 units)

  Click on each instructor's name to learn more about the course section the instructor is teaching

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.

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Comparative Literature 002. Major Books of Western Culture: From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (4 units)

  Click on each instructor's name to learn more about the course section the instructor is teaching

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.

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Comparative Literature 003. Major Books of Western Culture: The Modern Crisis (4 units)

  Click on each instructor's name to learn more about the course section the instructor is teaching

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.

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Comparative Literature 004. Major Books of the Contemporary World (4 units)

  Click on each instructor's name to learn more about the course section the instructor is teaching

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.

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Comparative Literature 005. Fairy Tales, Fables and Parables (4 units)
Cheryl Ross

Lecture:
TR 9:00-10:20A
160 Scrub Oak Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: Myths and legends are the most ancient and yet most influential stories worldwide. In different ways, myths and legends express ideas about being human 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. These stories have inspired countless adaptations of literature and visual arts (and, more recently, film). In this course we will investigate a selection of myths and legends along with some later reworkings of these stories. We will also explore some major analytic approaches to such texts and practice our own interpretive and argumentative skills on these compelling, foundational works.

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)
• Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus  (Pantheon Books, 1996)
• L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  (Dover Books, 1996)

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Comparative Literature 007. Literature of Fantasy and the Supernatural (4 units)
Timothy Parrish

Lecture:
TR 12:10-1:30P
1002 Giedt Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: The course catalog says we will be looking into the role of fantasy and the supernatural in literature: tales of magic, hallucination, ghosts, and metamorphosis. At the same time, we will also be paying attention to literary form and to the magical transformations that form enacts when the text suddenly becomes “meta” or “other” from itself. The goal of the course is to read fun, challenging works of literature and live in them a little, even if some of the stories are strange and the characters a trifle obsessed. Likely authors include Poe, Bolaño, Borges, Cortázar, James, Nabokov, Gogol, Spark, Pirandello, Kafka, and Saramago.

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:

• Roberto Bolaño, Amulet, translated by Chris Andrews  (New Directions Books, 2008)
• Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings  (New Directions Books, 2007)
• Julio Cortazar, Blow-Up: And Other Stories, translated by Paul Blackburn  (Pantheon Press, 1985)
• Henry James, The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories  (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Cormac McCarthy, The Road  (Vintage Books, 2006)
• Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, translated by Dmitri Nabokov  (Vintage Books, 1989)
• Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays, translated by Mark Musa  (Penguin Classics, 1996)
• Muriel Spark, The Comforters  (New Directions Books, 2014)
• Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five  (Dell Publishing, 1991)

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Comparative Literature 010B. Master Authors (2 units)
Young Hui

Course Description: Storytelling is a cultural and social activity that conveys events in words, images, and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment in oral form. It is one of the most traditional ways to pass information and knowledge from the older generation to the younger generation. Even to this day, young children still receive their first implicit lesson through the process of storytelling. In this course, we will explore the power of storytelling and its effects in World literature. We will examine the particular structure and patterns that are shared by storytellers around the world and the impact on its audience. All the readings will be in modern English translation.

This is a reading course primarily designed to acquaint the non-literature major with a cross-section of writings by the world’s most important authors. This course does not fulfill the university writing requirement; therefore, no essays will be assigned. However, in-class writing exercises will be assigned to stimulate in-class discussions.

Pass/No Pass grading only. May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): None.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 2 hours.

Textbooks:

• The Arabian Nights [New Deluxe Edition], translated by Husain Haddawy  (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008)
• The Book of Chuang Tzu, translated by Martin Palmer, et al.  (Penguin Classics, 2007)
• Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, translated by Guido Waldman  (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star [2nd Edition], translated by Benjamin Moser  (New Directions Books, 2011)

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Comparative Literature 053A. Literatures of East Asia (4 units) 
Zhen Zhang

MWF 10:00-10:50A
251 Olson Hall
CRN 74391

Course Description: This course surveys major works of Chinese and Japanese literature in English translation in the modern period in the context of world literature. Students examine the history, religious systems, literary forms and major authors of modern East Asia in comparison with non-Asian literary trends and authors. We will cover issues such as tradition and modern, regional and global, Asia and the world, revolution and evolution, as well as colonialism and post-colonialism. The works include: Lu Xun’s A Madman’s Diary, Yu Dafu’s Sinking, Ding Ling’s The Diary of Miss Sophie, Xiao Hong’s Hands, Eileen Chang’s Sealed Off, Mo Yan’s Big Breasts and Wide Hips, as well as Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun, Shusaku Endo’s Silence, Yoko Tawada’s The Naked Eye.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Comparative Literature 053C. Literatures of the Islamic World (4 units) 
Jocelyn Sharlet

TR 1:40-3:00P
1132 Bainer Hall
CRN 74392

Course Description: This course will explore major works of literature in translation from the Islamic World, mainly Arabic and Persian and also Urdu, Ottoman Turkish and other languages. We will read stories and poetry from diverse genres on themes of the individual, the family, the journey, spirituality, desire, politics, ethics, gender, myth and magic. Our work will address the social, historical, literary, religious and cross-cultural context of the works that we read. We will also investigate the arts of the book and the relationship between text and performance. Students will make one three-minute presentation and write one four-page essay and the final exam.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Texts available in a reader or on Canvas:
  • Selections from The Fables of Kalilah and Dimnah by Ibn al-Muqaffa’, translated by Saleh Jallad
  • Historical anecdotes about the princess Hind bint Nu’man, the caliph’s wife Umm Salama, the caliph Harun al-Rashid, the minister and companion Ja’far al-Barmaki, the slave woman singer ‘Arib, and the caliph al-Mutawakkil
  • “The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad, His Vizier’s Daughter” and “The Story of the Three Apples” from The Arabian Nights, translated by Hussain Haddawy
  • Arabic poetry by poets such as Imru’ al-Qays, al-Khansa’, Majnun Layla, Layla al-Akhyaliyya, Abu Nuwas, ‘Inan, al-Buhturi, al-Mutanabbi, Ibn ‘Arabi (tr. Michael Sells), and ‘Aisha al-Ba’uniyya, translated by Geert Van Gelder or Jocelyn Sharlet
  • "The King of Hamaveran and his Daughter Sudabeh" and “The Tale of Sohrab” from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis
  • Selections from ‘Attar, The Conference of the Birds, translated by Dick Davis
  • Selections from Nizami, Haft Paykar (the story of Bahram Gur), translated by Julie Meisami
  • Persian poetry by poets such as Rumi (translated by Lewis) and Hafez, Jahan Malek Khatun, and ‘Obayd-e Zaqani, translated by Dick Davis
  • Ottoman Turkish poetry by poets such as Fuzuli, Baqi, and Mihri Khatun, translated by Mehmet Kalpakli and Najaat Black
  • Urdu poetry by poets such as Mir, Sauda, Zauq, and Ghalib, translated by D. J. Matthews and Christopher Shackle

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Upper Division Courses

Comparative Literature 110. Hong Kong Cinema (4 units)
Sheldon Lu

Lecture:
TR 1:40-3:00P
234 Wellman Hall

Film Viewing:
R 5:10-8:00P
206 Olson Hall

CRN 48057

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: Completion of Entry-Level Writing (formerly Subject A) Requirement, upper division standing or consent of instructor (shlu@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural 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.

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Comparative Literature 161A. Tragedy (4 units)
Gail Finney

MWF 9:00-9:50A
1038 Wickson Hall
CRN 74393

Course Description: The course will study the formal features of tragic drama around the world and the ways they change from ancient Greek culture to the present. We will investigate enduring concerns of the tragic, such as guilt and redemption, the role of family relationships, and the tension between individual will and fate / divine power / sociohistorical forces. We will also explore what the term “tragedy” has come to mean in contemporary America.

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

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Comparative Literature 166. Literature of the Modern Middle East (4 units)
Amy Motlagh

MWF 11:00-11:50A
293 Kerr Hall
CRN 74394

Course Description: The history of prose fiction in the Middle East is one deeply intertwined with the political struggles of the last century and the current one: the end of European colonialism, the rise of ethnic nationalisms, the continuing fallout of the now global “war on terror,” and a series of recent popular uprisings (the Green Revolution, the Arab Spring, the Gezi Park protests) that have largely been suppressed.  The necessity of reading these texts in translation opens up space to engage issues of audience and reception, examining the motivations for translation and questioning why some texts remain local in circulation while others acquire the status of “world literature”. Finally, we will examine the politics of our own reading and writing practices in relationship to those showcased in the texts we engage in class. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to deepen their understanding of the word “political” to include dimensions of language, gender, and culture.

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:

• Amos Oz, In the Land of Israel  (Mariner Books, 1993)
• Alaa Al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building: A Novel, translated by Humphrey Davies  (Harper Perennial, 2006)
• Orhan Pamuk, Snow  (Vintage International, 2005)
• Anton Shammas, Arabesques: A Novel, translated by Vivian Eden  (University of California Press, 2001)
• Zoya Pirzad, The Space Between Us, translated by Amy Motlagh  (Oneworld Publications, 2014)

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Comparative Literature 168B. Realism and Naturalism (4 units)
Timothy Parrish

TR 3:10-4:30P
1 Wellman Hall
CRN 74395

Course Description: For many readers, the period of realism represents the novel’s highest achievement. We will begin with genre-defining classics of the form, Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady and Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. Both works feature a deceptively heightened style depicting a world that may resemble that of the contemporary reader, but is in fact governed by the highly aestheticized world created by the author. Other writers to be read include Eca de Queirós, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Cather, Zola, Ibsen and Balzac, who, perhaps more than any other Euro-American novelist, established the world of the realist novel. Each work concerns an individual’s capacity to create his/her life through their choices set in balance with the expectations of their society. To probe the possibilities and dangers of free will, protagonists were frequently female, and how novelists of the period imagined women will be one of our recurring subjects. Although written over a century ago, these works remain powerful, rewarding reading experiences which remain relevant to understanding our own choices and our contemporary moment. Two essay exams and a longish paper. No prerequisites, no instructor permission required. My assumption is that reading literature is at heart a joy and an act of discovery.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (tlparrish@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Honore de Balzac, Old Man Goriot, translated by Olivia McCannon  (Penguin Classics, 2011)
• Willa Cather, A Lost Lady  (Vintage Classics, 1990)
• Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, translated by Geoffrey Wall  (Penguin Classics, 2002)
• Henrik Ibsen, Four Major Plays, translated by James MacFarlane  (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady  (Penguin Classics, 2011)
• José Maria Eça de Queirós, The Yellow Sofa, translated by John Vetch  (New Directions Classics, 1996)
• Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky  (Vintage Classics, 2012)
• Émile Zola, Thérèse Raquin, translated by Robin Buss  (Penguin Classics, 2005)

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Graduate Courses

Comparative Literature 210. Histories of Reading and the Book (4 units)
Yuming He

M 2:10-5:00P
822 Sproul Hall
CRN 48097

Course Description: The specific dynamics of production, marketing, and circulation of reading materials, especially printed materials, along with the various modes of their reception and use, are central to our understanding of early modern cultures. In this course, we will read a range of works in the field of histories of reading and the book, addressing issues such as the culture and technology of printing, texts as physical artifacts and semantic matrices, readers’ motivations and strategies for engaging with books, print as a mode of knowing and seeing, the emergence of new genres of printed materials, and the values, life styles, and tastes that books, and more generally printed materials, came to shape and embody in early modern East Asia and Europe.

While the primary focus in this course will be on the early modern period, we will maintain an open-ended and experimental attitude toward our readings and discussions. Topics of discussion are open to adaptation based on the specific interests of students taking the course.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Comparative Literature, English, or a foreign-language literature, or consent of instructor (ymhe@ucdavis.edu).

Format: Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA