Catalog Description

Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Survey of world literature in translation from the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries. Includes representative works from major world literary cultures and eras, including post-colonial developments; explores literary traditions in defined cultural contexts. Incorporates analysis of the development of literary forms, developments and transformations of central themes, and developments in the historical, and cultural contexts of the literature. Includes cross-cultural analysis and exploration of cross-cultural influences in literary culture. Students may begin with either 47A or 47B. (C-ID ENGL 145) (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Identify, interpret, and analyze major and representative works of world literature from the 17th century to present in thematic, literary, cultural, social, political, and critical terms and compare the treatment of similar themes in contemporaneous work.
  • CSLO #2: Analyze the relationships between culture and historical period and literary form (genre), literary developments, and literary devices in each culture and society.
  • CSLO #3: Conduct independent research in historical and cultural contexts of individual authors and texts.

Effective Term

Fall 2018

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

1. Identify, interpret and analyze major and representative works of World Literature from the 17th Century to the present in thematic, literary, cultural, social, political, and critical terms.
2. Identify and analyze the major features of different genres, types, and eras of World Literature, including comparative analysis of cross-cultural themes.
3. Analyze the relationships between culture and literary form and literary developments in each culture and society.
4. Compare the treatment of similar themes in contemporaneous works of literature from across the world.
5. Identify central literary devices of each writer, era, and society and apply this knowledge to the interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of individual works of literature and authors, including major authors and selected minor authors from each historical period
 and each nation, culture and society.
6. Identify, interpret, and analyze the themes of individual texts and authors in context: e.g., history and historical processes, politics, culture, philosophy, religion, science, and literary trends and relationships.
7. Identify, interpret, analyze, and evaluate significant historical and cultural issues central to each historical period and to each society, including ideologies of class, gender, and national identity.
8. Conduct independent research in the historical and cultural contexts of individual authors and texts.
9. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate primary and secondary sources in literature.
10. Synthesize and generalize about themes and forms of literature across various historical periods, aesthetic developments, and works by various authors.
11. Communicate analyses, interpretations and critiques of single works or several works by the same author, or to several closely related texts in class discussion and in required essays and exams.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
    • AA/AS - Multicultural Studies
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C2 Humanities
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 3B Humanities

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: After a brief lecture and discussion related to earlier material, or before, students will respond informally to a conceptual question, discuss their responses in groups, and report back to the class. Discussions will generally receive full credit for fulfilling the assignment; evaluations may take participation into account. Example: In the late Tolstoy short story, "After the Ball," the central character, Ivan Vasilievich, recounts a disturbing episode from his past, an episode that has partly determined the direction of the rest of his life. What has shaken him and what was its effect? And what is the effect of the narrative point of view (that we see everything through Ivan's point of view)?
    • Essay Examinations
      • Example: For this question, assume that Goethe’s Faust explores the concept of desire and/or the will. Briefly describe what it has to say about that theme and do the same for any one of the following: from The Memoirs of Babur; from Satires (“How to Earn a Living in Hindustan”); from Japan’s Eternal Storehouse; or any one of the Turkish love poems (pp. 166-177). Then, briefly compare the two works in terms of this theme: what conclusion can you derive about the culture that produced each work and/or about their ultimate ideas concerning desire or the will? Please support your responses by reference to one or two central details from each text. Responses are evaluated in terms of focus, clarity, accuracy, and support (explanation, analysis, conclusions).
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: The objective examinations will consist of a limited number of factual questions on the major works, either as part of the midterm or final, or both or as a separate exam. Questions will ask students to identify details, quotations, or other aspects of the works and may involve a brief interpretation of the significance of the detail. Responses will be evaluated on factual accuracy and knowledge of the entire work. Sample questions: a) In "Things Fall Apart" why are Okonkwo and his family exiled from their village. b) At the end of the story, does the murder victim of the story "In a Grove" identify his murderer or not (in the scene devoted to the victim)?
    • Projects
      • Example: Research paper: Students will conduct independent research in contexts and criticism, related to one or two assigned major works/writers, and write an essay reflecting the results of the research. Essay will be analytical/argumentative in focus. Grade will assess skills in identification, interpretation, analysis, application of concepts/information, synthesis, and evaluation of sources. Sample topics An analysis of "Notes from Underground" and "The Metamorphosis" as explorations of alienation and the conditions of social life in their respective cultures.
    • Reports
      • Example: The idea of "escape" or transcendence has played a role in many works we've read this semester: some characters are unable to escape their situations, some have the opportunity to escape but don't take advantage of it, and some make successful escapes; others attempt to escape by transforming their society. Write a 4 page essay on the theme of "escape" in any two (or three) of the assigned readings: What cultural or social factors make escape possible (or impossible) in these works? Possibilities include, but are not limited to: "The Story of the Stone," "Things Fall Apart," "Faust," "Notes from the Underground," "The Psychiatrist," "Mother Courage and Her Children." Performance is evaluated in terms of focus, clarity, accuracy, and support (detail, analysis) according to a rubric developed for the course.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. Instructor assigns "Notes from Underground," and provides brief response questions in preparation for class. Instructor leads lecture and discussion of the work in terms of its cultural and literary context. Instructor divides students into groups to students to respond to the text in terms of its central themes and literary techniques, and facilitates large group discussion based on responses from these groups.

    Distance Learning

    1. Instructor leads discussion and lectures on "Rashomon" and "In a Grove" (Japan) in relationship to literary modernism and its concern with perception, the use of mythology, and cross-cultural influences. Instructor asks students individually or in groups, via discussion board on LMS, to compare these works to assigned texts from European, American, or Asian modernist literature and post their findings; instructor facilitates discussion of cultural understandings of knowledge, uncertainty, and the role of myth.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. Read Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' in preparation for class discussion, considering the following question: Achebe has stated that he wants to present the past as it was, rather than as a fantasy serving the needs of the present. Does the novel reflect these goals? 2. Read the selections from "The Story of the Stone" excerpted in The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Analyze the relationship between the supernatural and natural worlds and determine in your own view whether or not the writer presents these worlds as realities or as symbolic representations of states of mind or being.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. Essay question: For this question, assume that one central theme of "The Story of the Stone" is the nature of fate (or destiny) and individual choices and perceptions. Briefly describe what "The Story of the Stone" has to say about these themes and do the same for any one of the following works: "Jahangir" from The Memoirs of Jahangir; "Mir's" Autobiography; Half a Life by Barnasidas (all in the "Moghul" section). Then, briefly compare the two works in terms of this theme: what conclusion can you derive about the culture that produced each work and/or about their ultimate ideas concerning fate/choice? Support your claims about each work by reference to at least one specific detail. 2. Essay topic: Romantic love and the related subject of sexual desire are central themes of all literature; these themes also reflect or encode social conceptions of gender. For this topic, write a 4 page essay explore the theme of love and gender in any three of the following works: "The School for Wives," the libretto to "Don Giovanni"; "The Story of the Stone"; "The Tale of Kieu"; any of the Turkish love poems; any poem of Ghalib; or any relevant work from “Court Culture and Female Authorship.” Can you draw any conclusions about the conceptions of gender in the cultures represented by your selected texts, basing your response on the readings, on the course materials, and discussions.

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    Required Materials

    • The Norton Anthology of World Literature Vol. 2
      • Author: Puchner, Martin, general editor
      • Publisher: WW Norton & Company
      • Publication Date: 2012
      • Text Edition: 3rd
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • The Longman Anthology of World Literature Vol. 2
      • Author: Damrosch, David, general editor
      • Publisher: Pearson
      • Publication Date: 2008
      • Text Edition: 2nd
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.