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Regular version of the site

Comparative History of Literature

2022/2023
Academic Year
ENG
Instruction in English
6
ECTS credits
Course type:
Compulsory course
When:
4 year, 1, 2 module

Instructors


Delazari, Ivan

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course, which culminates the core curriculum in Russian and World Literature, consists of three distinct portions. The first module will establish key theoretical concepts and methodologies in literary history and comparative literature, with the aim of reassessing and going beyond traditional perspectives. We will build on this foundation in the second and third modules, while focusing on two particularly rich, transnational historical movements: the “realism” of the nineteenth century and the “surrealism” that began in Paris in the 1920s. Throughout the course considerable emphasis will be placed on the interaction between literature and other artistic media, including music, painting, and cinema.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • The overall objective of this course is to provide students with theoretical tools and material substance for coparative analysis of trends, authors, and texts across national, cultural, and medial borders.
  • Retracing the material of the entire Program's literary curriculum, the course enables students to obtain and finalize a panomaric view over the cultural and literary scene of the 19th to 21st centuries, as well as revise and sharpen their critical thinking about methods in comparative literature studies.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • analyzes, relates, and compares literary texts across lingual and cultural borders
  • demonstrates a potential for undertaking independent research in the area of comparative literature studies
  • questions and thinks critically about the historical, cultural, formal, ideological, and medial distinctions accepted normatively in comparative literature studies and related disciplines within arts and humanities
  • understands and explains articulately the central theoretical concepts that account for literary relationships among several national traditions of the last two centuries in comparative terms
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • The Indiscipline of Comparison—Looking Back from the Twenty-First Century
  • The Political Unconscious of Nineteenth-Century Realism in Literature and Art
  • Surrealism and Its Global Legacy
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking In-Class Participation
    Student are expected to attend all classes and participate in seminar discussions. During the tutorials, students demonstrate that they have read the texts assigned for homework by responding to the course instructor’s warm-up introduction of the topic, answering questions, commenting, and asking further questions to engage the class in a meaningful conversation
  • non-blocking Test
    Online tests, 10 questions each, via LMS
  • non-blocking Essay
    At the end of the first module, students submit a short comparative essay - 5 pages maximum (Times New Roman, 12 pt., double-spaced).
  • non-blocking Online contribution
    Throughout the course, students submit various assignments to the course participants’ LMS forum (new topics, replies to topics and other students’ posts, attaching extra materials for others to see).
  • non-blocking Seminar presentation
    In the second and third module, each student will make one 10-15 min. presentation (in English), focusing closely on one text from the assignment for that week. The presentation should avoid background information and summarization of the text; instead students should present a sustained argument with a strong thesis. The presentation should conclude with a question (or two) addressed to the class for further discussion.
  • non-blocking Final research paper
    7-8 pages (Times New Roman, 12 pt., double-spaced). At the end of the third module, students submit a research paper on a topic directly related to the content of the course. The important thing is the sophistication of your analytical approach. Therefore, you should refer to at least 1-2 of the theoretical/scholarly works from the syllabus (or other equally important theoretical/scholarly works).
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2022/2023 2nd module
    0.7 * Essay + 0.3 * Test
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Behdad, A., & Thomas, D. R. D. (2011). A Companion to Comparative Literature (Vol. 1st ed). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=391356
  • Brodskai︠a︡, N. V. (2012). Surrealism. New York: Parkstone International. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=455960
  • Brooks, P. (2005). Realist Vision. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=187667

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Damrosch, D. (2017). How to Read World Literature (Vol. Second edition). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1553409
  • Richardson, M. (2006). Surrealism and Cinema. Oxford: Berg Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=204125