Fall 2019 - WL 103W D100

Early World Literatures (3)

Class Number: 1343

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2019: Tue, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Dec 16, 2019
    Mon, 12:00–3:00 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Instructor:

    Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani
    aya23@sfu.ca
    1 778 782-8761

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Introduces ways of comparing early world literatures across time and space. May explore fundamental themes such as love, heroism, or the underworld. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:


PREMODERN WORLD LITERATURE: ON LOVE 

How does love transform and transfix us? What can the wealth of literature teach us about the power of love? From Plato’s Diotima, who argues that love of the particular transforms into a philosophy or a love of wisdom, to Dante’s Beatrice, whose image becomes a heavenly signpost, to Rumi’s poetics of love as a religion, we will look into the ways in which love encapsulates the experience of the sublime. Exploring the tie between lover and beloved, we will see what happens when love faces social conflict, death and madness, beauty and metamorphosis, the ineffable and the inception of the poetic. Readings will include Plato’s Symposium, Ovid’s “Echo and Narcissus”, Dante’s La Vita Nuova, Nezami’s Leyla and Majnun, along with poetry by Rumi.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:


By the end of this course, students should be able to:

•         recognize ambiguity as an invitation to engage in interpretation
•         develop an eye for detail in order to unpack close-readings
•         explore the implications of your analysis   
•         write a thesis paper

Grading

  • Attendance / Active Participation 10%
  • Presentation 10%
  • Midterm Paper (working and final draft) 10% + 20%
  • Final Paper (working and final draft) 10% + 30%
  • Art Project 10%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Plato. The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 2: The Symposium. Translated by R.E. Allen. Yale University Press, 1993.
ISBN: 0300056990

*All other texts are available online

Registrar Notes:

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