Fall 2024 - WL 100 D100
What is World Literature? (3)
Class Number: 3927
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Sep 4 – Dec 3, 2024: Fri, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Joel Akinwumi
jakinwum@sfu.ca
Office: AQ 5112
Office Hours: Friday pm (or by appointment)
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Explores how texts travel beyond their cultures of origin, influence other cultural contexts and ideas, and become works of world literature. Introduces the concepts of cross-cultural literary criticism and translation. Breadth-Humanities.
COURSE DETAILS:
World Literature: Narratives, Dialogues and Global Cultures
This course presents world literature as a form of composition, circulation and reading. Through the works of Ousmane Sembène (Senegal), Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia), Annie Ernaux (France), and José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), we will examine how literary works cross and blur cultural and theoretical divides to disseminate ideas, beliefs, experiences, and values across the globe. In this way, we will unravel the aesthetic, rhetorical and thematic strategies through which writers from diverse or marginalized communities seek to engage audiences within or outside their communities and to foreground the cultural proximity and interconnectedness of our world. Our class discussions and presentations will revolve around the complex issues of identity, self-recognition, trauma, subjectivity, resistance, orality, love, and the social positioning of women. By being exposed to artistic works beyond or outside their cultural and linguistic milieux, students learn to make meaningful connections with other cultures, geographies, and times.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
Introductory understanding of World Literature as a field practice
Basic comprehension of terms and concepts of literary criticism
Ability to cognize and compare literary texts as social discourses
Ability to undertake comparisons across different cultural media
Grading
- Attendance and Participation 10%
- In-class Essay 25%
- Midterm Test 25%
- Group Oral Presentation: 10%
- Term Paper (5 pages) 30%
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Derek Walcott. Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays. Farrar, Straus and Giroux,1970. (Play)
José Eduardo Agualusa. A General Theory of Oblivion. Harvill Secker, 2015. (Novel)
Annie Ernaux. A Girl's Story. Seven Stories Press, 2020. (Novel)
Ousmane Sembène. Xala, 1975. (Film will be provided in class)
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.