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English
and Comparative Literary
Studies
Professor Swift,
Chair (Fall);
Professor Montag,
Chair (Spring)
Professors Fineman,
Foreman, Near, Newhall,
Ronk, Villa, Wyatt;
Assistant Professors
Neti, Stocking
On Special
Appointment: Adjunct
Assistant Professor
Prebel; Adjunct
Instructors Burgher,
Daniels, Danzy,
Phillips, Tymoczko
The
department’s objective
is the close critical
study of literature in
English in an
international and
interdisciplinary
context. Students in
English and Comparative
Literary Studies (ECLS)
courses read works from
British, American, and
world literary
traditions, including
those of classical
Greece and Rome. We ask
our students to become
knowledgeable both about
well-known writers and
about voices
traditionally excluded
from literary canons. In
addition to providing an
experience of intense
reading and discussion
of individual literary
works, departmental
courses strive to
present those works in a
rich historical context
of human social,
political, and
psychological behavior.
Students are strongly
encouraged to become
familiar with the
various theories of
literature and
representation that have
informed literary
analysis since
Aristotle.
All ECLS
courses involve
extensive work in close
reading, critical
thinking, and analytical
writing. Most courses in
the department are
conducted as
lecture/discussions or
as seminars, with a
strong emphasis on
interaction and the
collaborative
construction of
knowledge. In the
required survey courses
(ECLS 286-289) students
learn the breadth and
diversity of literary
history; in required
majors’ seminars in the
sophomore, junior, and
senior years they
develop increasingly
sophisticated skills in
literary analysis,
discussion, writing,
research, and
presentation.
MAJOR:
A minimum of eleven
courses (44 units).
These must include three
historical survey
courses (ECLS
286 or
287, ECLS
288, and ECLS
289) and three
seminars for prospective
majors and majors (ECLS
290, ECLS
390, and ECLS
490). The remaining
five courses must be
chosen in consultation
with the adviser from
courses numbered 200 or
above; of these, at
least three must be
chosen from courses
numbered 300 or above.
We encourage prospective
majors to have completed
286 or
287,
288,
289, and
290 by the end of
the sophomore year.
(Students may substitute
one of the first-year
courses
186-189
for its counterpart in
the 200-level historical
survey series).
Students
considering going on to
graduate work in
literature are strongly
encouraged to take
additional ECLS courses
(beyond the minimum of
eleven) which will
broaden and deepen their
knowledge of literary
history. They should
also take ECLS
370, Literary
Criticism. Most graduate
programs also require
proficiency in at least
one foreign language.
ACCEPTABLE COURSES FROM
OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Some literature courses
in American Studies and
several upper-division
literature courses in
Chinese, French, German,
Greek, Japanese, Latin,
Russian, and Spanish may
be used to fulfill a
requirement. Contact the
department chair for
additional information.
WRITING EMPHASIS:
Students majoring in
English and Comparative
Literary Studies may
elect to take an
additional number of
courses in order to
complete a Creative
Writing Emphasis, a
special track which
provides a strong
background in both
literature and creative
writing skills. Students
choosing this emphasis
must take a total of 13
courses, including ECLS
286 or
287; ECLS
288; ECLS
289; ECLS
290; ECLS
390; ECLS
490; two more ECLS
electives chosen from
ECLS 300-379 (one of
these may be from ECLS
200-279); and five
additional writing
courses. These five may
include ECLS
380 (may be repeated
for credit), ECLS
397 and/or
499; a variety of
English Writing classes:
285,
286,
301,
401; Theater
380; French
343. Other
opportunities for
students interested in
writing are listed in
the catalog and/or
available from the
emphasis director,
Professor Martha Ronk.
Students interested in
pursuing the emphasis in
writing should work out
a careful program in
consultation with
Professor Ronk.
MINOR:
Five courses (20 units),
including ECLS
290; one course from
286-289
(a first-year course
from 186-189
may substitute for one
of these); and three
other courses, two of
which must be taken at
the 300-level.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
POLICY: ECLS majors
who before entering
Occidental have
completed the AP test in
English with a score of
4 or 5 may, in
consultation with the
department chair, waive
the requirement for
either ECLS
288 or
289 and take in
place of the waived
course any ECLS course
numbered 300-369.
Students choosing this
option will still be
required to take a total
of at least 11 courses
(44 units) toward the
A.B. in ECLS. All
students must take
either ECLS
286 or
287, regardless of
AP scores.
WRITING REQUIREMENT:
Students majoring in
English and Comparative
Literary Studies will
satisfy the final
component of Occidental
College’s college-wide
writing requirement by
successfully completing
ECLS 390
in the junior year and
receiving a notation of
“Satisfactory” for its
writing component. (See
the department chair for
information concerning
specific writing skills
assessed for
satisfaction of the
requirement.) Those
students who, for
legitimate reasons
(study abroad, late
entry into the major,
etc.), cannot take ECLS
390 in the junior
year will be required to
submit a portfolio of
written work (consisting
of three papers written
in ECLS courses) to the
department chair for
evaluation by a faculty
committee, by the end of
the junior year.
Students not achieving a
“satisfactory” notation
by either of these means
will be required to
undertake additional
coursework in academic
writing during the final
two semesters of study.
ECLS majors should
acquire the full
description of the
departmental writing
requirement at the time
of declaring the major.
See the
Writing Program for
additional information.
COMPREHENSIVE
REQUIREMENT: All
majors must take ECLS
490 (Senior Seminar)
in the fall of the
senior year, where they
will design, develop,
and complete a
significant project
involving literary
research and analysis.
The project will result
in a substantial paper
and a 20-minute formal
oral presentation at the
ECLS Senior Symposium
held during the spring
semester. See the
department chair for
more details.
HONORS: Honors may
be awarded to graduating
seniors who demonstrate
excellence in course
work and in an honors
thesis. To be eligible,
students must have a 3.5
grade point average in
courses taken toward the
major and an overall
3.25 grade point
average. Qualified
students who want to
pursue honors should
consult with the
department chair during
the spring semester of
the junior year and
should submit a proposal
for an honors thesis by
the end of the first
week of Fall semester.
Students whose proposals
are accepted will
register for ECLS
499 (Honors),
usually for two units in
both the fall and spring
semesters, and they will
write a thesis to be
completed and orally
defended before a
faculty committee during
the spring semester.
Honors candidates are
required to take ECLS
370; if possible
they should take it in
the junior year. For
further details, see the
Honors Program and pick
up a copy of the ECLS
honors regulations in
the department office.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS:
In conjunction with the
Education Department,
ECLS offers a program
leading to the Master of
Arts in Teaching
(MAT—English Literature,
single subject
emphasis). For admission
information, please
refer to the general
college requirements for
all M.A.T. candidates
(see
Graduate Study at
Occidental).
Applicants should also
schedule a personal
interview with the
departmental graduate
representative.
For the
M.A.T. in Teaching
Literature, students
must complete the
general college M.A.T.
requirements and, in
addition, take at least
three five-unit courses
in literature at the 500
level, selected in
consultation with the
ECLS advisor. These
courses must be
five-unit adaptations of
300-level ECLS courses.
Students must also pass
an oral defense of the
graduate thesis.
SPECIAL FEATURES: A
state approved Level I
Single Subject
Credential Program is
available to students in
this department. Anyone
considering a career in
teaching should consult
early with an Education
Department advisor to
obtain information about
required courses and
options.
ECLS
courses numbered 186-189
are intensive seminars
for first-year students
with a serious interest
in the ECLS major or
literary study. These
courses may be used to
satisfy the historical
survey requirements in
the ECLS major, as
described below.
186. EUROPEAN
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
This
course will contrast the
Mediterranean and
Germanic literary
traditions of ancient
and medieval Europe and
the ways in which these
traditions reach an
uneasy equipoise in the
early modern period. Our
discussions will involve
us in considerations of
oral and written poetic
composition, the
individual or communal
construct of human
identity, and the
personal and social
utility of such literary
genres as myth, epic,
saga, romance, fabliau,
lyric, and drama.
Open only to first year
students. ECLS 186
counts as the equivalent
of ECLS
286 toward the ECLS
major. Students may not
receive credit for both
186 and
286.
Not
given in 2008-2009
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE
187. EARLY BRITISH
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
This
class will cover texts
from ancient Greece to
the Renaissance and
including various
genres: epic, drama, and
poetry, focusing on the
close reading of
texts—in particular
poetry—and on written
analysis. Open only
to first year students.
ECLS 187 counts as the
equivalent of ECLS
287 toward the ECLS
major. Students may not
receive credit for both
187 and
287.
Not
given in 2008-2009
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
188. MODERN BRITISH
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
This
course will focus on
British literary
traditions since 1660,
with references to other
national literatures. It
will emphasize the close
reading of both poetry
and prose. Open only
to first-year students.
ECLS 188 counts as the
equivalent of ECLS
288 toward the ECLS
major. Students may not
take both 188 and
288.
Montag
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE
189. AMERICAN
EXPERIENCES.
A
historical survey of the
major literary genres
from the colonial to the
contemporary period,
emphasizing the
persistent thematics of
the American experience
from a cross-cultural
perspective. This class
is particularly suited
for students interested
in the ways in which
well-known American
authors are in
conversation with
African Americans,
Native Americans, Asian
Americans, Latinos/as,
and white women, who,
until recently, had been
left out of the literary
canon. Open only to
first year students.
ECLS 189 counts as the
equivalent of ECLS
289 toward the ECLS
major. Students may not
receive credit for both
189 and
289.
Newhall, Villa
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
ECLS
courses numbered 200-284
are open to all
Occidental students of
any major who have
completed the first-year
fall CSP writing
seminar. No more than
two may be counted
toward the ECLS major.
205. THE WAKE OF THE
ANCIENT.
The
object of this course
(as the three- or
four-fold pun of its
title implies) is not
only to celebrate
Ancient Literature on
the occasion of its
supposed passing, but
also to highlight the
ways in which Ancient
Literature has informed
the creation of—and
might yet continue to
re-inform our
understanding of—many
subsequent forms of
literary expression. The
course will begin,
therefore, with the
close textual analysis
of one or more ancient
literary works, and
proceed with a
comparative study of a
text (or texts) drawn
from later literary
traditions.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Stocking
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
220. SHAKESPEARE AND
FILM.
An
introductory study of
Shakespeare’s plays both
as text and as
performance. We will
investigate five plays
in detail in an attempt
to establish our own
relationship with the
Shakespearean text. We
will then view at least
three films of each play
and inquire into the
ways in which these
films seek to mediate
our reception of the
text, the influence this
mediation has upon our
view of the text, and
the specific means by
which each cinematic
interpretation of
Shakespeare is
constructed.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Near
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
241. RACE, LAW, AND
LITERATURE.
A study
of the construction and
representation of race
in selected American
literary works and law
cases around the turn of
the twentieth century.
Fiction by authors such
as Mark Twain, Charles
Chesnutt, William Dean
Howells, and Frances
Harper will be read in
the context of the legal
history that led up to
and built upon the
famous 1896 “separate
but equal” Supreme Court
decision in Plessy v.
Ferguson.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Daniels
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
253. AFRICAN
AMERICAN LITERATURE.
In this
introductory class we
will examine African
American literature and
culture by reading
across genres that
include multiple genres
such as the slave
narrative, fiction, the
essay, theater and
poetry. Some attention
will also be paid to
primary research skills
and to oral
presentations that are
sophisticated in terms
of content and
multimedia.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Not
given in 2008-2009
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
255. UNITED STATES
LITERATURE IN THE MODERN
WORLD.
This
course explores American
literature in the 20th
century, in the context
of social and
intellectual history.
Topics may include
cultural disillusionment
and the “lost
generation”; the “dream
deferred” of
African-American
literature;
constructions,
deconstructions, and
reconstructions of
gender; the problems of
homogeneous national
identity in a
heterogeneous world;
postmodern challenges to
individualist
traditions; etc.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Prebel
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
279. LITERATURE AND
POLITICS.
Body/Politics.
Linking literature and
politics, the course
offers an
interdisciplinary
analysis of gender,
power and the body. The
theoretical center of
the course will be
Foucault’s work on
biopower. We will also
look at issues of class
and the body (including
Chopin’s The Awakening,
Larsen’s Passing, and
Atwood’s Bodily Harm);
egalitarian law and the
female body (Wendy
Williams, Mary Poovey);
science and gender
(Emily Martin, Thomas
Laqueur); and
pornography (Catherine
McKinnon, Laura Kipnis).
Race and
multiculturalism can
also be viewed through
this lens, and we will
read Morrison’s Beloved.
Judith Butler’s work
offers yet another
approach, questioning
whether bodily
differences determine
sex or gender. Recent
Latin American history
of military rule and
repression has
emphasized the role of
the body and memory in
political change.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Jaquette (Politics) and
Wyatt
ECLS
majors must take ECLS
286 or
287; ECLS
288; and ECLS
289 (or their
equivalents at the
100-level). These should
be completed if possible
during the sophomore
year. (Students scoring
a 4 or 5 on the English
AP exam may choose to
substitute a 300-level
course for either
288 or
289.) These courses
are open to all students
of any major who have
completed the first-year
fall CSP writing
seminar.
286. EUROPEAN
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
This
course will contrast the
Mediterranean and
Germanic literary
traditions of ancient
and medieval Europe and
the ways in which these
traditions reach an
uneasy equipoise in the
early modern period. Our
discussions will involve
us in considerations of
oral and written poetic
composition, the
individual or communal
construct of human
identity, and the
personal and social
utility of such literary
genres as myth, epic,
saga, romance, fabliau,
lyric, and drama.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor. Students
may not receive credit
for both
186 and 286.
Near
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
287. EARLY BRITISH
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
One of
the three introductory
courses for the major
designed to provide a
broad historical
background and covering
texts from Beowulf
through Paradise Lost.
The course includes the
various genres of epic,
drama, and poetry, and
demands both close
reading and an
understanding of how the
texts are produced by
particular cultural and
historical periods.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor. Students
may not receive credit
for both
187 and 287.
Staff
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
288. MODERN BRITISH
LITERARY TRADITIONS.
The
course will focus on
British literary
traditions since 1660,
with references to other
national literatures. It
will emphasize the close
reading of both poetry
and prose.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor. Students
may not receive credit
for both
188 and 288.
Montag
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE
289. AMERICAN
EXPERIENCES.
A
historical survey of the
major literary genres
from the colonial to the
contemporary period,
emphasizing the
persistent thematics of
the American experience
from a cross-cultural
perspective. This class
is particularly suited
for students interested
in the ways in which
well-known American
authors are in
conversation with
African Americans,
Native Americans, Asian
Americans, Latinos/as,
and white women, who,
until recently, had been
left out of the literary
canon. Prerequisite:
any first year fall CSP
writing seminar, English
Writing
201, or permission
of instructor. Students
may not receive credit
for both
189 and 289.
Prebel, Villa
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
ECLS 290
is an introductory
methods course required
of all ECLS majors; it
should be taken by the
end of the sophomore
year by students who
have declared or are
planning to declare the
ECLS major. It is open
to all students who have
successfully completed
the first-year fall CSP
Writing Seminar.
290. INTRODUCTION TO
LITERARY ANALYSIS.
This
course will introduce
ECLS majors to the basic
principles and
techniques of literary
study. Each section will
look closely at
narrative (both poetic
and prose), lyric, and
dramatic form and will
investigate the
analytical resources
with which these forms
are most commonly
approached. The course
will also look at the
relationship between
literary texts and
literary theory.
Students should expect
ample practice in
analytical writing. It
is intended principally
for ECLS majors and
satisfies no core
requirement.
Prerequisite: any first
year fall CSP writing
seminar, English Writing
201, or permission
of instructor.
Fineman,
Near
297. INDEPENDENT
STUDY.
Prerequisite: permission
of department.
2
or 4 units
Staff
ECLS
courses numbered 300-385
are designed primarily
for ECLS majors and
students from other
majors with some
experience in reading
and writing about
literature at an
advanced level.
Successful completion of
one 100-level or
200-level ECLS course,
or junior or senior
standing, is required
for these courses. In
some cases individual
instructors may require
additional
prerequisites, as listed
below.
318. CHAUCER.
An
analysis of Chaucer’s
major poetry and the
insight it provides into
the social, religious,
philosophical, and
psychological
instability of the
fourteenth century. We
will place Chaucer’s
texts in the context of
both literary and
intellectual history,
and we will confront
directly their relevance
to an understanding of
the most persistent
idioms of Western
culture.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing. Prior
completion of ECLS
287 is highly
recommended.
Near
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
320. SHAKESPEARE.
A study
of Shakespeare’s plays
and of critical
commentary on those
plays with special
emphasis on problems
raised by his particular
theater and boy actors,
on problems raised by
mixed genres, and on
cultural anxieties
concerning interiority,
authority, race,
colonialism, and
religion. Prerequisiste:
Any 100- or 200-level
ECLS course, or junior
or senior standing.
Ronk
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
322. RENAISSANCE
LITERATURE.
An
investigation of
Renaissance literary
texts as vehicles for
conflicting, at times
self-contradictory,
expressions of private
desire, moral authority,
and political power. We
will focus especially on
texts of melancholy,
using Hamlet in text and
film as a primary focus,
and including As You
Like It,
Shakespeare’s sonnets,
Webster’s The Duchess
of Malfi, poems by
John Donne, and Milton’s
paired poems,
“L’Allegro” and “Il
Penseroso.”
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Not
given in 2008-2009
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
332. EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY LITERATURE:
1730-1800.
Problems of Sociability.
We will examine the
questions of sociability
and individuality in the
literature and
philosophy of the
period. We will read
literary texts by
Richardson, Fielding,
Smollett, Burney and
Equiano, as well as
works by Smith and Kant.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Montag
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE •
PRE-1800
341. RACE AND
LITERATURE.
Slavery in the Americas:
The Politics of
Representation. In
this class we will
examine slave narratives
and anti-slavery novels
from the United States
and Cuba, where almost
all of the
nineteenth-century
writings in Spanish
originated. We will
situate these works in
their historical and
literary contexts and
explore the ways in
which authors enter
politically charged
debates about slavery,
gender, and sexuality.
We will be reading some
of the most famous,
important, influential,
and sometimes infamous
books of the era.
Authors include the
orator, editor, and
statesman, Frederick
Douglass, the enslaved
poet Juan Manzano, the
feisty narrator Esteban
Montejo, Gertudis Gomez
de Avellandeda, one of
the most famous women
writers of the Spanish
speaking world in her
era, and Martin Delany,
the man known as the
father of Black
nationalism who also
wrote a transnational
novel. Spanish majors
and speakers will be
encouraged to read
primary texts and
criticism in Spanish.
Prerequisite: any 100 or
200-level ECLS course,
or junior or senior
standing.
Burgher
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
INTERCULTURAL
345. AMERICAN
LITERATURE BEFORE 1900.
Dickinson. This
class will undertake to
read a very limited
number of Dickinson’s
poems with care as to
their formal aspects and
with regard to their
philosophical
interventions into the
defaults of “common
sense.” Some context
will come from relevant
historical and
ideological practices of
the 19th century.
Prerequisite: any 100 or
200-level ECLS course,
or junior or senior
standing.
Fineman
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
351. TWENTIETH
CENTURY BRITISH FICTION.
Readings
in late nineteenth and
early twentieth century
Anglo/Irish fiction,
with particular
attention to the crises
of masculine and
imperial power that
early modern writers
encountered and
reflected in their
fiction. Authors will
include Conrad, Kipling,
Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf,
and Forster.
Prerequisite: any 100 or
200-level ECLS course,
or junior or senior
standing.
Swift
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
EUROPE
354. CHICANO
LITERATURE.
A survey
of major works and
authors in the Chicano
literary tradition,
covering the genres of
poetry, novel, short
story and drama. Some
attention will also be
paid to the relationship
of literature to forms
of popular culture, such
as video, film, graphic
art, and music.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Villa
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
355. TWENTIETH
CENTURY AMERICAN
FICTION.
A study
of the idea of the
modern—cultural,
technological, moral,
aesthetic—in American
fiction from the
beginning of the
twentieth century
through the 1930s. The
course will focus on the
formal renderings of
history and sexuality
that characterized high
modernist writers of the
1920s like Toomer,
Fitzgerald, Hemingway,
Cather, and Faulkner.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Not
given in 2008-2009
358. MODERNIST
POETRY.
Consideration of
Anglo-American poetry
from 1890 to 1930 and
beyond, with particular
attention to the
conflicting claims of
image and prophecy, of
detachment and of
commitment, of the
impersonal and the
political. The course
will examine a number of
different poets and
poetic movements, with
particular focus on
Yeats, Eliot, and
Stevens.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Not
given in 2008-2009
365. CONTEMPORARY
LITERATURE.
The
Anglophone Novel.
This course will focus
on the global novel in
English. By 1914 the
British Empire had
colonized almost 85% of
the world, bringing
diverse cultural
traditions under the
encyclopedic gaze of
Western modernity. If
part of the project of
the colonial apparatus
was to collect knowledge
of the world in ways
that bodies, cultures,
and landscapes could be
understood and ordered
by the West,
contemporary societies
are now negotiating
their own means of
self-representation in
the often violent space
of postcolonial rupture.
Throughout the term, we
will work with texts and
visual images produced
out of, and in response
to, the history of the
colonial encounter.
Drawing on a broad range
of literary, filmic, and
theoretical materials we
will develop strategies
for understanding the
production and
consumption of
postcolonial
representation, in both
local and global
contexts. As consumers
of these cultural
products within the
space of the Western
academy, we will be
attentive to the
function of the
stereotype as we
consider representations
of gender and sexuality,
violence and terrorism,
class structures, and
migration. Texts
considered will include
Arundhati Roy’s The
God of Small Things,
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s
Nervous Conditions,
Shani Mootoo’s Cereus
Blooms at Night, and
Tayeb Salih’s Season
of Migration to the
North.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Neti
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
368. POSTCOLONIAL
LITERATURE AND THEORY.
This
course will provide an
introduction to some of
the critical issues
(modernity, hybridity,
nationalism,
globalization, etc.)
that link disparate
national literatures
under the sign of
“postcoloniality.” While
the major focus of the
class will be on the
theoretical texts
produced in response to
colonial occupation and
the process of
decolonization, we will
also consider the ways
in which postcolonial
literature performs, and
at times challenges, the
paradigms of
postcolonial theory.
Through this engagement
we will develop an
understanding of the
complex dialogue which
emerges between
literature and theory in
the postcolonial
context. In addition,
throughout the course,
we will look at how the
many stylistic
techniques (e.g., the
use of patois, magical
realism, temporal
experimentation) which
are particular to this
body of literature not
only develop a new mode
of expression, but also
interrogate the
conventions of the
Western canon. In this
manner, our analysis of
literature will be
supplemented by a
consideration of
postcolonial theory in
order to contextualize
the literature within an
understanding of the
particular historical,
political, and social
discourses from which it
emerges. Conversely, our
study of theory will be
anchored in a discussion
of the ways in which it
is materially practiced
in its accompanying
literary context. This
survey will include
authors such as Aimé
Cesaire, Arundhati Roy,
as well as Gayatri
Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and
Edward Said.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Neti
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
INTERCULTURAL
370. LITERARY
CRITICISM.
After a
short introduction to
Aristotle, this course
will present the works
of Marx, Freud, and
Saussure as the basis
for later 20th Century
theory. We will then
explore the
structuralist and
post-structuralist
movements. This class is
recommended to those
contemplating graduate
study in the humanities,
and it is required for
students pursuing Honors
in ECLS.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Fineman
372. MAJOR FIGURES
IN LITERATURE.
Faulkner and Morrison.
Discussion of the major
novels of William
Faulkner and Toni
Morrison.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Newhall
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
Philip K. Dick and
Philosopy. This
class will attempt to
determine if the
post-structuralist
insights of 20th-century
philosophy can provide a
framework adequate to
interpret that century’s
greatest science fiction
writer, Philip K. Dick.
Students should be
willing to encounter
abstract theory, film,
and dizzy fiction.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Fineman
373. A GENRE IN
LITERATURE.
Linguistic Engineering:
Lyric Poetry from the
Middle Ages to the
Present. This course
will involve us in the
painstakingly detailed
investigation of a
variety of poems from
the Middle English lyric
to the poetry of Plath
and Simic. We will look
at these poems as
examples of the
intricate engineering of
language, and we will
identify the devices
employed in teh
construction of verbal
artifacts. Although
students will be exposed
to an array of reading
strategies and to the
vocabulary of analysis
essential to inform
these strategies, our
principal focus
throughout the term will
remain on the poem
itself — what it is, how
it works, and what it
does. Prerequisiste:
Any 100- or 200-level
ECLS course, or junior
or senior standing.
Not
given in 2008-2009
377. LITERATURE AND
THE OTHER ARTS.
Illuminated Manuscripts:
From Comic Books to
Graphic Novels. This
course will examine the
20th century evolution
of extended
literary-graphic
narratives (as opposed
to single panel cartoons
or four panel comic
strips) from their pulp
origins in superhero and
action comics to their
contemporary development
as a variant of “high”
literary practice. The
texts will be almost
entirely American, but
some consideration will
be given to non-U.S
narratives in
translation. While
primary interpretive
attention will be paid
to the specific
interplay of word and
image in the
construction of
fictional (and some
documentary) narratives,
we may also consider how
“comics” generally
compare as medium and
genre to the related
arts of print literature
and cinema.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Villa
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
UNITED STATES
378. LITERATURE AND
PHILOSOPHY.
The
Bible as Literature and
Philosophy. We will
read selections from the
Old and New Testaments,
together with Medieval
and Modern commentaries
by such figures as
Rashi, Maimonides, Ibn
Ezra, Spinoza, Badiou,
Agamben, and Taubes.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing.
Montag
380. CREATIVE
WRITING.
Emphasis
on the writing of both
poetry and fiction.
Students will be
required to read
extensively and write
reports on new works of
poetry and fiction, to
attend readings, to edit
and revise work, to
participate in class
critiques of student
work, and to complete a
portfolio of 25 pages.
The course is designed
for students seriously
interested in writing
and in the relationship
of their own writing to
the study of literature.
Prerequisiste: Any 100-
or 200-level ECLS
course, or junior or
senior standing. Not
open to first-year
students.
Phillips, Ronk
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
FINE ARTS
382. ADVANCED
CREATIVE WRITING.
Students
familiar with the
elements of
craft—setting,
characterization, plot,
dialogue, etc.—will
produce several new
stories and revise them,
and will read and
critique the works of
their peers. In-class
writing exercises and
outside readings will
also be required.
Prerequisite: ECLS
380 or approval of a
portfolio of writings;
see department chair for
details.
Danzy
CORE REQUIREMENT
MET:
FINE ARTS
390. JUNIOR SEMINAR.
The
Junior Seminar is a
small,
discussion-oriented
seminar required of all
majors, emphasizing
advanced critical
approaches to a literary
topic. Enrollment is
limited and restricted
to ECLS majors.
The
Human and the Inhuman in
Literature and
Philosophy, 1500-1800.
We will take as our
starting point Etienne
Balibar’s assertion that
every attempt to define
what is essential to
humanity involves a
corresponding definition
of the inhuman. We will
examine a number of
writers as they struggle
to ascertain the
characteristics of
universal humanity and
in doing so produce the
category of the inhuman,
a category laden with
moral and political
consequences. The course
will begin with
contemporary thinkers
such as Agamben and
Balibar and then move on
to primary texts by
Montaigne, Descartes,
Hobbes, Locke, Spinoza,
Defoe, Swift,
Mandeville, and Smith.
Montag
Modern Literature and
Art. The course will
address experimental
modern fiction and
poetry, and the
crossover between
literary and artistic
endeavors in terms of
collage, cubism, and
intertextuality.
Students will be asked
to analyze paintings,
photographs, and films
in relation to
literature. Texts will
include such authors as
Ezra Pound, William
Carlos Williams, T.S.
Eliot, Gertrude Stein,
Djuna Barnes, Jean
Toomer, Samuel Beckett,
Virginia Woolf, James
Joyce.
Ronk
Objects of Beauty.
In her recent book,
On Beauty and Being Just,
Elaine Scarry makes the
claim that “At the
moment we see something
beautiful, we undergo a
radical decentering.”
Others might suggest
that notions of beauty
have been used precisely
to center certain
normative standards,
often violently
marginalizing those who
do not adhere. Whether
dismissed as frivolous,
theorized as a
philosophical category
of inquiry, or
politicized in the
service of feminist or
anti-racist discourse,
beauty does many things:
it captivates, it
incites pleasure and
desire, it oppresses and
subjugates, and it
excludes. Throughout the
course of this term, we
will evaluate Scarry’s
claim, looking at texts
dealing with both
theoretical and
practical aspects of
aesthetic experience.
Beginning with
Aristotle, we will
evaluate Western
theorizations of beauty
through the
Enlightenment and into
the contemporary era. In
addition, we will look
at how non-Western
writers have responded
to aesthetic norms
imposed upon them. Texts
such as Paula Black’s
The Beauty Industry
and Robert Young’s
Colonial Desire,
will provide a framework
for examining how
politics of race, class,
and gender shape
questions of aesthetic
value. Within this
theoretical context, we
will consider
representations of
beauty in print and
visual culture,
including popular cinema
and literature.
Neti
397. INDEPENDENT
STUDY.
Prerequisite: permission
of instructor.
2
or 4 units
Staff
490. SENIOR SEMINAR:
THE ECLS COMPREHENSIVE
PROJECT.
In this
course seniors will
design and carry out
advanced research
projects in areas of
their own interests.
Seminar meetings will be
devoted to discussion of
a core group of
theoretical and/or
historical texts
(varying from year to
year) and to practical
issues of sophisticated
literary critical work.
The course will result
in a substantial
critical paper, a
version of which will be
presented at the spring
ECLS senior symposium in
satisfaction of
Occidental’s
comprehensive
requirement. Open
only to senior ECLS
majors.
Stocking, Swift
499. HONORS.
Research, writing, and
defense of the honors
thesis in ECLS. May be
taken for 4 units fall
or spring, or for 2
units fall and spring.
Prerequisite: permission
of department.
2
units (fall and spring)
or 4 units (fall or
spring)
Staff
501. RESEARCH.
Independent research for
qualified graduate
students.
Staff
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