English 341 is a six-credit senior-level course that introduces students to literature from around the world. Students will read literary works from the ancient world to today in a variety of forms, including epic poetry, Athenian drama, religious song, modern verse, haiku, modernist prose, short fiction, autobiography, political treatise, letter, report, and travelogue. Canonical and lesser-known authors—from Homer to Jamaica Kincaid, Confucius to Hanan Al-Shaykh—reflect the scope and complexity of this contested field of literary studies. By facilitating the comparative analysis of form and content, the course explores the history of communication in global contexts and speaks to the relevance of world literature in the twenty-first century.
Outline
Part 1
Unit 1: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature—The Epic of Gilgamesh
Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature—Homer
Unit 3: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature—Ancient Athenian Drama
Unit 4: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature—Virgil
Unit 5: Ancient India
Unit 6: Early Chinese Literature and Thought
Unit 7: Circling the Mediterranean—Europe and the Islamic World
Unit 8: Medieval China
Unit 9: Japan’s Classical Age
Unit 10: Islam and Pre-Islamic Culture in North Africa
Unit 11: Europe and the New World—Niccolò Machiavelli and Michel de Montaigne
Unit 12: Europe and the New World—Marguerite de Navarre and the Popol Vuh
Part 2
Unit 13: Literatures of Early Modern East Asia
Unit 14: The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas
Unit 15: An Age of Revolutions—Frederick Douglass
Unit 16: An Age of Revolutions—Charles Baudelaire and Emily Dickinson
Unit 17: At the Crossroads of Empire—Nguyễn Du
Unit 18: At the Crossroads of Empire—Ghalib and Rabindranath Tagore
Unit 19: Realism across the Globe
Unit 20: Modernity and Modernism, 1900–1945—Franz Kafka
Unit 21: Modernity and Modernism, 1900–1945—T. S. Eliot and Pablo Neruda
Unit 22: Postwar and Post-Colonial Literature, 1945–1968—Albert Camus
Unit 23: Postwar and Post-Colonial Literature, 1945–1968—Chinua Achebe and Naguib Mahfouz
Unit 24: Contemporary World Literature
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, you will be able to:
evaluate historical developments and prominent topics in world literature
apply close reading and research skills to consider assigned texts and course topics
assess how thematic resources in course texts communicate cultural practices
analyze how literary concepts operate within specific texts
reflect on the relationship between world literature and modern life
create thoughtful, articulate, original critical analyses of one (or more) assigned texts
Evaluation
To receive credit for English 341 you must achieve a minimum grade of D (50 percent) on the two exams and achieve a composite course grade of at least D (50 percent). All assignments are required in order to pass the course. The weighting of the course assignments is as follows:
Activity
Weight
Assignment 1: Study Questions
10%
Assignment 2: Literary Analysis
15%
Midterm Exam
20%
Assignment 3: Making Connections
10%
Assignment 4: Comparative Research
25%
Final Exam
20%
Total
100%
The midterm and final examinations for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Puchner, Martin, general editor. The Norton Anthology: World Literature: Shorter Fourth Edition: Volume 1. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019. (Print)
Puchner, Martin, general editor. The Norton Anthology: World Literature: Shorter Fourth Edition: Volume 2. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019. (Print)
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.