Expository writing based on analysis of selected masterpieces of ancient and modern literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

Imagine you are reading a book and, at some point in the story, you are told that what you are reading is actually the translation of a work which had originally been written in an ancient language by an author from a faraway land. How would this affect your relation to the text? Would you now consider the story more interesting and valuable? Or would you start suspecting the translator may have made changes and additions to the story? Would you be worried—or perhaps excited—about the possibility that there may be different interpretations of the text? This is a game Renaissance authors such as François Rabelais and Miguel de Cervantes, liked to play. They presented their books as if they were translations, inviting readers to laugh at the confusion and interruptions that their parody of translation strategies created. It is interesting to note, however, that by making us laugh at translation, their works invite us to exercise our imagination further. They ask as to imagine a text in which multiple possible interpretations and cultural points of view can coexist. In this class we will accept this invitation in order to interrogate some of the assumptions we make when we read a story. We will also read texts by later writers from different literary traditions who have continued to play the fictional-translation game. Our analysis will focus on how, by writing their stories as if they were translations, these authors are asking us to become more critical readers of literary texts. The course satisfies the first half of UC Berkeley’s Reading and Composition requirement. It is a reading- and writing-intensive course, in which students will use their comparative interpretations of the texts as the basis for their work. Students will acquire practice in the different stages of the writing process through in-class exercises, drafts, revisions, and the completion of short-essay assignments.

Enrolled students must attend the first two weeks of class. If a student must miss a class OR cannot access the class's bcourses site, they must communicate with the instructor, or they may be subject to an instructor drop.

Requisites

• UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam. 1A or equivalent is prerequisite to 1B.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills