An introduction to problems of the comparative study of literature and culture. Emphasis on principles of comparative methods and analysis with focus on selected literary, critical, and theoretical texts from antiquity to the present. Readings in English.

In this course, we will self-reflexively explore the genre of the academic or campus novel in its historical development and contemporary permutations. How have campus novels evolved, and what can they tell us about our own anxieties and desires for academic experience? What would it mean to imagine our own lives as part of a fictitious universe? We will read novels that focus on the experience of students and/or teachers on American college or university campuses, with detours into texts that deal with student life in Ireland, Russia and France. This should be a rewarding and enjoyable endeavor in its own right, but we will also use this focus as an occasion for an introduction to literary theory, particularly to notions of literary genre.

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Requirements class fulfills