UCLA
The Department of Comparative Literature
A modern play upon Dante, “Devil May Cry” (2015). Faculty Dante expert: Massimo Ciavolella.
Lecture, two hours; discussion, two hours. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 1C or 4CW. Study of selected texts from Age of Enlightenment to 20th century, with emphasis on literary analysis and expository writing. Diderot, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Goethe, Ibsen, James Joyce, Kafka, Jamaica Kincaid, Garcia Marquez, Rousseau, M. Shelley, Strindberg, Swift, Voltaire. Analysis of texts includes focus on structures, processes, and practices that generate inter-group inequities or conflicts as well as those that support fairness and inclusiveness. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.
Comparative examination of Peter Weir's oeuvre in transnational context, and in relation to other art forms such as literature, painting, and music. Students learn technical vocabulary necessary for close filmic analysis: types of shots, camera movements, lighting, etc. Study of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), which marked beginning of New Wave of Australian cinema. Survey of other Weir films: Gallipoli (1981), disputable rendition of Australia's participation in World War I; Dead Poets Society (1989), 1950s coming-of-age tale set in private New England boys school; Fearless (1994), portrayal of two individuals from different ethnic and social backgrounds as they recover from trauma of airplane accident; The Truman Show (1998), work that anticipated American reality television while exploring philosophical issues of authenticity and inauthenticity; and The Way Back (2011), which examines struggles to maintain one's humanity in Soviet labor camp.
Study of fiction, nonfiction, and theory to explore concepts of health and illness. Topics include roles of narrative and storytelling in medicine and health; societal and cultural interpretations of normality and difference; and literary and theoretical representations of embodiment, wellness, illness, and health care. Includes readings from literature, history, philosophy, sociology, and medicine to explore health and illness from variety of disciplinary approaches.
(Same as English M191P.) Seminar, three hours. Challenges misassumptions regarding humanities majors and their practical applications to life after graduation. Exploration of wide range of careers, with hands-on practice in crafting professional narrative. Guest lectures from UCLA professionals and alumni--all experts in career planning and local industry. Students engage with workplace leaders, and simultaneously build professional dossier--on paper or online--in preparation for life after UCLA with a humanities degree. P/NP or letter grading.
(Same as Jewish Studies M162.) Lecture, three hours. Attempt to impart profound understanding of Israel as seen through its literature. Examination of variety of literary texts--stories, novels, and poems--and reading of them in context of their historical backgrounds. P/NP or letter grading.
Lecture, four hours. Preparation: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing and College Writing requirements. Requisites: two courses from Comparative Literature 1 or 2 series or English 10 series or Spanish 60 series, etc. Seminar-style introduction to discipline of comparative literature presented through series of texts illustrative of its formation and practice. Letter grading.
Seminar, four hours. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 1D or 2DW. Study and discussion of major literary texts usually overlooked in courses that focus only on canon of Western literature, with emphasis on literary analysis and expository writing. Texts from at least three of following areas read in any given term: African, Caribbean, East Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern literature. Texts may include works by authors such as Achebe, Can Xue, Desai, Emecheta, Kincaid, Neruda, Ngugi, Pak, Rushdie, and El Saadawi. Analysis of texts includes focus on structures, processes, and practices that generate inter-group inequities or conflicts as well as those that support fairness and inclusiveness. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.