Unit One: Mapping Worlds: The Odyssey, Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and
John Mandeville
Thurs Aug 28: Introduction to course. Excerpt from Paul Jay’s Global Matters: The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies distributed in class, please read and bring to next class
Tues Sept 2: Discussion of the “transnational turn” and our global literature course / In-class Writing Diagnostic
Thurs Sept 4:The Odyssey, Books 1 through 4; Digital Mapping/Timeline Assignment to be Distributed
Tues Sept 9: The Odyssey, Books 5 through 11
Thurs Sept 11: Discussion Leader: Shawn Jose
The Odyssey, Books 12 through 16
Tues Sept 16: Discussion Leader: StephanopolisBrakyel; Gregory Szymanski
The Odyssey, Books 17 to the end
Thurs Sept 18: Discussion Leader: ShangJun Huang
Excerpt from Franco Moretti’sGraphs, Maps, Trees (posted to blog); Marco Polo’s The Diversity of the World(included in The Norton), pages 812-819
Tues Sept 23: *No class scheduled; CUNY follows a Friday schedule
Thurs Sept 25: *No class scheduled
Tues Sept 30: Discussion Leaders: Karl Gregory; Eric Heo
Ibn Battuta, Travels(included in the Norton) pages 820-828; The Book of John Mandeville(also included in the Norton), pages 828-835
Unit Two: Thinking about Gender: How Women Shape Narrative
Thurs Oct 2: Discussion Leader: RiaAkther; Juan Heredia Belliard
Excerpt from Nina Baym’sMelodramas of Beset Manhood: How Theories of American Fiction Exclude Women, and excerpt from Lillian S. Robinson’s Treason Our Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon (both posted to blog—please print, read, and bring to class)
Tues Oct 7:Digital Mapping/Digital Timelines Assignment Due; Assignment Presentations
Thurs Oct 9:Class Cancelled
Tues Oct 14:Discussion leaders: Franck Godefroy; ZeynepAydiner
Presentations continued if needed; The Thousand and One Nights (included in The Norton), pages 556-566 (Prologue through “The Tale of the Merchant and His Wife”)
Thurs Oct 16: Discussion Leader: ChandanieMansook; Lauren Bialkowski
Christine de Pizan’sThe Book of the City of Ladies(included in The Norton)pages 781-807
Tues Oct 21: Discussion Leader: Jesette Marrero; Stephen Thomas
Agamemnon (included in The Oresteia)
Thurs Oct 23:In-ClassMidterm
Tues Oct 28:Close Reading Draft Due for Peer Review Sessions
Thurs Oct 30:Discussion Leader: Kihun Kwon
The Eumenides (included in The Oresteia)
Unit Three: Poetics, Theory, and the Scandals of Translation
Tues Nov 4:Close Reading and Wordle Due;Tang Poetry (included in The Norton) Wang Wei’s poetry, please read all poems on pages 1020-1022; Li Bo’s poetry, “The Sun Rises and Sets,” “South of the Walls we Fought,” “Bring in the Wine,” (included in the Norton) pages 1022-1026)
Thurs Nov 6: Discussion Leader: Vishnu Dawah; Jason Ye
Tang Poetry continued,Du Fu’s poems (included in The Norton) pages 1030-1035; Ezra Pound’s translations of Tang Poetry (posted to the blog—please print, read, and bring to class); Excerpt from Lawrence Venuti’sThe Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference (posted to the blog—please print, read, and bring to class)
Tues Nov 11: Discussion Leader: Alexandria Porter
“Literature about literature,” (included in The Norton) Cao Pi’s From a Discourse on Literature; Lu Ji’sThe Poetic Exposition on Literature pages 990-999
Unit Four: Japan’s Classical Age
Thurs Nov 13: Discussion Leader: Angela Valeroso; Danielle Thomas
SeiShonogon’sThe Pillow Book(included in The Norton) pages 1131-1141
Tues Nov 18: Discussion Leader: Michelle Dai; Mel Gili Zhu
Final Paper Proposal Due; Ki No Tsurayuki’sTosa Diary(included in The Norton) pages 1119-1126
Thurs Nov 20: Discussion Leader: Mohammad Uddin
Yoshida Kenko’sEssays on Idleness(included in The Norton) pages 1280-1284
Tues Nov 25: Paper “Quote Maps” Due; Paper Writing Workshop, no reading assigned
Thurs Nov 27: Thanksgiving Break
Tues Dec 2:Paper Draft Due for Peer-Review Sessions
Unit Five: Into the Modern? Shakespeare’s Othello
Thurs Dec 4: Discussion Leader: TanzilUddin
Shakespeare’s Othello, Acts I-II
Tues Dec 9: Discussion Leader; Evan Wu
Shakespeare’s Othello, Act III
Thurs Dec 11: Discussion Leader: Seo Yoon Chang
Shakespeare’s Othello, Acts IV-V