1
World Literature Fall 2002
Instructor: Rainer Schulte
Email:
Tel. 972-883-2092
Secretary: Myra Allen
Syllabus
Bibliographical information and additional texts to be used for Seminar discussions are contained in the “HANDBOOK” prepared by the instructor.
At the beginning of each Seminar Session there will be a short report on literary Journals that publish international authors. These reports are presented by the students.
The methodologies derived from the art and craft of translation will serve as a paradigm for the pursuit of interpreting texts.
In this context The Geography of Translation and Interpretation: Traveling between Languages will serve as background reading.
THE EXPANSION OF EXPRESSIVITY
Session I
Orientation
Background Reading Material
Charles Baudelaire
Correspondance
Arthur Rimbaud
The Drunken Boat
Vowels
Stéphane Mallarmé
Saint
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
(Debussy)
Rainer Maria Rilke
The Panther
Sonnets to Orpheus
Duino Elegies
Wallace Stevens
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Session I (August 22, 2002)
Assignment
Nabokov. “Good Writers and Good Readers”
Dieter Wellershoff. “Reading and Writing”
Octavio Paz. “Translation: Literature and Letters.”
Ilse Aichinger. “The Bound Man” –Kafka. “The Metamorphosis”
Exercise: Etymology and Philology (Emerson)
Session II
The Art of Reading
Discussion of assigned essays
Focus on:
Assignment
Poems by Karl Krolow and Alejandra Pizarnik
Horst Bienek
Mario De Benedetto
”
Session III
Dissonance of Perception
Ilse Aichinger : Close Reading of “The Bound Man”
and Kafka “Die Verwandlung”
Octavio Paz essay
Interpretation of poems: Ingeborg Bachmann
Focus on Karl Krolow : Paradoxical Juxtapositions
Poems by Alejandra Pizarnik
Session IV
The Challenge of the Foreign
Chapter. “The Challenge of the Foreign”
Introduction to:
“Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry.” pgs 1-20 of Stephen Tapscott.
Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry.
Ramon Xirau, Introduction to Contemporary Spanish-American Poetry
Gottfried Benn. “Brains”
Octavio Paz. “What Does Poetry Mean”
Tahar Ben Jelloun “I write to erase my face.”
Latin American Poets
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Pablo Neruda
Nicanor Parra
Octavio Paz. “Wind From All Compass Points”
João Cabral de Melo Neto
Olga Orozco
Roberto Juarroz
Enrique Lihn
Heberto Padilla
Gabriel Zaid
Alejandra Pizarnik ,
Oscar Hahn,
José Emilio Pacheco,
Homero Aridjis
Session V
The Function of the Interview
Interview with Clare Cavanagh, Gregory Rabassa , Ellen Watson
Polish Writers
Czeslaw Milosz
Wislawa Szymborksa
Julia Hartwig
Urszula Koziol
Tadeusz Rózewicz
Adma Czerniawski
Tymoteusz Karpowicz
Adam Zagajewski
Andrzej Szmidt
Slawomir Mrozek
Chapter. “Translation: The Revitalization of Reading and Interpretation”
Gottfried Benn. “Brains”
Octavio Paz. “What Does Poetry Mean”
Vicente Aleixandre. “For Whom I write” [Para Quien escribo]
Tahar Ben Jelloun “I write to erase my face.”
Session VI
The Grotesque Perception of the World
Discussion of
Cortazar
Kociancich
Horacio Quiroga. “The Pursued” [Mundus Retrospective p.70)
Mario Arregui. “The Cat”
Sorrentino. “There is a Man in the Habit …
Ortiz. Hot Center of Thunder
Session VII
The Image of the Angel
Chapter. “The Challenge of the Foreign”
Isaac Babel. “The Sin of Jesus”
Rafael Alberti. “Concerning the Angels
Homero Aridjis “A Time of Angels”
Rainer Maria Rilke. “Duino Elegies”
Octavio Paz : “ Wind From All Compass Points”
Session VIII
La Condition Humaine
Gabriel Garía Márquez. Love in the Time of Cholera; One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Adonis
Roberto Juarroz
Gabriel Zaid
Nicanor Parra
Session IX
Experimentation with language
Chapter. Multiple Translations: An Interpretive Perspective
Paul Celan
Durs Grünbein. Chicago Review: p.109
Oskar Pastior
Vicente Huidobro. “Altazor”
Ernesto Cardenal
German Writers
Marcel Beyer
Elke Erb
Thomas Kling
Uwe Kolbe
Friederike Mayröcker
Helga Novak
Brigitte Oeschinski
Raoul Schrott
Karen Duve
Judith Hermann
Wolfgang Hilbig
Thomas Meinecke
Ulrich Peltzer
Ingo Schulze
Hans-Ulrich Treichel
Alissa Walser, Martin Walser; Arnold Stadler
Session X
The Power of the Word
Chapter. “The Environment of Words”
Poems on “Words”
Experimentation
Durs Grünbein. Chicago Review: p.109
Oskar Pastior
Friederike Mayröcker
Thomas Kling
Vicente Huidobro. “Altazor”
Session XI
The Exploration of the Mind’s Landscape
Focus on Alvaro Mutis. Maqroll
To be studied in the context of Robert Musil: The Man without Qualities
Jorge Luis Borges. “Funes the Memorious”
Session XII
The Poetic Mind
Poems on “The Art of Poetry”
Neruda: “Arte Poetica”
Alain Bosquet
Yves Bonnefoy
Niko Grafenauer. “Silence”
Bertalicia Peralta. „Silence“
Session XIII
Focus on Günter Grass
Session XIV
The Multiplicity of Voices
Ulrich Treichel [from Lost]
Giuseppe Ungaretti
Adonis
Roberto Juarroz
Tadeusz Rozewicz. “The Survivor” Vasko Popa. “Echoing”
Humberto Costantini. “In The Beginning
Andrée Chedid.
Nina Cassian.
João Cabral de Melo Neto
Olga Orozco
Requirements
Active participation in Seminar Discussion
Interpretive Paragraphs on texts under consideration
Weekly short research exercises
Final Essay Project
This is a tentative outline of topics to be discussed during the semester, subject to change according to student orientation and needs.