Global literature for you, as a person living in the 21^st century, must span time and locality. It should consist of many different perspectives so you can sort through the differences and similarities for yourself. One of the hopes of this course is that you read something that calls you to investigate the conversation between prose and poetic forms throughout the ages and across continents throughout and beyond this course (One semester–long course is not enough to truly “know” global literature!).

            This course will survey a selection of works, both contemporary and not, to consider a concept of “humanity in progress.” Throughout millennia, humans have found no better self-reflective exercise than to tell stories about our actions. This way, humanity in progress regards both the progression of humane behavior and our history progressing, whether or not humane behavior progressed with history at every point in time, to allow you to consider what looking back can teach us about moving forward.

            Our interactions with texts will challenge you. You will expand your boundaries of comfort and familiarity; as such, be patient with yourself and others when opportunities for growth present themselves. Only this way will everyone benefit from a course that allows you to learn to think better, which one of my world literature professors stressed is different from thinking alike. As a result, do not dismiss any contribution, and instead, find a way to engage with each contribution to further your own growth.

            Our investigation of texts will address the following questions:

1.     What does a work’s form and content mean in its place and time, and in ours?
2.     How does a work of literature interact with other literatures?
3.     How can world literature inform our behavior in today’s world?
4.     What narrative does world literature provide about humanity?
5.     How does a work of world literature contribute to humanity’s future? 
6.     What makes a work of literature canonical or subversive?

Georgetown university’s core curriculum Learning objectives:

1. Participate creatively in an intellectual community
2. Address complex issues and problems
3. Develop a world view that is both intellectually grounded and personally compelling
4. Engage responsively in the world

global comparative literature program learning objectives:

1. Recognize the different aims, formal constraints, rhetorical strategies, and ideological underpinnings at stake in different literary genres through texts in two or more foreign languages.
2. Show cultural and linguistic awareness through space and time, understanding the role of translation in cross-cultural communication, and connecting aesthetic considerations to wider transnational social and political questions whenever appropriate.
3. Master a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to texts and adopt them for comparative textual studies able to go beyond simply mechanical applications.
4. Produce original written and oral argumentations that bring together and engage with the skills mentioned above, framed by sophisticated thesis statements and sustained by a good balance of evidence and analysis.
5. Extend the application of acquired comparative research and analytical skills from a paper on an assigned topic or on a subject discussed in class under the instructor’s guidance (a standard requirement for GCPL 1001 and the other upper-level literature courses in the Global Comparative Literature curriculum) to a longer and more complex requirement like the mandatory thesis (30-40 pages for the senior thesis, or 50-60 pages for the honors thesis), in which the instructor’s role is far less “invasive” and more “maieutic”.

Course-Specific Learning Objectives:

1. You will be able to read texts of world literature as critically as those from your local literary canon.
2. You will deepen your understanding and appreciation of (a) text(s) both in its sociohistorical context and in its relationship with other texts.
3. You will be able to consider the power dynamics of translation.
4. You will be able to perform both written and presentational literary analysis appropriately in a global comparative literary context.
5. You will be able to draw connections between texts across time and space for your own personal understanding and as part of academic discourse.

Policies & Procedures:

5-10% Class Discussion Contributions
You will be expected to contribute to in-class discussions throughout the course. This reflects the understanding that individual contributions advance everyone’s learning.

10-20% Major Themes in Readings and Impact on Humanity in Progress presentations
At [this link], you will be able to sign up for a day for which you will create a fifteen-minute presentation on the assigned readings for that session and how they might contribute to the notion of Humanity in Progress. You (likely with a partner) will determine themes in the readings that you want to connect; there will be time to organize with your partner during class in Week Two. It is recommended that you come to office hours in advance of your presentation date. Part of this assignment will include providing peer feedback and feedforward, where others help you reflect on your presentational performance and vice versa. You will not need to conduct additional research to present.

25-30% Reflections
You will be expected to answer reflection questions that pertain to assigned readings most weeks of the semester either analytically or creatively. You are expected to provide answers to demonstrate your consistent engagement with course materials. You can omit two of these assignments with no penalty. 
If you are unable or unmotivated to respond to the reflection questions for one week, you invoke the Course Terms Reflection Bonus, in which you may comment on how a particular theoretical term on the list at the end of the syllabus operates in the reading for that week at a lesser word count expectation. You will not need to conduct additional research to answer these reflection questions.

15-25% Temporal Essay project: Analyzing narratives across time
Write three to six pages responding to ONE of the following questions:

1. The narrative of Les Misérables has been told, retold, and adapted in several forms. What themes of the narrative do the film adaptations emphasize, and how does the filmography create these emphases?
2. How does Physics of Sorrow or Empire of Wild use relevant myths to tell a new narrative in a contemporary situation? Does the novel elaborate on the morals of the myths it references or go in a different direction, and why is that significant to how we understand these myths today?

You may find secondary sources helpful, but they are not required for this project.

15-25% Global Poeticisms Essay project: Analyzing poetry in terms of place
Write three to six pages using a close reading of one or two poems to reflect on the following questions: 

            In what way do poets “play” with meter? What effect does this play provoke with regards to meaning drawn from a particular poem in its cultural context? 

You may find secondary sources helpful, but they are not required for this project.

As part of the contract grading system, between the Temporal and the Global Poeticisms Essays, one must be three to four pages and the other must be four to six pages.

25-30% Comparative Essay project: Analyzing narratives across time and place
Write six to eight pages responding to ONE of the following questions:

1. What do we learn about humans through the self-reflective exercise of storytelling? How does either wandering or remaining in one place as depicted in literature interact with the idea of humanity in progress? By comparing two of the four texts you read from units four and five, make a working claim about the notion of humanity in progress as represented in literature.

OR

• Explain the relationship between land and the progression of human history according to two of these texts: Notes on a Return to a Native Land, Fox, De Profundis, Split Tooth, The Backstreets, & Judas. By looking thematically at the readings from units four and five, make a working claim about the literary relationship between land and humanity in progress.

Please use one text from both units four and five.  Secondary sources are required for this project.

Please see Canvas assignment pages for Presentation Rubrics and Reflection Questions.
You will receive assignment sheets describing each essay project in further detail.