Course Outline for English 41
World Literature (17th Century to the Present)

Effective: Fall 2021
SLO Rev: 12/15/2016
Catalog Description:

ENGL 41 - World Literature (17th Century to the Present)

3.00 Units

Comparative study of selected works of literature, in English and in translation, from around the world, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas, and other areas, from the mid seventeenth century to the present.
Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1 as determined by multiple measures or other appropriate method or, ENGL 102 or ENGL 101B Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1 or ENGL 1A.
1501.00 - English
Letter Grade Only
Type Units Inside of Class Hours Outside of Class Hours Total Student Learning Hours
Lecture 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Total 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Measurable Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. demonstrate familiarity with important works, genres, and themes from authors from 17th Century to the present;
  2. read literature with sensitivity, critical skill, and a comprehension of the relationship between culture and literary form and idea;
  3. analyze the historical development of literature around the world from the seventeenth century through modern times;
  4. analyze the similarities and differences in subject, theme, literary form, and style in works from various cultures (including the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and others);
  5. demonstrate understanding of appropriate academic discourse and the conventions of critical literary analysis;
  6. relate the literary works to their historical, philosophical, social, political, religious, regional, and/or aesthetic contexts;
  7. demonstrate understanding of how literature both reflects and helps create history and culture;
  8. prepare a research-based project on a genre, a theme, culture or historical period in World literature.
Course Content:
  1. Influential and significant texts and authors:
    1. Texts might include Tartuffe, Candide, Journey to the West, Hedda Gabler, A Room of One's Own, Midnight's Children, and Things Fall Apart.
    2. Authors might include Moliere, Voltaire, Mary Wollstonecraft, Leo Tolstoy, Rabindranath Tagore, Jorge Luis Borges, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
  2. Evolution of literary traditions and genres:
    1. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Literature: topics might include vernacular tradition of literature in China and the Enlightenment in Europe
    2. Nineteenth Century Literature: topics might include Romanticism, Realism and Symbolism
    3. Twentieth Century Literature: topics might include the Self and Others in Global Context, Modernism and postmodernism, Post-colonialism and Orientalism, gender-relations, War and alienation.
  3. The historical, philosophical, social, political, and asthetic contexts of world literature:
    1. Seventeenth and eighteenth century contexts might include the Englightenment philosophers and the revolutions in the U.S. and France
    2. Nineteenth century contexts might include colonialism and the industrial revolution, 
    3. Twentieth century contexts might include the World Wars, the Cold War, and the post-colonial era. 
  4. Reading, analyzing, interpreting and writing about literature representing diverse cultures, from the seventeenth century through the twenty-first century. 
Methods of Instruction:
  1. Group Activities
  2. Lecture/Discussion
  3. Presentation
  4. Research Report
  5. Textbook reading assignments
  6. Field Trips
  7. Guest speakers
  8. Oral and Written Analysis
  9. Class and group discussions
  10. Attendance of live performance
  11. Diagnostic Quizzes
  12. Distance Education
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  1. Write an essay analyzing the representation of the “Other” in "The Lover" by Marguerite Duras.
  2. Write an essay comparing and contrasting the use of magic realism in Russian Literature (for example in a short story by Gogol) and Latin American literature (for example in a work by Isabel Allende).
  3. Write a research paper involving a critical analysis of thematic or structural aspects of the works considered
  4. Prepare an oral presentation on a non-European poet
  1. Class Work
  2. Exams/Tests
  3. Research Projects
  4. Journals
  5. Final Examination or Project
  6. Papers
  7. Quizzes
  8. Oral Presentation
  9. Group Projects
  10. Homework
  11. Assigned activities
  12. Class Participation
Upon the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. Demonstrate familiarity with the self-expressed perspectives of the represented groups.
  2. Demonstrate familiarity with the structure and literary devices of the works studied
  3. Read and appreciate the diversity of the literature while identifying some common themes
Textbooks (Typical):
  1. Davis, Paul (2003). . Bedford Anthology of World Literature. (Books 4,5,6) Bedford/St. Martin’s.
  2. Damrosch, David (2004). Longman Anthology of World Literature. (Volumes D.E.F) Longman.
  3. Puchner, Martin (2018). Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. 2 (Shorter 4th Ed.). Norton.
  4. Tolstoy, Leo (2004). Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy Harper Perennial.
  5. Lu, Xun (2009). The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China Penguin.
  6. Achebe, Chinua (1994). Things Fall Apart Anchor.
  7. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia (1989). Love in the Time of Cholera Penguin.
  8. Arundati Roy (2008). The God of Small Things. Random House.
  9. Ibsen, Henrik (2007). Ibsen’s Selected Plays Norton.
  10. Calvino, Italo (1982). If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler Harcourt Brace.
  11. Duras, Marguerite (1998). The Lover Pantheon.
  12. Cervantes (1995). Don Quixote Harper Perennial.
  13. Kundera, Milan (1988). The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Penguin.
  14. Akhmatova, Anna (2009). Anna Akhmatova: Selected Poems Overlook.
  15. Nawal, El Sawaadi (2015). Woman at Point Zero Zed Books.
Abbreviated Class Schedule Description:
Comparative study of selected works of literature, in English and in translation, from around the world, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas, and other areas, from the mid seventeenth century to the present.
Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1 as determined by multiple measures or other appropriate method or, ENGL 102 or ENGL 101B Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1 or ENGL 1A.
Discipline:
English*