COLLEGE
(AS) {COLL}
SM 220. Literatures of the World.
(M) Arts &
Letters Sector. All Classes. Staff from the various
Language and Literature departments.
Literatures of the World is an "umbrella course"
covering a family of related courses numbered COLL 221
to 229 each dealing with a particular non-English
literature in its original language. These
courses, several of which are taught each semester,
encourage the understanding of literature within
the social contexts in which it was created and examine
the works' continuing significance in the modern
literary arena. They also introduce students
to works of creativity and cultivate their powers
of textual perception by providing them with tools
for literary analysis, interpretation and criticism.
Although the content of the various courses is drawn
from specific literary traditions, the emphasis in
each course is on developing and strengthening students'
general capacity for understanding meaning. The
interpretive strategies for literary analysis that
the students acquire are universal and applicable
to any modern literary tradition. A crucial
component of any of these classes is writing analytical
essays, thereby training the students to formulate
their thoughts in a coherent, well-articulated manner.
The current roster
includes courses from the following departments: Germanic
Languages & Literatures (German); Near Eastern
Languages & Literatures (Arabic, Hebrew); Romance
Languages (French, Spanish); Slavic Languages (Russian);
and, South Asia Studies (Hindi).
