Comparative Literature
Comparative Literature is the study of literature from different nations and cultures, as written in translation rather than in the original languages.
Minor or Integrative Studies Concentration Requirements
A minor or concentration consists of 12 credit hours of upper-level courses in comparative literature (COML).
- A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required for the minor/concentration. The GPA is based on all coursework required within the minor (excluding prerequisites).
- The use of transfer credit, field placements, internships, seminars, S/E graded courses, and independent study/research courses is limited to 3 credits in a 12 credit hour minor/concentration and 6 credits in a 15 credit hour and above minor/concentration.
- Courses within a minor/concentration cannot be taken as Pass/Fail (P/F).
- Minors requiring 12 credits may share one course with a major. Minors requiring 15 credits or more may share two courses with a major. This does not apply to concentrations for the Integrative Studies major.
The Comparative Literature Certificate reflects the values of Modern and Classical Languages of integrating cultures and languages and echoes two of College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, and UM-Dearborn’s, strengths: diversity and marketability. In order to serve students and the community better, the Comparative Literature Certificate offers a certificate for undergraduate degree-seeking students, non-degree students and post-degree students. The post-degree certificate component addresses the needs of college graduates, native speakers of Arabic, and community members seeking a post-degree professional certificate.
- Objectives:
The Comparative Literature Certificate is a Stand-Alone certificate that aims at providing learners with training in the following areas of comparative literature:
- Reading complex texts of world cultures in translation. This is a necessary skill for any cross-cultural profession.
- Critical and comparative analysis. This is an important skill for critical thinking.
- Making connections between original texts and their translations. This is significant for bi-lingual and multi-lingual learners.
In order to achieve proficiency in the main skills of studying Comparative Literature, the Certificate provides students with the following skills:
- Writing-intensive skills as students respond to texts.
- Ability to work/collaborate in groups through projects as students prepare presentations and creative work to culture-specific aspects of the various comparisons.
- Critical and creative thinking as students are required to research and analyze the different cultural and historical contexts of the texts they study.
Certificate Requirements
The certificate requires 12 credits.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses: | ||
| Select two literature courses from the following: | 8 | |
| The Poetry of Arab Women from the Pre-Islamic Age to Andalusia | ||
| Survey of Arabic Literature | ||
| Literary Criticism | ||
| Arabic and Comparative Literature in English | ||
| The Arabic Novel and Short Story in Translation | ||
| Frnch Lit: Md Ages-18 Century | ||
| French Lit: 19th-21st Century | ||
| Francophone Lit and Civil | ||
| Parisian Itineraries | ||
| Germ Lit: Classic and Romantic | ||
| Introduction to German Lit | ||
| The History of German Cinema | ||
| Contemporary German Cultures | ||
| German Culture & Civilization | ||
| Masterpiece of Latin Amer Lit | ||
| Masterpieces of Spanish Lit | ||
| Latino Literature | ||
| Spanish Civilization and Cult | ||
| Latin American Civiliztn Cult | ||
| Elective courses (translation, literature, film, culture) | ||
| Select one course from the following: | 4 | |
| The Poetry of Arab Women from the Pre-Islamic Age to Andalusia | ||
| Arabic Translation Skills: Arabic-English and English-Arabic | ||
| Simultaneous Interpreting Arabic-English and English-Arabic | ||
| Subtitling Arabic-English and English-Arabic | ||
| Survey of Arabic Literature | ||
| Arabic Cinema | ||
| Arabic Civilization | ||
| Arabic Literature and Culture | ||
| Intro to the Quran | ||
| Arabic and Comparative Literature in English | ||
| The Arabic Novel and Short Story in Translation | ||
| Fearing the Unknown: Horror Fantasy in Hispanic Fiction | ||
| You Call Them Nobel Prize Laureates? A Worldwide Perspective | ||
| Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga and What They Can Do: Understanding Visual Narratives | ||
| Frnch Lit: Md Ages-18 Century | ||
| French Lit: 19th-21st Century | ||
| French Cinema | ||
| Workshop in French Theater | ||
| French Civilization of Past | ||
| France of Today | ||
| Francophone Lit and Civil | ||
| Introduction to Translation | ||
| Parisian Itineraries | ||
| Writing and Translating | ||
| Germ Lit: Classic and Romantic | ||
| Introduction to German Lit | ||
| The History of German Cinema | ||
| Contemporary German Cultures | ||
| German Culture & Civilization | ||
| Italian Culture Civilization | ||
| Masterpiece of Latin Amer Lit | ||
| Masterpieces of Spanish Lit | ||
| Latino Literature | ||
| Spanish Civilization and Cult | ||
| Latin American Civiliztn Cult | ||
| Introduction to Translation | ||
| Spanish Film | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 12 | |
Notes:
1. No courses may be taken as pass/fail.
2. Students are allowed to transfer up to 4 credits by petition.
3. A minimum of 2.5 GPA is required for courses within the certificate.
4. All credits earned in the certificate count towards the Arabic Minor, French Minor and Major, Spanish Minor and Major, German Minor, International Studies Major, Global Cultures Minor and other certificates.
COML 221 Great Books I: Ancient World 3 Credit Hours
Introduction to masterpieces of Western world literature from the ancient world. Readings include the Bible, Iliad, Odyssey, Greek drama, and Roman authors. (YR).
COML 222 Great Books II 3 Credit Hours
Introduction to masterpieces of Western world literature from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Readings include Dante, Chaucer, Wolfram, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Moliere, and Racine. (YR).
COML 223 Great Books III: Modern Era 3 Credit Hours
Introduction to masterpieces of Western world literature from the Modern Era. Readings include Swift, Voltaire, Rousseau, English romantic poets, fiction and drama of the 19th and 20th century. (YR).
COML 301 Literary Criticism 4 Credit Hours
This course introduces literary criticism and theory from Aristotle to the present, focusing on the changing concept of literature's nature and function. Lectures, readings, and discussion cover such critics as Aristotle, Dryden, Pope, Johnson, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Arnold, T. E. Hulme, I. A. Richards, T. S. Eliot, and such movements as New Criticism, Phenomenology, Reader-Response, Archetypal Criticism, psychological approaches to literature, New Historicism, Marxism, Feminism, and Deconstruction. This course is a Project Based Learning centered on a major project and/or on a research question related to the topic of the class and will imply hands-on work for a good portion of the semester. The project can be local or international community-driven and will connect to real-life experiences. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): (COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107) and (ENGL 200 or ENGL 230 or ENGL 231 or ENGL 232 or ENGL 233 or ENGL 235 or ENGL 236 or ENGL 237 or ENGL 239)
COML 302 Arabic and Comparative Literature in English 4 Credit Hours
This course examines the intersectionality of Arabic literature and world literature in a comparative context. Students study Arabic literary works and compare them to works in the European and other literary traditions. The comparative analyses highlight similarities and differences among cultures, literary styles, and themes, that at once unite and diversify the human condition. The course places Arabic literature as a significant contributor to world literature and culture. Classes are conducted in English. Students who wish for this course to count for language credit can do the required writing in Arabic. This course is a Project Based Learning centered on a major project and/or on a research question related to the topic of the class and will imply hands-on work for a good portion of the semester. The project can be local or international community-driven and will connect to real-life experiences. (F, W, S, OC).
COML 303 The Arabic Novel and Short Story in Translation 4 Credit Hours
This course examines the robust tradition of Arabic fiction, offering examples of short stories, novellas, and novels. The course is designed for non-speakers of Arabic as all the texts are translated in English. The survey of narratives relies on three considerations. First, the analysis that the novels lend themselves to, including narrative strategies, feminism, psychoanalysis and postcolonialism. Second, the novels cover some of the recurrent themes of Arabic fiction, such as war, memory, class struggle, migration, and childhood. Third, the novels and short fiction writers represent the national and cultural diversity of the region, ranging from Morocco, to Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, and Yemen. Classes are conducted in English. Students who wish for this course to count for language credit can do the required writing in Arabic. This course adopts the project-based learning approach and a relevant final project enables students to practically apply the comparative, analytical, and creative skills they learn in this class. (F, W, S, OC).
COML 340 Modern European Short Fiction 3 Credit Hours
A careful reading of between 10 and 15 short novels (in English translation) with particular attention being paid to the manner in which their plots and characters express contemporary cultural issues. Such works as Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Unamuno's Abel Sanchez will be included.
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 230 or ENGL 231 or ENGL 232 or ENGL 233 or ENGL 235 or ENGL 236 or ENGL 237 or ENGL 239 or ENGL 200
COML 341 Mod Eur Poetry in Translation 3 Credit Hours
Movements and genres of modern European poetry, from the Symbolists to the present. Included will be such poets as D'Annunzio, Cavafy, Rilke, Blok, Mayakovsky, Valery, Eluard, Pavese, Seferis, Akhmatova, Mandestram, Marinetti, Trakl, Mistrale, Vallejo, Morgenstern, Apollinaire, Loren, Transtromer, Brodsky, Milosz, and others in translation. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 231
COML 344 Modern Literature: the Novel 3 Credit Hours
A careful examination of five or six significant modern novels in translation, with particular emphasis on their influence on the development of the novel, and their reflection of contemporary cultural issues. The works of such authors as Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gide, Joyce, and Mann will be included.
COML 347 Clas Lit in Engl Translation 3 Credit Hours
A study of masterworks of ancient Greek and Roman literature with special attention to the development of epic, tragedy, comedy, and lyric poetry. Authors studied will include Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Terence, and Plautus.
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 230 or ENGL 231 or ENGL 232 or ENGL 233 or ENGL 235 or ENGL 236 or ENGL 237 or ENGL 239 or ENGL 200
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Junior
COML 355 Urban Voices: France and Italy 3 Credit Hours
This course is an interdisciplinary approach to the concepts of urban development and literary, visual and cultural responses to the process of urbanization mainly in Rome and Paris. The readings will illustrate how the city shaped the writers' creativity, as well as how their works interpret urbanization.
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Freshman
COML 375 The Hero in Literature 3 Credit Hours
Reflections on myth, history, and literature, based on analyses of literary texts. The individual hero may change from term to term. The course, for example, might center on the transition from Faust to anti-Faust. In this instance, some of the writers or works might include: The Faustbook, Marlow's Doctor Faustus, Goethe's Faust, Byron's Manfred, a Faust opera, Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus, Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum. All reading in English translation. (OC).
COML 390 Topics in Comparative Lit 3 Credit Hours
Examination of problems and issues in selected areas of comparative literature. Title as listed in Schedule of Classes will change according to content. Course may be repeated for credit when specific topics differ. (OC).
COML 399 Independent Studies 1 to 3 Credit Hours
Readings or analytical assignments in Comparative Literature in accordance with the needs and interests of those enrolled and agreed upon by the student and instructor.
COML 404 Medieval Mystical Writers 3 Credit Hours
A study of the genre of mystical writing as it was developed and practiced throughout the Middle Ages and in 14th century England particularly. Attention will be given to the historical, religious, and cultural contexts that enabled and were created by mystical texts. In addition, the course will explore how traditional and contemporary trends in the fields of religious and literary studies can be brought to bear on the genre of mystical writing. (OC)
Prerequisite(s): (COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107) and (ENGL 200 or ENGL 230 or ENGL 231 or ENGL 232 or ENGL 233 or ENGL 235 or ENGL 236 or ENGL 237 or ENGL 239)
COML 433 Writing Women in Renaissance 3 Credit Hours
This course will be taught in English, and will focus on the influence of Italian literary models for the construction of female literary types as well as female voices in France and Italy from 1300 to about 1600. Italian authors studied include three very influential Florentines, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, as well as Castiglione and Ariosto. We will read women poets, patrons, prostitutes and queens from Italy and France such as Veronica Gambara, Isabella di Morra, Vittoria Colonna, Christine de Pizan, Louise Labe, and Marguerite de Navarre. At last issue will be women's roles and women's images in city and court culture during the early modern period, and the interaction of their writings with the literary canons of Italy and France. (OC).
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Level is Undergraduate
COML 455 This American Life 3 Credit Hours
The course "This American Life: Immigrant Literature and the American Dream" is a literary and cultural analysis of the literature of immigration. The readings are from works of fiction in a variety of genres, and are written by American and non-American prize-winning authors. Their common denominator is the pursuit of the American Dream and its many multifaceted aspects. The themes explored include: assimilation, acculturation, diversity, language, subculture, intertextuality, nostalgia, belonging, and double identity. Student wishing to take this course for graduate credit should sign up for COML 555. Students cannot receive credit for both COML 455 and COML 555.
Restriction(s):
Cannot enroll if Class is Freshman or Graduate
*An asterisk denotes that a course may be taken concurrently.
Frequency of Offering
The following abbreviations are used to denote the frequency of offering: (F) fall term; (W) winter term; (S) summer term; (F, W) fall and winter terms; (YR) once a year; (AY) alternating years; (OC) offered occasionally