The Qur'an in its historical and literary context. Students engage the text in translation but develop a technical vocabulary in transliterated Qur'anic Arabic; those who have prior experience with Arabic language are encouraged to develop their skills with the printed text of the Arabic Qur'an. (Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.) 1 unit - Wright.

An examination of poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood’s fiction. Particular emphasis on the wide range of genres Atwood employs and how she engages in what she terms “genre-bending,” that is, how she exploits and transgresses the expectations and conventions of specific genres such as autobiographical fiction, historiographic metafiction, and speculative fiction. Additional focus on Atwood’s use of intertextuality, especially how, as Kristeva would describe it, she “absorbs and transforms” fairy tales and myths.

This course will examine two pivotal nineteenth-century Gothic novels, Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Frankenstein (1818) and Victor Hugo’s magisterial Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), as historical, cultural, and literary phenomena through a range of generic iterations over two centuries. Beginning with key Enlightenment texts, we will examine the political and social contexts of Shelley’s and Hugo’s works with regard to scientific exploration, race, monstrosity, architecture, religion, colonialism, disability, radicalism, feminism, slavery, ethics, and aesthetics. Significant time may be given to exploring the ways in which these novels have been re-imagined through other media such as theatre, cinema, and digital media.

Described by The New York Times as a “writer of virtuosic talents who can seemingly do anything,” novelist, short-story writer, and essayist David Foster Wallace dramatically changed the face of contemporary fiction. In this course, we will explore Wallace’s fiction and non-fiction, focusing both on his use of language and on the philosophical ideas that inform his writing. We will also critically examine Wallace’s often problematic depictions of race, class, gender, and sexuality in his works.

Thomas Mann’s 1947 novel, Doctor Faustus (originally published in German as, Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde), follows the life of fictional composer Adrian Leverkühn against the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. The rich interplay between different timelines and topics—the narrator’s perspective from within the Third Reich, Leverkühn’s descent into madness, and the Faust legend itself—invite a myriad of interpretations and interdisciplinary approaches. Through the lens of Doctor Faustus, this class will explore the socio-political, literary, and musical history of the German speaking lands during the 19th-20th centuries. Our study of the novel will also give students a broad overview of the history of Western European art music, particularly regarding changing aesthetic values, the ever-evolving role of the composer, and the concept of “genius”. 1 unit – Chang