Animal Stories
COL 120
Spring 2012 not offered
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Humans are a species of animal, and animals have long been used to represent human qualities and dilemmas. In Western narrative, these representations have taken many complex forms, all the way to wildly imaginative distortions of the human in the animals, and the animal in the human. We shall look first at traditional representations (Homer's similes, Aesop's and La Fontaine's fables) and some modern revisions (Bresson's film AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, Art Spiegelman's MAUS), then at obsessional relations of men to animals (Kleist's MICHAEL KOHLHAAS, Flaubert's A SIMPLE HEART, Cormac McCarthy's novel THE CROSSING), and conclude with the powerful renderings of animals--scarcely human, all-too-human--in Kafka's short stories. The seminar is an introduction to the close study of comparative literature across different periods, styles, and cultural contexts, with a view toward the philosophical issues raised by literature. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Writing |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Heinrich von Kleist, MICHAEL KOHLHAAS
Gustave Flaubert, A SIMPLE HEART
Cormac McCarthy, THE CROSSING
Franz Kafka, THE COMPLETE STORIES
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Examinations and Assignments:
Frequent writing assignments, increasing from one paragraph to eight pages, no exams. Regular participation in discussions is required. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Regular attendance and participation in discussion. |
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