World Literature

A study of world literature from the first heroic narrative--the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh--to the anti-heroic Vietnam War narratives of Tim O'Brien. The course begins with select modern poetry from around the world that identifies themes that command the attention of writers today and proceeds to explore earlier statements and explorations of these themes in selected masterpieces of world literature. A special focus is the examination of the imaginative roots of Western and Islamic cultures. The course culminates in an examination of modern and contemporary world literature as it treats themes of sexual morality and the conduct of war.