Renée Silverman 1

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Comparative Literature 200/ English 275

Professor Renée Silverman

Class Meetings: MWF 3:30-4:20

Office Hours: M 4:30-5:30, W 4:30-5:30 (open office hours); M, W, F by appt.

Office Location: Rice 28
Office Telephone: x58918 (775-8918 from off-campus)
Email Contact: Renee.Silverman@Oberlin.edu

I. Course Description (This course carries 4 credits):

When deciding to study Comparative Literature, we are often asked by well-meaning
interlocutors what we might be comparing, or which literary traditions appeal to us more:
Apples and oranges? Better or worse? This course will instead pose some very different
kinds of questions. Comparative Literature will be introduced and explored as textual
scholarship, methodology, and academic discipline; we will therefore focus in depth on
Comparative Literature’s theoretical assumptions and practical applications. CMPL 200
is organized to reflect the particular strengths of Oberlin College, as well as centering on
important disciplinary categories in Comparative Literature: Literature and the Other
Arts, Theory, Translation, East-West Studies, and European Languages and Literatures.

Following a brief introduction to Comparative Literature, we will turn our attention to

Translation as one of the central problems of the discipline. The next two major units,
Literature and the Other Arts and East-West Studies, will build on the idea of translation
as metaphor for the art of comparison and textual analysis.

Pre-requisites: At least one introductory literature course in any language. Comparative

Literature majors should take this course by their junior year.

II. Assignments, Course Policies, Grading:

Coursework: Each student will be asked to write three 5-page papers, a 15-page final
paper, and create an oral presentation with written, visual, or aural materials.

Reading Texts in the Original Language: Introduction to Comparative Literature will be

taught in English; therefore, all texts will be assigned in that language (in translation
where necessary). However, students with the appropriate language skills are encouraged
to read relevant texts in French, Russian, or Spanish. Please consult Renée Silverman
regarding obtaining and analyzing texts in foreign languages.

Blackboard Assignments and Informational Postings: Introduction to Comparative

Literature will have a Blackboard web site. A copy of the syllabus will be posted there.
Some of our discussions about course materials will take place on-line.
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Policies surrounding Assignments and Grading: 1.) Students will be required to

participate regularly, actively, and effectively in class discussions in order to achieve the
highest participation grade. 2.) More than two non-excused absences will reduce the final
participation grade by one-half letter grade, e.g., from A to A-, B+ to B. 3.) Late papers
and assignments will not be accepted. Exceptions may be made for illness, personal
emergency, or serious scheduling conflict. Permission from Renée Silverman should be
sought as much in advance as possible. 4.) Oberlin College rules regarding academic
integrity will be strictly enforced. 5.) Students with disabilities will be given appropriate
accommodations.

Grading Guidelines:
Class Participation and Discussion: 15%
Oral Presentation Plus Materials: 10%
Three 5-7-page papers: 50%. [Lowest-grade essay=10%; Other essays=20% each]
Final Paper (re-write and expansion of one of three shorter papers): 25%

IIIa. Writing Assignments

Short (5-page) assignments: Students will be asked to focus on one of the sub-topics in
this course. While you are not required to give a thorough disciplinary or theoretical
history, in each of these short papers you must alternatively take on “Literature and the
Other Arts,” “East-West Studies,” and “Translation” as problems in Comparative
Literature. Papers may discuss these sub-topics through textual and/or theoretical
analysis.
Translation Paper (first of three short papers): Your first written assignment will center
on the issues and exigencies surrounding literary translation. In conjunction with Oberlin
College Program in Comparative Literature’s annual Translation Symposium, students of
CMPL200 will either: A.) Write an expository essay of 5-7 pages on any theoretical
aspect of translation, as it relates to the discipline of Comparative Literature. B.)
Translate a literary text from any language into English. You will need to accompany
your work with a short explanation of the major problems and issues that you
encountered while making the translation. ***Students electing Option “B” are strongly
encouraged to translate poetry, since the Translation Symposium will have this genre as
its primary focus. Although participation in the Symposium is not required for the course,
everyone in the class is invited to submit their work. Renée Silverman will be available to
give extra assistance during office hours to students who wish to present their translation
at the annual Symposium.
Paper II/East-West Studies
Paper III/Literature and the Other Arts
Final 15-page paper: The Final Paper will be a revised version of one of your previous
papers. It is expected that you will add a research component to your work at this final
stage. Students should write a comparative paper of their own devising. You should limit
your analysis to two works from the course syllabus. You should ground your
comparison in one of the sub-topics of the course, including “European Languages and
Literatures.” Permission may be granted for one of the works to come from outside
Comparative Literature 200. (Texts from the translation paper will be considered as an
exception to this rule.)
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IIIb. Oral Presentation (approx. 10-minute presentation): Each student will give a short
presentation to the class. At some point during the first few class sessions, you will have
the opportunity to sign up for dates. Presentations will be geared towards the particular
unit (e.g., “Comparative Literature East-West”) and the works assigned for the class in
question. Creativity and creative work is highly encouraged. You may use any art form or
media; performances and expositions will be accepted. Those students who wish to
submit a piece of creative writing, art work, musical performance (recorded or live),
film/video, performance piece, or reading must accompany their creative submission with
a short rationale/self-critique (1-2 pages) which includes: a statement of intentions, and
discussion of the limitations and problems encountered while working on the project. All
students, whether or not they elect the creative option are required to turn in a
rationale/self-critique. Hand-outs and other materials supporting the project are similarly
encouraged.

IV. Required Texts (Available at the Oberlin Bookstore, Blackboard or ERES/Library

Reserves):

Theoretical and Critical Texts; Essay

Apter, Emily. “Afterlife of a Discipline.”
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Selected chapters from Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a
World of Strangers.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.” “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire.”
Bonnefoy, “Translating Poetry.”
Dev, Amiya. “Comparative Literature in India.” In Comparative Literature and
Comparative Cultural Studies. Ed. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek.
Freud, Sigmund. “Female Sexuality.”
Leppert, Richard. Introduction and selected chapters from The Sight of Sound: Music,
Representation, and the History of the Body.
Liu, Lydia. “Translating International Law” and “Figuring Sovereignty.” In The Clash of
Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making.
Kracauer, Siegfried. “Cult of Distraction: On Berlin’s Picture Palaces.” In The Mass
Ornament. Trans., ed., and intro. Thomas Y. Levin.
Said, Edward. Selected texts from Orientalism.
Nabokov, Vladimir. “Problems of Translation: Onegin in English.”
Saussy, Haun, ed. Selected texts from Comparative Literature in an Age of Globalization.
Venuti, Lawrence. “Introduction to Rethinking Translation.”

Literary Texts
Ashbery, John. Selected poetry from Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.
Baudelaire, Charles. Selected poetry from The Flowers of Evil.
Benítez Reyes, Felipe. Probable Lives. Trans. Aaron Zaritzky.
Borges, Jorge Luis. “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.”
Cortázar, Julio. “Blow Up.”
Duras, Marguerite. The Lover.
Euripides, Electra.
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Lorca, Federico García. Blood Wedding.

Ondaatje, Michael. Anil’s Ghost.
Tolstoy, Leo. “The Kreutzer Sonata.”

Dance, Film, and Visual Materials

Antonioni, Michelangelo. Blow-Up. (Film).
Van Beethoven, Ludwig. Sonata no. 9, Op. 47 in A (“Kreutzer”).
Bertolucci, Bernardo, The Last Emperor. (Film).
Saura, Carlos. Blood Wedding. (Film of flamenco ballet).
Strauss, Richard, Electra. (Opera and Video of opera production: Elektra [video
recording] / Richard Strauss; [Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal]).

V. CHRONOLOGY

I. Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Comparative Literature

9/6 Introduction and Lecture: “Comparative Literature 200 at Oberlin”

9/8 Apter, “Afterlife of a Discipline”; Saussy, Comparative Literature in an Age of
Globalization
9/11 Apter and Saussy

II. Translation Theory

9/13 Venuti, “Introduction to Rethinking Translation”; Benjamin, “The Task of the

Translator”
9/15 Venuti and Benjamin
9/18 Nabokov, “Problems of Translation: Onegin in English”; Bonnefoy, “Translating
Poetry”
9/20 Benítez Reyes (Zaritzky, trans.), Probable Lives
9/22 Benítez Reyes

III. Comparative Literature East-West

9/25 Said, Orientalism

9/27 Said; Appiah, Cosmopolitanism
9/29 (Said and Appiah); Borges, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.”
10/2 Yom Kippur/No Class
10/4 Borges; Freud, “Female Sexuality”
10/6 Duras, The Lover
10/9 Duras
10/11 Duras
10/13 Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost
10/16 Fall Recess/No Class
10/18 Fall Recess/No Class
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10/20 Fall Recess/No Class

10/23 Ondaatje; Dev, “Comparative Literature in India”
10/25 Liu, “Translating International Law”
10/27 Liu, “Figuring Sovereignty”; Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
10/30 Liu and Bertolucci
11/1 Ondaatje
11/3 Ondaatje
IV. Literature and the Other Arts

11/6 Leppert, The Sight of Sound; Kracauer, “Cult of Distraction”

11/8 Leppert and Kracauer; Euripides, Electra
11/10 Euripides; Strauss, Elektra; Freud.
11/13 Euripides and Strauss
11/15 Tolstoy, “The Kreutzer Sonata”
11/17 Tolstoy and Beethoven
11/20 Baudelaire, selected poems from The Flowers of Evil; Benjamin; “On Some
Motifs in Baudelaire”
11/22 Benjamin and Baudelaire
11/24 Thanksgiving Recess/No Class
11/27 (Baudelaire); Ashbery, selected poems from Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
11/29 Preparation for annual Translation Symposium/Activities Related to
Translation Symposium/No Class
12/1 Cortázar, “Blow-Up”
12/4 Cortázar; Antonioni, Blow-Up
12/6 Lorca, Blood Wedding
12/8 Lorca; Saura, Blood Wedding
12/11 Lorca and Saura; Review
12/13 Conclusion/Last Day of Class

Final Paper Due: Thursday, December 21 by 12:00 p.m.