Comparative Literature

What you are likely to study in first year

You will read a wide variety of texts under the theme of Heroes. The programme is divided into two self-contained courses: Heroic men and Heroic women.

Heroic men
This course analyses works representing different types of hero: classical, tragic, popular, traditional, comic, anti-heroes and others. It explores the notion of heroism, its absence in our lives and our longing for it as this finds expression in various historical contexts and cultures. It also deals with the
notion of masculinity as a cultural and historical construct.

Texts studied may include:

• Sir Walter Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel
• Ciaran Carson (trans.), Tain Bo Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
• Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
• Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time
• Art Spiegelman, Maus
• Hoffman, The Golden Pot

Heroic women
This course analyses various depictions of heroic women in different cultural contexts and historical times. It explores the notion of female heroism in contrast to male heroism, indicating major differences and similarities. It also deals with women writers’ responses to male writers’ depictions of female protagonists.

Texts studied may include:

• N Hawthorn - The Scarlet Letter
• Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
• Rosario Castellano, selected poems
• The Interrogation (film), dir. Ryszard Bugajski
• Bertold Brecht, Mother Courage
• Renata Vigano – Partisan Wedding