Comparative Literature

What you are likely to study in second year

The theme at Level 2 is Frontiers. In two self-contained courses you will focus on the depiction of various forms of discovery and borders: geographic, scientific, psychological, gender-orientated and cultural.

Crossing borders
This course analyses the theme of crossing borders in geographical, scientific, political, psychological, social, cultural and genderorientated terms. It focuses on human motivations behind, and the consequences of, various ‘crossings’ as well as the exploration of otherness, secrets, mysteries and taboos. It also deals with literary depictions of exile, emigration, travels, love and broadly understood ‘discoveries’.

Texts studied may include:

• C J Cela, The Family of Pascual Duarte
• Bohumil Hrabal, I Served the King of England
• Thomas Mann, Death in Venice
• Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
• Talk to Her (film), dir. Almodovar
• Janusz Glowacki, Antigone in New York

Exploring identity
This course focuses on various literary and cinematic depictions of the human search for identity and the meaning of self, through a series of challenging texts and films from a variety of cultures.

Texts studied may include:

• Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes
• Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis
• Nikolai Gogol, The Nose
• Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author
• Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
• Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate