Courses
Explanatory Note
CLT courses that are either general or comparative in nature have the designation
MCT; these courses are listed first.
Next are listed CLT courses dealing primarily with one linguistic/literary tradition.
These have the designations MCTF (for French), MCTG (German), MCTI (Italian), MCTO
(Occitan), and MCTS (Spanish).
For other courses in individual literatures, go to French courses, German courses, or Spanish courses.
MCT Courses
MCT 3309. Principles of Comparative Literary Study
Theory and practice of literary study in the comparative mode, including a survey
of literary theory, the theory and practice of translation, literary influence, adaptation,
and intertextuality, connections between literature and the visual arts, and film
adaptations of literary works..
Required for the CLT major.
MCT 3310-29 Epoch: Medieval
A range of courses dealing with European literatures during the Middle Ages.
MCT 3311. King Arthur in Europe I: The Search for the Holy Grail
An introduction to Arthurian literature principally of the twelfth and thirteen centuries,
emphasizing the French and German Grail romances: Chretien de Troyes' Perceval le Gallois, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the Vulgate Cycle's Quete du Saint Graal.
MCT 3312. King Arthur in Europe II: Lancelot
Similar to the above, but emphasizing the figure of Lancelot, King Arthur's friend,
chief knight, and chief betrayer. Studies texts written in French, German, and other
languages. Includes study of the Tristan legend. Particular emphasis on the French
prose romances used by Thomas Malory in his fifteenth-century Morte Darthur.
MCT 4314. J.R.R. Tolkien: Heroic Fantasy and the Literary Tradition
A study of Professor Tolkien's literary project in the light of his ancient and medieval
models, especially: Beowulf, the Volsunga saga, the two Eddas. Must already have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
MCT 3330. Historical Linguistics
An introduction to modern approaches to the study of language, culminating in an inquiry
into the origins, historical development, and kinship of Indo-European languages.
MCT 3V50. Special Topics
MCT 3351-69 Epoch: Early Modern
A range of courses dealing with European literatures during the Renaissance, the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.
MCT 3370-89 Epoch: Modern
A range of courses dealing with European literatures in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
MCT 3371. Monuments of Early Modernism: Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot.
Three works of art created between 1908 to 1922 were prominent ground-breaking models
for what was to come in subsequent decades. This course examines not only their important
early work but also the nineteenth-century currents upon which they drew, such as
symbolism and impressionism; contemporary movements such as Futurism and the French
avant-garde; and others, such as Matisse, Braque, Schoenberg, and Pound, who were
rivals or collaborators.
MCT 3372 : European Modernisms and the Avant-gardes in Literature, Film, and the Visual
Arts. Modernist and avant-garde writers, artists, and filmmakers from Germany, Italy, Spain,
and France, with some overlaps into Latin America. Covers movements such as Expressionism,
Dada, Futurism, Cubism, Surrealism, Creacionismo, Ultraismo, and La generacin del
27. Taught in English.
MCT 3389. Contemporary Europe. Contemporary Europe: Crossing Borders in Literature
and Film. This course deals with borders and perceptions of "the other" on various levels,
discussing personal, social, cultural, and national identity and otherness in European
literature and film. We will look at political border-crossings between cultures and
countries, issues of immigration and marginalization, borders of identity and the
notion of the double, transgressions of social borders and the motif of the madman
or social outcast, and the borders between reality and fiction.
MCT 4324. The Menippean Tradition. Masters of a variety of narrative stretching back to ancient times and including such
writers as Seneca, Petronius, Lucian, Rabelais, Cervantes, Swift, Carroll, as well
as many others who created works that both parody established literary forms and draw
attention to the conventions of structure and representation embodied in official
literary genres. Also listed as ENG 4374. Menippean Satire).
MCT 4347. Senior Thesis.
MCT 4349. Senior Honors Thesis.
MCT 4V50. Special Topics.
MCTF Courses
MCTF 3305. Introduction to French Literature
This course, taught in English and requiring no prior knowledge of the French language,
is meant as a quick introduction to the high points and overall sweep of French literature:
what every cultivated person needs to know. Taught every other year in alternation
with the corresponding course in German.
MCTF 5311. French For Reading Knowledge
Designed especially for students needing quickly to reach reading competency in French.
Offered Fall every other year, in alternation with the corresponding course in German.
MCTF 5315. Introduction to Old French
An introduction to the Old French language (9th through 13th centuries) and some of
the great authors, titles, and genres of medieval French literature (ca. 1100 to 1500).
Provides the tools necessary for reading in the original language texts such as the
Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, and the Quete du Saint-Graal, and authors
such as Chretien de Troyes, Marie de France, Thomas d'Angleterre, Rutebeuf, Joinville,
Froissart, Christine de Pisan, and Francois Villon. Permission of the instructor required.
Offered as needed.
MCTF 5316. Topics in Old French
Further readings in Old French. Offered as needed.
MCTG Courses
MCTG 3305. Introduction to German Literature
This course, taught in English and requiring no prior knowledge of the German language,
is meant as a quick introduction to the high points and overall sweep of German literature:
what every cultivated person needs to know. Taught every other year in alternation
with the corresponding course in French.
MCTG 4320 German Novella from Goethe to Kafka. Introduction to shorter German prose with an emphasis on the genre of the novella
and how it has developed from the classical period through the early 20th century.
MCTG 4346 Wagner and the 19th century. Studies the many faceted phenomenon that is Wagner and his effect upon the art, culture,
thought, and even consciousness of his century and on the modernist age that followed.
The course examines Wagners innovation in music, as well as his enormous impact upon
the artistic consciousness of 19th century Europe.
MCTG 5311. German For Reading Knowledge
Designed especially for graduate students seeking advanced reading competency in their
discipline. Offered Fall every other year, in alternation with the corresponding course
in German.
MCTO Courses
MCTO 5317. Introduction to Old Occitan
An introduction to medieval Occitan, a.k.a. Old Provençal, the language of the the
troubadours, the lyric poets in the South of France who, in the twelfth century, inaugurated
the tradition of fin' amors ("courtly love"). Provides the basic linguistic tools
necessary for reading these and other Occitan texts in the original. Permission of
the instructor required. Offered as needed.
For literature courses in French, German, Italian, and Spanish, see listings in Modern
Languages. Advanced literature courses in French, German, Italian, and Spanish may
also be offered as MCTF/MCTG/MCTI/MCTS courses.
