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World Literature Major
World Literature focuses on writing that has traveled - writing that has moved beyond its author's culture and has acquired a new life in other languages, nations and traditions. The study of world literature raises vital questions about how cultures understand - and sometimes misunderstand - one another.
The program examines literature in a comparative way, emphasizing periods of cross-cultural contact and exchange. English is the language of instruction but students also have the opportunity to study other world languages. World literature students are encouraged to participate in an international exchange and/or field schools to complement their degree.
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Program Requirements
The program consists of courses in world literature (WL courses) and a three-unit history (HIST) course. Students complete 120 units, as specified below.
Lower Division Requirements
Students complete a total of 21 units, including one of
Explores how texts resonate in other cultural contexts, influence foreign traditions, and become works of world literature. Breadth-Humanities.
Examines international migrancy, cultural identities, or cross-cultural influence in world literatures, while introducing the fundamentals of literary analysis and expository writing. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
Introduction to the study of literary texts from diverse linguistic and cultural origins. May examine the literature of cross-cultural interaction, or compare texts through thematic topics. Breadth-Humanities.
and one of
Surveys pre-modern texts of world literature. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
Surveys poetry and prose from the seventeenth century to the present, with a focus on the literary exploration of issues of humanity. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
and
Introduces major theoretical approaches to literature and fundamental techniques of literary analysis. Develops students' critical skills for analytical writing about literature in comparative, cross-cultural contexts. Prerequisite: six units in World Literature, including WL 100, 103W or 104W.
and one of
Explores the relationship between Eastern and Western narratives. The focus may include the mutual influence of Eastern and Western cultural traditions and modernities, the construction of the 'East' in the West and of the 'West' in the East, theories of Orientalism and Occidentalism, and forms of East/West syncretism. Prerequisite: Three units in World Literature or six units of B-Hum designated courses. Breadth-Humanities.
Explores how European traditions have influenced and engaged the cultures of the global 'South'. The focus may encompass the cultures and counter-cultures of empire and globalization and the 'tropicalization' of European genres and cultural forms under the influence of artists from Africa, Latin-America, and South Asia. Prerequisite: Three units in World Literature or six units of B-Hum designated courses. Breadth-Humanities.
Explores the cross-cultural trajectory of a genre or genres of world literature. Prerequisite: Three units in World Literature or six units of B-Hum designated courses. Breadth-Humanities.
Examines a diversity of world literature concerning human rights. May focus on writing in the face of political oppression, censorship, political and economic displacement, terrorism and/or warfare. Prerequisite: Three units in World Literature or six units of B-Hum designated courses. Breadth-Humanities.
and two additional three-unit lower division courses in World Literature
and one lower division three-unit HIST course (HIST 130 is recommended).
Before proceeding to upper division World Literature courses, students are encouraged to complete the lower division requirements as shown above.
Upper Division Requirements
Students complete a minimum total of 30 upper division WL units including
Explores the counterpoint of Western and non-Western approaches to world literature. May draw from disciplines including comparative literature, history and anthropology, and focus on how concepts of world literature are imported into new cultural contexts. Prerequisite: 12 units in World Literature, including WL 200.
Examines scholarly and other professional styles of writing about literature, focusing on representative genres, approaches and practices through a selected topic in world literature. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature. Writing.
and any of
Explores cultural expressions of sameness and difference in an age of globalization and its discontents. May focus on transnational expressions of secularism and faith or of the metropolis and suburbia, or on forms of cross-pollination in world literature, cinema and music. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Explores the culture of peoples and individuals displaced by force or migrating by choice. May focus on the plight of refugees in the work of playwrights, essayists and novelists, on the work of emigre artists in different cultural traditions, or on a comparison of the literary cultures of exiles and emigres. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Explores wisdom literature, poetry, or the resonance of faith in secular world literatures. May focus on cross-cultural mystical quests, secular re-castings of narratives of faith and conversion, or the interplay of the religious and the secular in comparative supernatural literatures. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses. Writing.
A comparative approach to literary romanticisms and romantic texts. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Explores the cultures of imperialism in a cross-continental and comparative framework. May focus on chronicles of discovery, moments of colonial contact, critiques of empire, and the imperial engagement with pre-conquest cultures. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Explores post-imperial notions of culture and universality, tradition and modernity, or nation and cosmopolis. May focus on narratives of independence, postcolonial self-fashioning, and imperial nostalgia. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Intermediate seminar on selected literary texts in relation to their social, historical, cultural, or theoretical contexts. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Intermediate seminar on a topic in world literature. This course may be repeated for credit when different topics are offered. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Seminar on a topic in World Literature. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units in World Literature or nine units of B-Hum designated courses.
Independent reading and research on a topic selected in consultation with the supervising instructor. A research essay is required. Reserved for World Literature honors, major and minor students. Prerequisite: 間眅埶AV is by permission of the Instructor and Director.
Independent reading and research on a topic selected in consultation with the supervising instructor. A research essay is required. Reserved for world literature honors, major and minor students. Prerequisite: 間眅埶AV is by permission of the Instructor and Director.
Independent reading and research on a topic selected in consultation with the supervising instructor. A research essay is required. Prerequisite: Two 100 level World Literature courses, two 200 level World Literature courses, and two 300 level World Literature courses. Reserved for World Literature honors, major, and minor students. 間眅埶AV is by permission of the instructor and Director.
and at least one of
Explores the discovery, resonance, and/or influence of ancient literature and culture. May focus on the role and poetics of ancient cultures in modern writing. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300-level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities.
Explores early modern literature across cultures. May compare Eastern and Western texts or focus on the cross-cultural influence of a single genre or author. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300-level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities.
Explores the mutual constitution of modernity in North and South. May focus on modernism and its enemies, case studies of alternative modernities, or the pre-modern in discourses of the modern and anti-modern. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300-level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities.
Explores works of contemporary world literature in the second half of the twentieth century. May focus on the postmodern as a response to the modern, on prevalent postmodern genres, or on the postmodern engagement with developments in philosophy, science, and the media in East and West. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300 level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities.
Explores the translation of texts into new cultural contexts, their reception, and the theory and practice of literary translation. May compare several texts or focus on a single work that has been reconceived in several cultures. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300 level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities. Writing.
Advanced seminar on a topic in World Literature. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300 level courses in World Literature, English, or Humanities.
Independent study of literature in a language other than English. Prerequisite: 間眅埶AV by permission of the instructor and department.
Independent reading and research on a topic selected in consultation with the supervising instructor. A research essay is required. Prerequisite: Two 100 level World Literature courses, two 200 level World Literature courses, and two 300 level World Literature courses. Reserved for World Literature honors, major, and minor students. 間眅埶AV is by permission of the instructor and Director.
Relevant Topic Courses
With prior approval, students may complete a maximum of three lower and eight upper division units of relevant topic courses from outside the World Literature Program (courses offered at 間眅埶AV or our field schools and exchanges) by submitting the course description to the World Literature advisor. The following pre-approved courses are appropriate.
The study of twentieth century North American, British, and/or Post-colonial literatures. Prerequisite: Two 100 division English courses. Breadth-Humanities.
The study of a selection of literary works in English, mainly from regions other than Canada, Britain and the United States. The course may focus on one or several literatures. Prerequisite: Two 100 division English courses, and two 200 division English courses.
The intensive study of a selection of literary works in English, mainly from regions other than Canada, Britain and the United States. The course may focus on one or several literatures or individual authors, and will be organized according to specific critical methodologies. Prerequisite: One 300 division English course. Reserved for English honors, major, joint major and minor students. Students with credit for ENGL 492 may not take this course for further credit. Writing.
The relationship of music and culture, with emphasis on traditional and contemporary music in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and indigenous cultures of North America. Specific cultural areas may be selected for intensive study in any particular term. May be of particular interest to students in other departments. Prerequisite: 45 units.
An interdisciplinary study of literary texts in translation and/or art forms across cultures and periods. Prerequisite: 45 units. Students with credit for HUM 381 or 382 under this topic may not take this course for further credit.
Study Abroad
Students are encouraged to study abroad, through field schools or exchanges. World literature major students may complete up to 15 upper division units at other universities or other universities' field schools and exchanges with prior approval. Submit the relevant course description to the world literature advisor well in advance of the course.
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Program Requirements
For all bachelor of arts (BA) programs (except the honours program), students complete 120 units, which includes
- at least 60 units that must be completed at 間眅埶AV
- at least 45 upper division units, of which at least 30 upper division units must be completed at 間眅埶AV
- at least 65 units (including 21 upper division units) in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences courses
- satisfaction of the writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements
- an overall cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and upper division CGPA of at least 2.0, and a program (major, joint major, extended minor, minor) CGPA and upper division CGPA of at least 2.0
Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements
Students admitted to 間眅埶AV beginning in the fall 2006 term must meet writing, quantitative and breadth requirements as part of any degree program they may undertake. See for university-wide information.
WQB Graduation Requirements
A grade of C- or better is required to earn W, Q or B credit
| Requirement |
Units |
Notes | |
| W - Writing |
6 |
Must include at least one upper division course, taken at 間眅埶AV within the student’s major subject | |
| Q - Quantitative |
6 |
Q courses may be lower or upper division | |
| B - Breadth |
18 |
Designated Breadth | Must be outside the student’s major subject, and may be lower or upper division 6 units Social Sciences: B-Soc 6 units Humanities: B-Hum 6 units Sciences: B-Sci |
|
6 |
Additional Breadth | 6 units outside the student’s major subject (may or may not be B-designated courses, and will likely help fulfil individual degree program requirements) Students choosing to complete a joint major, joint honours, double major, two extended minors, an extended minor and a minor, or two minors may satisfy the breadth requirements (designated or not designated) with courses completed in either one or both program areas. |
|
Residency Requirements and Transfer Credit
The University’s residency requirement stipulates that, in most cases, total transfer and course challenge credit may not exceed 60 units, and may not include more than 15 as upper division work.
Elective Courses
In addition to the courses listed above, students should consult an academic advisor to plan the remaining required elective courses.