Fall 2008 Class Schedule - updated Nov 22, 2008

This course introduces students to the main features of early Arabic literature, from pre-Islamic Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman influences through the Middle Ages, and culminates in a study of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). We will trace the development of literary forms, including the three main genres of fiction, poetry and drama, while applying a broad range of critical and theoretical approaches. We will also pay attention to the interaction of Arabic literature with art, music and philosophy. No prerequisites.

*Course is taught in French*

This course will examine some of the major historical events, as well as social and cultural developments, throughout the turbulent 19th century and into the early 20th century in France. The period covered is one of political upheaval and experimentation that includes two empires, two monarchies, and two republics, often ushered in by a coup d'état or a revolution, and accompanied by attempts at continental and colonial expansion. It is also a period of dramatic scientific, technological, and industrial innovation and growth. "Progress" is the watchword. In the arts, there is revolt against academic classicism. Passionate esthetic debates erupt between the advocates and adversaries of romanticism, orientalism, realism, naturalism, mysticism, decadence, and the avant-garde movements in the early 1900s. Daily life is transformed with the triumph of the bourgeoisie through phenomena such as urbanization, education, and secularization, not to mention the multiplication of newspapers, cafés, and dance venues.