Fall 2026
World Literature Course Offerings
WL 101W - Writing in World Literature (3)
Explores literary texts from diverse linguistic and cultural origins while introducing students to the fundamentals of comparative literary analysis and critical writing. May examine cross-cultural interactions, or compare texts thematically. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
WL 103W - Early World Literatures (3)
Introduces ways of comparing early world literatures across time and space. May explore fundamental themes such as love, heroism, or the underworld. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
WL 201 - East/West Encounters (3)
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. This course may be repeated once for credit when different topics are offered. Breadth-Humanities.
WL 304 - Exile and Migration (4)
Explores the culture of peoples and individuals displaced by force or migrating by choice. May focus on the literary cultures of exiles and emigres or on the depiction of refugees, immigrants or exiles. Prerequisite: 45 units. Breadth-Humanities.
WL 308 - Travel and Trade (4)
Explores how travel and trade contribute to literary history and the exchange of ideas across space. May focus on chronicles of discovery, travel writing, accounts of religious pilgrimage, mythical quest narratives, or other literary texts dealing with the traveler's experience of cross-cultural encounter. This course may be repeated for credit when different topics are offered. Prerequisite: 45 units. Breadth-Humanities.
WL 401 - Early Modernities Beyond the Medieval (4)
In regions the world over, classical civilizations covering large territories separated over time into more locally defined cultures. This course examines the transitions from cosmopolitan literatures characterized by lingua francas (e.g. Latin, Sanskrit) to popular, vernacular literatures and cultures from the 8th century CE to 1500. Prerequisite: 60 units including two 300-level courses in World Literature, English, and/or Humanities.
Summer 2026
World Literature Course Offerings
WL 103W - Early World Literatures (3)
Introduces ways of comparing early world literatures across time and space. May explore fundamental themes such as love, heroism, or the underworld. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.
WL 320 - Interdisciplinary Approaches to World Literature (4)
Intermediate seminar on the intersections between World Literature and other modes of cultural expression, or other academic disciplines. May focus on different methodological approaches to World Literature, for instance gender, cultural, or performance studies. Alternatively, may explore literature in relation to music, theatre, film, the visual arts, or digital humanities. This course may be repeated for credit when different topics are offered. Prerequisite: 45 units. Breadth-Humanities.
WL 360 - National Literature as World Literature (4)
Maps out national literatures鈥� contributions to the world鈥檚 cultural heritage, whether in the form of one of the great authorial voices of a national tradition, a particular period or movement, or a defining theme. This exploration will tease out the ways in which these contributions are inscribed in a dynamic global matrix wherein cultures are negotiated and transformed through on-going dialogue. This course may be repeated once for credit when different topics are offered. Prerequisite: 45 units or permission of the department.