Welcome to Introduction to Literature. For course syllabus and some general resources, please go to the Resources tab. Texts for individual sessions are attached to the Lessons here.

Reading in the context of different cultures and periods Reading: William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 130”; Audre Lorde, “Who Said It Was Simple”; Michael Ondaatje, “Sweet Like a Crow”

Greek epic Reading: Homer, The Odyssey (Book 1, lines 1-22; Book 5)

Greek tragedy Reading: Euripides, Medeia Assignment/deadlines: Essay 1 topic outline due midnight 15 Sep (via email)

Shakespeare’s drama and Europeans’ first contact with the “new world” Reading: William Shakespeare, The Tempest Assignments/deadlines: Essay 1 due on NEO midnight Tuesday 23 Sep

The Gothic, the sublime and the grotesque Reading: E.T.A. Hoffmann, “The Sandman”; William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1805) (Book 13, lines 1-84)

Naturalist drama, social maladies and early feminism Reading: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House

The modern grotesque and social maladies Reading: Franz Kafka, “A Hunger-Artist”, “A Report to an Academy”

Modernist short stories across the Atlantic Reading: Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden-Party”; Zora Neale Hurston "Sweat"

Greek epic reshaped for the modern era Reading: James Joyce, Ulysses (Episode 4 – “Calypso”)

European literature responding to the consequences of World War II (with reference to The Tempest) Reading: Samuel Beckett, Endgame

Friday 25 Apr, 11:15-14:00 Literary feminism reshaping the fairy tale and the Gothic Reading: Charles Perrault, “Bluebeard”, Angela Carter, “The Bloody Chamber”

Contemporary take on the Theatre of the Absurd, gender and myth Reading: Marina Carr, Low in the Dark

Contemporary poetry and the revision of classical narratives Reading: Carol Ann Duffy, “Anne Hathaway”, “Eurydice”, “Penelope” Assignments/deadlines: Essay 2 due on NEO midnight Tuesday 9 Dec

Final test and feedback on essays and on the course