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European Literature II - LIT222 Spring 2026
Course
Andrew Giarelli
/files/2517393/LIT_222_European_Lit_2_syllabus_Sp_2026_new_approved_(2).doc
European Literature II
Course code: LIT 222
Semester and year: Spring 2026
Day and time: Tuesdays, 18:15-21:00, Room 2.04 (Main Building)
Instructor: Andrew L. Giarelli, Ph.D.
Instructor contact: Andrew.giarelli@aauni.edu
Consultation hours: Tuesdays 12:00-14:00
|
Credits US/ECTS |
3/6 |
Level |
Bachelor |
|
Length |
15 weeks |
Pre-requisite |
LIT 200 |
|
Contact hours |
42 hours |
Grading |
Letter Grade |
1. Course Description
This course introduces students to a wide range of 19th and 20th century European prose, poetry and drama. Emphasis is on close reading of texts and their placement in the context of European cultural, societal and political trends from 1800 to the late 20th century – from Romanticism to late Modernism, in other words, though some writers fall outside any such categories. All texts are translated into English.
2. Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
· Prove that they have done the assigned readings.
· Demonstrate comprehension and clear understanding of important movements, periods and authors across the range of European literature from 1800-2000.
· Demonstrate understanding and analysis of literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning.
· Demonstrate understanding and analysis of literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning.
3. Reading Material
Required Materials
(in order of reading
· Leopardi, Giacomo, selections from I Canti (1831). Tim Chilcott Literary Translation, 2008. www.tclt.org.uk.
· Heine, Heinrich. Buch der Lieder (1827), selected poems. A.S. Kline (tr.), Poetry in Translation, 2004.
· Hugo, Victor. Poems. Project Gutenberg E-Book. 2003 (1888).
· Coronado, Carolina. “El Pajáro Perdido” (“ The Lost Bird”). Tr. William Cullen Bryant. In Poets.org.
· Gautier, Théophile. Selected poems in Poetry in Translation .
· Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2008). The Golden Pot and other tales. Oxford University Press.
· De Musset, Alfred. The Confession of a Child of the Century. Tr. David Coward. London: Penguin Classics, 2014.
· Sand, George. The devil's pool and other stories. Tr. Ellery and Jane Minot Sedgwick. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1904. Project Gutenberg E-book #21993, 2007.
· Gogol, Nikolai, “The Overcoat”. In Great Russian Short Stories (Paul Negri, ed.). Dover, 2003.
· Balzac, Honoré de. Selected Short Stories. Tr. Sylvia Raphael. London: Penguin Classics, 1977.
o “The Red Inn”. Tr. Katherine Prescott Wormeley. New York: Little, Brown, 1896. Project Gutenberg E-book #1433, 2005.
o “The Atheist's Mass”. Tr. Clara Bell, 1896. Project Gutenberg E-book #1220, 2005.
· Flaubert, Gustave. Three Tales. Tr. Roger Whitehouse. London: Penguin Classics, 2005.
o “ A Simple Soul." Project Gutenberg E-book #1253, 2006.https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1253/pg1253-images.html
· Verga, Giovanni. Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories. Tr. G.H. McWilliam. London: Penguin Classics, 2000.
· Kukučín, Martin. “Tinker’s Christmas”. In The Daedalus Book of Slovak Literature. Ed. Peter Karpkinsky, Tr. Janet Livingstone and Magdalene Mullek. Cambs (UK): Daedalus Books, 2015.
· Zola, Emile. The Attack on the Mill and Other Stories. Tr. Douglas Parme. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
· De Maupassant, Guy. A Parisian Affair and Other Stories. London: Penguin Classics, 2004.
· Strindberg, August. Miss Julie and Other Plays. Tr. Michael Robinson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
· Baudelaire, Charles. The Flowers of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
o Les Fleurs du Mal. 1861 edition at Les FleursduMal.org.
· Rimbaud, Arthur. A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat. New York: New Directions, 2011.
o “The Drunken Boat.” The Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55036/the-drunken-boat
· Verlaine, Paul. Selected Poems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
o “Moonlight”, “Innocents We”. The Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paul-verlaine#tab-poems
· Mallarmé, Stephan. Collected Poems and Other Verse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
o “Un Coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard” (“A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance”). Poetry in Translation.
· Moréas, Jean. “ Symbolist Manifesto”. Le Figaro, Sept. 18, 1886. Tr. C. Liszt. https://enjoymutable.com/home/thesymbolistmanifesto
· Gorter, Herman. Poems of 1890. London: UCL Press, 2015.
· Proust, Marcel. -- Proust, Marcel, Swann's Way. New York: New York Review of Books Classics, 2023.
o “Overture”, Swann's Way: Remembrance of Things Past, Volume One. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1922. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7178/7178-h/7178-h.htm#link2H_4_0001
· Apollinaire, G.(2015). Selected Poems. Tr. Martin Sorrell. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
o “Zone” in Alcools (1913) 2-13; “ Chains” , “ Windows” , “ Landscape” , “ Ocean-letter” in Calligrammes (1918).
· Marinetti, Filippo Tommasso. “Manifeste du Futurisme” (“Manifesto of Futurism).” Le Figaro, Jan., 20, 1909, 1.
· Södergran, Edith. Love & Solitude, selected poems by Edith Södergran. Tr. Stina Katchadourian. Seattle: Fjord Press, 1992.
· Pessoa, Fernando. A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems. London: Penguin Classics, 2006.
· Breton, André. Manifesto of Surrealism” (1924). Exquisitecorpse.com, 2011. http://www.exquisitecorpse.com/assets/manifesto_of_surrealism.pdf
· Rilke, Rainer Maria. Sonnets To Orpheus (1922). Temple, Robert (tr.) Rainer Maria Rilke: The Sonnets To Orpheus. Selected sonnets. URL: https://www.sonnetstoorpheus.com/rainer_maria_rilke.html.
· Montale, Eugenio. Selected Poems. Tr. Glauco Cambon. New York: New Directions, 1965.
· Lorca, Federico García, Selected Poems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
o Poetry Foundation. URL: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/federico-garcia-lorca.
· Attila József. The Iron-Blue Vault: Selected Poems. Tr. Zsuzsana Ozsváth and Frederick Turner. Hexham (UK): Bloodaxe Books, 1999.
· Ginczanka, Zuzana. “from About Centaurs.” Asymptote.
· Čapek, Karel. R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) (1920, 1923). New York: Doubleday, Page and Co. https://archive.org/details/rurrossumsuniver00apek_0/page/86/mode/2up
· Colette. The Other Woman. London/New York: Signet/NAL, 1975.
https://archive.org/details/otherwoman00cole/page/n5/mode/2up
· Roth, Joseph. The Legend of the Holy Drinker. Tr. Michael Hofmann. London: Granta, 2022.
o Also in Mann, Klaus and Kesten, Hermann, eds. (1943). The Best of Modern European Literature. Philadelphia: The Blakiston Company.
· Krúdy, Gyula. Life Is A Dream. Tr. John Batki. London: Penguin Books, 2010.
· Brecht, Bertold. To Posterity. North Vancouver, B.C.: Grouse Mountain Press, 1964.
· Tranströmer, Tomas. Selected Poems, 1954-1986. Tr. Robert Bly. New York: Ecco Press, 1987.
· Sachs, Nelly. “From Flight and Metamorphosis”. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/152943/from-flight-and-metamorphosis
· Celan, Paul. “ Todesfuge” (“ Death Fugue”). Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/161127/todesfuge-64f9500d91c45
· Tranströmer, Tomas. Selected Poems, 1954-1986. New York: Ecco Press, 1987. https://archive.org/details/tomastranstromer0000tran/mode/2up
· Moravia, Alberto. Roman Tales. Tr. Angus Davidson. London: Secker & Warburg, 1956. https://ia600609.us.archive.org/8/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.149797/2015.149797.Roman-Tales_text.pdf
· Dinesen, Isak. “ Babette’s Feast”. Villanova University Center for Faith and Learning, 1979.
· Duras, Marguerite. Hiroshima Mon Amour. New York: Grove Press, 1961.
4. Teaching methodology
Classes will consist of directed close reading, in which individual students will be asked precise questions about assigned texts in order to gradually unfold the layers of meaning in literary works. Student participation is thus more intense than in a normal lecture course, though also considerable time will be devoted to lectures. Because of the intense level of student participation expected, it will not be possible to miss classes and to simply “make up” work: every class session will lead to deeper and more challenging efforts at understanding layers of literary complexity.
Note: For lessons with longer lists of poets/fiction writers, the lesson will continue in graded Forum posts. Internet Archive readings require registration.
5. Course Schedule
|
Date |
Class Agenda |
|
Lesson 1 Tuesday, Feb. 3 |
Topic: Romanticism I: Six Romantic Poets Description: Reading: 1) Adam Mickiewicz, “Romanticism” (1821). 2) Heinrich Heine, selected poems from Das Buch der Lieder (1827): “There lies the heat of summer” (“Es liegt der heisse Sommer“), “I Can’t Forget“ (“Ich kanne es nicht vergessen”), “Still Is the Night” (“Still ist die Nacht”) 3) Giacomo Leopardi, Canti (1830): XI “The Solitary Sparrow” (“Il Passero Solitario”); XII “The Infinite”(“L’Infinito”). Alternate translations: “The Infinite”, “The Solitary Bird” 4) Victor Hugo, “Soleils Couchants” (“Setting Suns”) (1831) 5) Carolina Coronado, “El Pájaro Perdido”/“The Lost Bird” (1843) 6) Théophile Gautier, Emaux et Camées (“Enamels and Cameos”) (1852): “Carmen”, “Art” Assignments/deadlines: Above reading done in class. Forum prompt will be posted on NEO after class. Respond by 11:59 p.m., Feb. 7. |
|
Lesson 2 Tuesday, Feb. 10 |
Topic: Romanticism II: Romantic Prose Description: Reading: 1) E.T.A. Hoffmann, “The Sandman” (1819) in The Golden Pot and Other Tales, pp. 85-118. 2) Alfred de Musset, Confession of a Child of the Century ((1836), Book 1, Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. Forum prompt will be posted on NEO after class. Respond by 11:59 p.m., Feb. 14. |
|
Lesson 3 Tuesday, Feb. 17 |
Topic: From Romanticism To Realism Description: Reading: Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class |
|
Lesson 4 Tuesday, Feb. 24 |
Topic: 19th Century Realism I Description: Reading: 1) Honoré de Balzac, “The Red Inn” (1831); “The Atheist’s Mass” (1836)
Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. Early-term reading quiz, worth 3 percent of grade, posted in Assignments and due midnight Saturday, Feb. 28 (note extended deadline). |
|
Lesson 5 Tuesday, March 3 |
Topic: 19th Century Realism II Description: Reading: 1) Giovanni Verga, “Rosso Malpelo”/“Red Evil Hair” (1879) “La Lupa”/“The She-Wolf” (1880) 2) Gustave Flaubert, "A Simple Heart" (1877) Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. |
|
Lesson 6 Tuesday, March 10 |
Topic: Naturalism Description: Reading: 1) Emile Zola, “The Miller’s Daughter” (1877) 2) Guy de Maupassant, “Boule de Suif” (1880) 3) Auguste Strindberg, Miss Julie (1888) Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class |
|
Lesson 7 Tuesday, March 17 |
Topic: Symbolists and Decadents Description: Reading: 1) Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, selected poems (1861 edition) 2) Paul Verlaine, “Moonlight”, “Innocents We” (1869) 3) Arthur Rimbaud, “The Drunken Boat” (1871) 4) Jean Moréas, “Symbolist Manifesto” (1886) 5) Stéphane Mallarmé, “Un Coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard” (“A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance”) (1897) Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. |
|
Lesson 8 Tuesday, March 24 |
Topic: Pre-Moderns Description: Reading: 1) Herman Gorter, Poems of 1890, selected poems 2) Marcel Proust, Swann's Way, “Overture” (1913). 3) Olha Kobylianska, “The Blind Man” (1902), “Vasylka” (1922) Assignments/Deadlines: Above reading due day of class. Essay 1 due Friday, March 20 on NEO. |
|
Tuesday, March 31 |
NO CLASS: Midterm Break |
|
Lesson 9 Tuesday, April 7 |
Topic: Modernist, Futurist, and Surrealist Poets 1 Description: Reading: 1) Filippo Tommasso Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism” (1909). 2) Guillaume Apollinaire, “Zone” in Alcools (1913) 2-13; “ Chains” , “ Windows” , “ Landscape” , “ Ocean-letter” in Calligrammes (1918) 3) Edith Södergran, Love and Solitude: Selected Poems 1916-1923: “Dagen Svalnar” (“The Day Cools”), pp. 20-23; “Vierge Moderne” ("Modern Lady"), p. 29; “Till En Ung Kvinna” (“To A Young Woman”), pp. 102-5; “Stormen” (“The Storm”), p. 125; “Framtidens Skugga” (“Future’s Shadow”), pp. 124-25. 4) Tristan Tzara, “Dada Manifesto 1918” (1918) 5) Fernando Pessoa: (Alberto Caeiro) “Sou um guardador de rebanhos” (“I’m a Keeper of Sheep”); Ricardo Reis, “Odes”; (Álvaro de Campos) “Lisbon Revisited”; “This”. 6) Rainer Maria Rilke, Die Sonette An Orpheus/Sonnets To Orpheus (1922), Sonnets I, III, IV. Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class |
|
Lesson 10 Tuesday, April 14 |
Topic: Modernist, Futurist, and Surrealist Poets 2 Description: Reading: 1) André Breton, “Manifesto of Surrealism” (1924) 2) Eugenio Montale, Ossi di Seppia (Cuttlefish Bones ) “The Lemon Trees”, “The Wall” (1925) 3) Federico Garcia Lorca, “Romance de la Luna, Luna”, “ Romance Sonámbulo” , ”La Casada Infiel”/“The Unfaithful Wife” from Romancero Gitano (1928); “Gacela de la Muerte Oscura”/ from Diván del Tamarit/The Tamarind Divan (1936); “Soneto de la Dulce Queja”/” Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint” from Sonetas del Amor Oscuro/Sonnets of Dark Love (1936) 4) Attila József, “Night in the Outskirts” (1932), “On the Edge of the City” (1933) 5) Bertold Brecht, “To Posterity” (1934-38) 6) Zuzana Ginczanka, selected poems from About Centaurs (1936) “Virginity”, “Betrayal” Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. Forum prompt will be posted on NEO after class. Respond by 11:59 p.m., April 18. |
|
Lesson 11 Tuesday, April 21 |
Topic: Modernist Prose I Description: Reading: 1) Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) 2) Colette, The Other Woman: “The Secret Woman” (pp. 1-5) and “The Other Wife”, pp. 41-45 (both 1924) Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. Late-term reading quiz, worth 3 percent of grade, in class. |
|
Lesson 12 Tuesday, April 28 |
Topic: Modernist Prose II Description: Reading: 1) Gyula Krudy, “Last Cigar at the Grey Arabian”, “The Journalist and Death” in Life Is A Dream (1930) 2) Josef Roth, The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1939) Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class |
|
Lesson 13 Tuesday, May 5 |
Topic: Postwar Poetry Description: Reading: 1) Paul Celan, “Todesfugue”/”Death Fugue” (1945/1948) 2) Jaroslav Seifert, Přilba hlíny/A Helmetful of Earth: “Song of the Native Land”, “To Prague”, “At the Tomb of the Czech Kings”, “When in the history books…”, “The Dead of Lidice” (1945). 3) Nelly Sachs, selected poems from Flight and Metamorphosis (1959). 4) Tomas Tranströmer, “Allegro”. “The Half-Finished Heaven” from The Half-Finished Heaven (1962), “After A Death” from Bells and Tracks (1966). In Tomas Tranströmer: Selected Poems 1954-1986. Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. |
|
Week 14 Tuesday, May 12 |
Topic: Postwar Fiction Description: Reading: 1) Alberto Moravia, “The Fanatic” (1954). 2) Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen, “Babette’s Feast” (1958). Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class |
|
Lesson 15 Tuesday, May 19 |
Topic: Postwar Drama Description: Reading: 1) Marguerite Duras, Hiroshima Mon Amour, (1961). Assignments/deadlines: Above reading due day of class. 1) Essay 2 due on NEO Friday, May 22. |
6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)
|
Assignment |
Workload (average) |
Weight in Final Grade |
Evaluated Course Specific Learning Outcomes |
Evaluated Institutional Learning Outcomes* |
|
Attendance and Class Participation |
42 |
20% |
Demonstrate understanding and analysis of literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning. |
1,2,3 |
|
Quizzes |
18 |
10% |
Prove that they have done the assigned readings. |
2 |
|
Essays (2) |
80 |
60% |
Demonstrate understanding and analysis of literature via close reading of texts, attuning themselves to nuances of meaning. |
1,2 |
|
Forum Posts |
10 |
10% |
Demonstrate an ability to place in context the great works of literature from cultures other than their own, enriching their own perspectives. |
1,2,3 |
|
TOTAL |
150 |
100% |
|
|
*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action
7. Detailed description of the assignments
Essays (2). Each essay must be approximately 2000 words, about one of the works studied during the period leading up to which the essay is due. Your first essay must be about one of the works studied in Weeks 1-7, and your second about one of the works studied in Weeks 8-15.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Factual knowledge of text |
25 |
|
Clear Writing and Correct Grammar, Punctuation, Syntax |
25 |
|
Incisive, persuasive textual analysis |
50 |
Reading Quizzes. The two announced quizzes (early and late term) will consist of both short factual questions as well as short essay questions. There will be up to four unannounced in-class quizzes consisting of short factual questions to make sure you have done the reading. You cannot make up missed unannounced reading quizzes.
Assessment Breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Proof that you have read the text |
100 |
Forum Posts. Several times during the semester I will continue in-class analysis with a prompt question or set of questions on NEO Forums.
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Engagement in ongoing group textual interpretation |
100 |
Class Participation. Here is where you will not only show me that you are carefully reading the works assigned, but also where you will develop and practice the skills you will use in your essays (see above). I will ask each of you questions designed to elicit hard thinking about the text in front of you, at least until and if we develop a pattern of full participation in the class.
.
Assessment breakdown
|
Assessed area |
Percentage |
|
Proof that you have read the text |
50 |
|
Ability to participate in group close reading of text |
50 |
General Requirements and School Policies
General requirements
8. All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. Please see the AAU intranet for a summary of key policies regarding coursework.
Course-Specific Requirements
Because this course is all about your own close reading of literary texts, no AI-generated text is allowed in writing assignments. Any use of it will result in a failed grade for the assignment and could result in failing the entire course.
Here is the course outline:
1. Lesson 1: Romanticism in-class extras |
2. Lesson 2: Romanticism 2 in-class material |
3. Lesson 3: From Romanticism to Realism |
4. Lesson 4: 19th Century Realism 1 |