CLTR 2100 Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to the comparative study of literature and culture across the boundaries of language, genre, nation, artistic medium, historical period, and socio-political context. It focuses both on the methods of literary theory and on the practical applications of critical tools to literary and cultural analysis. Texts and topics reflect LL&C’s curricular strengths and include critical theory, film, literature & the other arts, World Literature, European languages and literatures, and translation. Prerequisite is the completion of 1003 or higher in any language taught at DU. Readings in English with a reflective module conducted in the target language. This course provides a critical foundation that supports students’ continued language-specific curricula in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures. Students will work on developing reflective, interpretive and analytical competencies, in order to apply these competencies in future courses.

CLTR 2200 Journeys in World Literature (4 Credits)

How does literature take readers on voyages around the world and how does it lead us on quests to self-discovery and self-cultivation? Structured around the theme of “journeys,” this course explores the literature and culture of multiple geographic and linguistic regions. Students will become acquainted with important contexts and critical tools to understand a variety of journeys across cultures and time. We will examine journeys both literally and figuratively and may focus on a selection of the following: epic quests, travel literature, immigration narratives, as well as the Bildungsroman, auto-biography, self-writing, and others. Students will also be introduced to the field of digital humanities. This courses provides hands-on training for utilizing Stanford University’s web-based platform, Palladio (https://hdlab.stanford.edu/palladio/). Palladio is an innovative, free research tool used to visualize complex multi-dimensional data. Students will discover and gather data while researching journeys and acquire the skills necessary to create visualizations of this research, further preparing them for DH research in the 21st century. This course provides a critical foundation that supports students’ continued language-specific curricula in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures. Students will work on developing reflective, interpretive and analytical competencies, in order to apply these competencies in future courses.