Comparative Literature Department :: University at Buffalo

COL 255: Crime and Punishment: The Death Penalty in Literature
COL 302: Literary Theory: History (Honors)
COL 330: Politics of Identity: Postcolonial Rewriting of European Canons
COL 443: Literature and War (Honors)

COL 255: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: THE DEATH PENALTY IN LITERATURE (top)

Michael Baxter-Kauf
Tuesday and Thursday: 9:30-10:50am
Room: Clemens 640
Registration Number: 239825

American discourse on human rights is increasingly dominated by the question of the death penalty, insofar as the United States remains one of very few developed nations to still utilize capital punishment. Besides the obvious moral concerns, the death penalty in America is a point of intersection for a great number of issues, including state sponsored violence, the acceptance of crime, racial politics, and the very fabric of the social bond. It should come as no surprise, then, that the issue has been taken on by many of America's most prominent literary figures and seen from so many angles. Similarly, any number of contemporary philosophers have become interested in the question of the death penalty insofar as it relates to the idea of the state, the body, and the response to transgression.

This course will concentrate on 20th century American representations of the death penalty. While we will certainly be concerned with the role that these texts assign to capital punishment, we will also pay attention to the literary elements that seem to unite these texts, especially their interesting blend of fact and fiction. Among the questions we will be interested in asking: What is the relation between representative politics and the death penalty? How have views of capital punishment changed over time? What role does the death penalty play in identity creation, on the level of either the individual or the state? What do these texts suggest in terms of resisting the practice of capital punishment?

Readings will include Truman Capote, Ernest Gaines, Norman Mailer, and Robert Coover. In addition we may use theoretical texts from authors like Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and others.

Requirements: regular attendance and active participation in class discussions and two papers: a midterm of 4-5 pages and a final of 8-10 pages.

COL 302: LITERARY THEORY: HISTORY (HONORS) (top)

Professor Krzysztof Ziarek
Wedneasday: 4:10-6:50pm
Room: Clemens 218
Registration Number: 075485

Why do philosophers read poets, and why do poets read philosophy? This course will trace the history of this question, beginning with the "quarrel" between philosophy and poetry in antiquity and leading up to the contemporary conversations and polemics between the two disciplines. The course is an introduction to the history of criticism but is open to all students interested in exploring the fascinating and challenging intersections between the two main areas of the humanities: literature and philosophy. Reading literary and philosophical texts, we will discuss such questions as the nature of human existence, the problem of time, death, and finitude, the role of gender, as well as the differences and similarities between the imagination and reason, passion and logic, literary language and philosophical argumentation.

In the first part of the course, we will examine convergences and differences between literary and philosophical texts in antiquity (Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Sophocles' tragedies), the Middle Ages (Boethius and Dante), the Enlightenment (Voltaire, Candide), and Romanticism (Schlegel, Philosophical Fragments, Hólderlin, poetry.) Rethinking the heritage of Greek culture and tragedy for the moderns, Nietzsche's influential study The Birth of the Tragedy will serve as the transition to the questions, which will characterize contemporary debates between philosophy and literature. After The Birth of Tragedy, we will read several essays by Heidegger and Irigaray, and a number of literary texts: short stories by Dinesen and Borges, excerpts from Joyce's Ulysses, and poetry by Gertrude Stein and Wislawa Szymborska.

Requirements: presentation, participation in discussion, term paper.

COL 330: POLITICS OF IDENTITY: POSTCOLONIAL REWRITING OF EUROPEAN CANONS (top)

Jieun Kwon
Monday and Wednesday: 9:30-10:50am
Room: Clemens 640
Registration Number: 336889

This course will explore the theories and literature that mainly focus on issues of political and cultural hegemonies, and their ensuing marginalization of certain groups, such as people of color and women. The main literary works will be pairs of European canons and their revisionist subtexts. A substantial segment of the course will be devoted to the political act of rewriting, in which an outsider perspective is provided, and thus the political and cultural formation of norms and identities become visible. Some literary texts will be replaced by movie versions.

Readings will include Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Robinson Crusoe, Foe, The Crucible, and Heart of Darkness. Theoretical texts will include the works of Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Franz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, Rey Chow, Fredric Jameson, and Karl Marx.

Course requirements: 3-4 quizzes, class presentation, final research paper (8-10 pages).

COL 443: LITERATURE AND WAR (HONORS) (top)

Professor Rodolphe Gasché
Tuesday and Thursday: 3:30-4:50pm
Room: Talbert 212
Register through Honors Department

We will read a number of philosophical and literary texts ranging from the fifth century BC to the present. We will be examining how the concept of war and the art of strategy have developed from the Chinese sage Sun Tsu to the great continental strategist of the 19th century von Clausewitz. The literary portraits of war that we will be dealing with will be analyzed with regard to the ideas of these thinkers. In doing this, we will also be looking at the specific issues, historical, psychological, autobiographical, that these literary works are concerned with. This course will also be interested in the question of why wars have been such a privileged subject in literature, and how the art of military strategy can be compared with the art of writing.

Readings include the following: Sun Tsu, The Art of War, J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens (selections), Carl v. Clausewitz, On War (selections), S. Freud, "Thoughts for the Times on War and Death," and "Why War?", G. Flaubert, Salammbo, E. Junger, The Storm of Steel, J. Swift, The Battle of the Books, S. Crane, The Red Badge of Courage.


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	:: Fall 2005 - Undergraduate Courses
Graduate Undergraduate Course Archive	COL 255: Crime and Punishment: The Death Penalty in Literature COL 302: Literary Theory: History (Honors) COL 330: Politics of Identity: Postcolonial Rewriting of European Canons COL 443: Literature and War (Honors) COL 255: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: THE DEATH PENALTY IN LITERATURE (top) Michael Baxter-Kauf Tuesday and Thursday: 9:30-10:50am Room: Clemens 640 Registration Number: 239825 American discourse on human rights is increasingly dominated by the question of the death penalty, insofar as the United States remains one of very few developed nations to still utilize capital punishment. Besides the obvious moral concerns, the death penalty in America is a point of intersection for a great number of issues, including state sponsored violence, the acceptance of crime, racial politics, and the very fabric of the social bond. It should come as no surprise, then, that the issue has been taken on by many of America's most prominent literary figures and seen from so many angles. Similarly, any number of contemporary philosophers have become interested in the question of the death penalty insofar as it relates to the idea of the state, the body, and the response to transgression. This course will concentrate on 20th century American representations of the death penalty. While we will certainly be concerned with the role that these texts assign to capital punishment, we will also pay attention to the literary elements that seem to unite these texts, especially their interesting blend of fact and fiction. Among the questions we will be interested in asking: What is the relation between representative politics and the death penalty? How have views of capital punishment changed over time? What role does the death penalty play in identity creation, on the level of either the individual or the state? What do these texts suggest in terms of resisting the practice of capital punishment? Readings will include Truman Capote, Ernest Gaines, Norman Mailer, and Robert Coover. In addition we may use theoretical texts from authors like Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and others. Requirements: regular attendance and active participation in class discussions and two papers: a midterm of 4-5 pages and a final of 8-10 pages. COL 302: LITERARY THEORY: HISTORY (HONORS) (top) Professor Krzysztof Ziarek Wedneasday: 4:10-6:50pm Room: Clemens 218 Registration Number: 075485 Why do philosophers read poets, and why do poets read philosophy? This course will trace the history of this question, beginning with the "quarrel" between philosophy and poetry in antiquity and leading up to the contemporary conversations and polemics between the two disciplines. The course is an introduction to the history of criticism but is open to all students interested in exploring the fascinating and challenging intersections between the two main areas of the humanities: literature and philosophy. Reading literary and philosophical texts, we will discuss such questions as the nature of human existence, the problem of time, death, and finitude, the role of gender, as well as the differences and similarities between the imagination and reason, passion and logic, literary language and philosophical argumentation. In the first part of the course, we will examine convergences and differences between literary and philosophical texts in antiquity (Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Sophocles' tragedies), the Middle Ages (Boethius and Dante), the Enlightenment (Voltaire, Candide), and Romanticism (Schlegel, Philosophical Fragments, Hólderlin, poetry.) Rethinking the heritage of Greek culture and tragedy for the moderns, Nietzsche's influential study The Birth of the Tragedy will serve as the transition to the questions, which will characterize contemporary debates between philosophy and literature. After The Birth of Tragedy, we will read several essays by Heidegger and Irigaray, and a number of literary texts: short stories by Dinesen and Borges, excerpts from Joyce's Ulysses, and poetry by Gertrude Stein and Wislawa Szymborska. Requirements: presentation, participation in discussion, term paper. COL 330: POLITICS OF IDENTITY: POSTCOLONIAL REWRITING OF EUROPEAN CANONS (top) Jieun Kwon Monday and Wednesday: 9:30-10:50am Room: Clemens 640 Registration Number: 336889 This course will explore the theories and literature that mainly focus on issues of political and cultural hegemonies, and their ensuing marginalization of certain groups, such as people of color and women. The main literary works will be pairs of European canons and their revisionist subtexts. A substantial segment of the course will be devoted to the political act of rewriting, in which an outsider perspective is provided, and thus the political and cultural formation of norms and identities become visible. Some literary texts will be replaced by movie versions. Readings will include Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Robinson Crusoe, Foe, The Crucible, and Heart of Darkness. Theoretical texts will include the works of Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Franz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, Rey Chow, Fredric Jameson, and Karl Marx. Course requirements: 3-4 quizzes, class presentation, final research paper (8-10 pages). COL 443: LITERATURE AND WAR (HONORS) (top) Professor Rodolphe Gasché Tuesday and Thursday: 3:30-4:50pm Room: Talbert 212 Register through Honors Department We will read a number of philosophical and literary texts ranging from the fifth century BC to the present. We will be examining how the concept of war and the art of strategy have developed from the Chinese sage Sun Tsu to the great continental strategist of the 19th century von Clausewitz. The literary portraits of war that we will be dealing with will be analyzed with regard to the ideas of these thinkers. In doing this, we will also be looking at the specific issues, historical, psychological, autobiographical, that these literary works are concerned with. This course will also be interested in the question of why wars have been such a privileged subject in literature, and how the art of military strategy can be compared with the art of writing. Readings include the following: Sun Tsu, The Art of War, J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens (selections), Carl v. Clausewitz, On War (selections), S. Freud, "Thoughts for the Times on War and Death," and "Why War?", G. Flaubert, Salammbo, E. Junger, The Storm of Steel, J. Swift, The Battle of the Books, S. Crane, The Red Badge of Courage.
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