Presentations

This past week we observed everyone's different adaptations of a world literature syllabus. It was interesting to see how pieces of literature from all over were brought together to be taught in a single world literature course.

Overall, I did enjoy this class. As much as I complain that I hate writing papers, or dislike reading at times, it really was not as bad as i thought it would be. I took this course because I needed a year of english to fulfill med school requirements, but I have to say that I liked this class a lot more than some of my other science classes that I was taking.

Willie Ho

Our last presentations to conclude the class showed everyone's different outlook on what books constitute as world literature. I think that we can safely say that there are too many books in the world to label any as world literature. To be able to decide that, one must read all those books, and that would be impossible.

I enjoyed the presentations in the fact that people had different themes and I also liked to see if the few books I have read on their syllabus actually match their theme. The presentations have informed me of some books that I should read because they are books that everyone should read.

The class as a class was quite enjoyable. To say that it was interesting is an understatement. I think the most enlightening class experience was probably the introduction to Sufi poetry. Sufism was something I never heard of and learning about it was quite the experience. It made me understand poetry as a whole better, which I had absolutely no interest for prior to the class.

William Chiu

The in class presentations were very interesting considering the vast differences in classmates opinions on the subject matter for a world literature class. I especially liked how some classmates decided to have a course structure that included books from such popular book titles as Dracula, Lord or the Rings, and Twilight. I was excited how some included a film viewing of the movie adaptations of the books at the end of the class. Perhaps the widely used book among classmates was Chinua Achebe's "things fall apart" which i also used as well. this book would be an excellent source of knowledge of the customs and lives of the Obo people in Nigeria Africa. Giving not only accounts of their traditions but traditions adapted from the white settlers we can see the change in history as well. The presentations was a very good way for us classmates to see how each others thinks and and insight into books we may not have read or heard of before this class.

presentation

The final week is a presentation week. I inspired a lot from my classmates' works. The texts they chose were very interesting to read. I also enjoy the course through the whole semester. Even though the ancient epics are a little bit boring and hard to understand, the others like Greek tragedies are really valuable to read. When I prepared for my presentation, I did a lot of researches and recognized that the Greek literature had played an important role not only on the development of Western literature but also on their political attitudes and many other areas. Basically, world literature is not a easy course to teach because of the translation problem. If you are able to read the original text, you may find the perspectives in original texts may vary from the English translation version. But, all in all, this course is fine.

Presentations

I thought that the student presentations in class this week were pretty interesting. I liked this project because it allowed us to be a little bit creative in what we thought would make a good world literature syllabus and it gave us a break from writing papers. It took me awhile to decide which pieces of literature I wanted to include in the course. This was the first English/Comparative Lit. class I have taken and I thought it was an enjoyable class. A lot of the literature we read was interesting and I liked that most of the major themes connecting the stories were easily understood. I had read some of the tragedies and creation stories in high school but I didn’t remember them too well and it was interesting to look at them again.

Presentation

In preparing for my presentation this week, i thought not only about books/stories that i read and liked but literary texts that would impact my class in a great way and something they would enjoy reading. While i have read some of the texts in my syllabus, some of the others i have not read but hope to read very soon.
My syllabus also follows a flow in time from like history texts to modern ones. I started with Aristophanes, Lysistrata then "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare, Beowulf, Dante Inferno, Some verses of the New Testamest, Chinau Achebe "Things Fall Apart", Wole Soyinka "Death and the Kings Horseman", and last but not the least Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Wood."
My best part of this syllabus is the modern part- the last three books-because they are not only fun to read but teach a lot of things. Norwegian wood is my favorite which i read my first semester freshman year and fell in love with. I feel like its a book one will always remember after reading.

Margaret Yoon: Syllabus Presentations

I enjoyed the presentations; they were very unique and intriguing in their various themes and goals. However, I do not think the task of presenting a “World Literature” syllabus is practical. There is too much literature that constitutes such, and the term itself changes with every individual. Thus, I focused my presentation on a specific psychological approach to world literature, specifically with the German texts from the Enlightenment to post Modernism. In this way, I think the class would be more effective as a learning experience and would have more of a focus. The students would come away with thorough knowledge about a specific period, which they would be able to apply to future literature classes and their own worldview.