Comparative
Literature : Korean literature and British / American literatures
12-147
Wed /
Fri 13:30 – 14:45
Taught by
Brother Anthony / 안선재
This course is designed
to explore a variety of ways of relating the fiction and poetry written in
Korea in the 20th century and the fiction and poetry written in the
West in English. This will NOT be a question of “this is better than that” but
rather we shall be trying to find ways of finding links and complementarities
between a few significant works written in very different contexts during the
20th century. All the Korean works studied will be read in English
translation, since the main language of the course will be English. Comparisons
will be made between the formal aspects of various works, through close reading
of a small number of poems and short stories, as well as between the overall
characteristics described in critical histories and studies. For each work
discussed, form, subject and contents, critical readings, historical contexts,
author’s biographies and critical receptions will all be considered. Major
themes such as Love, Nature, Nation, Death and Religion will be examined.
Texts will be be
photocopied. There is no particular textbook.
1. March 7 - 9.
Introduction : reading literature / comparing literatures. What is poetry /
literature?
2. March 14 - 26. Poems
by Kim Sowŏl – Manhae – Yeats – Thomas Hardy: the loving voice
3. March 21- 23.Yi Sang Wings
and critical (post-colonial?) theory
4. March 28 - 30. Sŏ Chŏng-ju
–Seamus Heaney – Allen Ginsberg – T. S. Elliot -- Baudelaire
5. April 4. Easter poetry
: Ku Sang – From T.S. Eliot Four Quartets. (No class Friday April 6 Good
Friday)
6. April 11-13. Faulkner
: A Rose for Emily as an example of narratorial strategies
7. April 18 - 20. 4.19
Poems by Kim Su-yŏng – Kim Kwang-Kyu – Wilfred Owen – Chŏn Sang-pyŏng – Robert
Frost: poetry and human life
8. April 25 - 7. Midterm
exams
9. May 2 - 4. Poems by
Shin Kyŏng-Nim – Robert Frost, Lawrence, Heaney : contrasting poetic voices
10. May 9 – 11. Nature in
Korean and western poetry (research project)
11. May 16 - 18. O
Jeong-hui Wayfarer : Women writing fiction
12. May 22 - 26. Poetry
on Buddhist themes: Ko Un – Gary Snyder
13. May 30 – June 1. Kim
Kwang-Kyu – the articulation of Korean and western poetry
14. (No class June 6)
June 8. Poems by Ko Un – Robert Frost – Seamus Heaney : The essence of poetry?
15 June 13 - 15. Poems by
Kim Seung-Hui – Sylvia Plath – Ted Hughes
The course will be taught
as lectures + discussion. Students must prepare a short written statement of
their response to each of the works read, for use in class and for submission.
The mid-term report will be “A comparison of a work of Korean fiction and a
work of modern British or American fiction” The final report will be “A
comparison of work by 3 Korean poets and 3 british / American poets.” The
writers and works chosen for the reports must be other than those studied in
class. There will be a mid-term and a final exam. Each exam will be graded in
such a way as to make it and the grades for the 2 reports roughly equal, with
some credit also being given for class preparation