Studies in World Literature
Overview
All second-year English literature courses share the following features:
- Students are presumed to be proficient in the writing of critical essays on literary subjects.
- Students are required to read in the course subject area beyond the texts assigned by the instructor or discussed in class.
- Students are required to incorporate into their oral and written coursework secondary source materials. These may include autobiographical or biographical material; literary criticism or theory; unassigned texts by the author under study; relevant cultural or intellectual history; or other arts, such as music, film, or fine arts.
- Readings and topics will vary with each instructor’s presentation of a course; however, all course materials are consistent with the objectives/outcomes for this course.
In English 2310, students will examine
- literature and literary tradition from at least three of the following seven geographical and cultural regions:
- Latin and Native America (excluding Anglo North America)
- the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa
- Arab, Turkic, and Persian lands
- Europe and Russia (excluding the British Isles)
- South Asia
- East Asia
- South-East Asia and Oceania;
- texts in detail, with consideration of their cultural, historical, and geographic contexts;
- textual styles as they relate to poetics, narrative, aesthetics, etc.;
- themes such as love, nature, history, empire, nation, identity, gender, and race; and
- the nature of authorship and creativity.
Some literature from the British Isles and Anglo North America may be included, but will not be the focus of study. All texts will be read in English; some texts may be taught in translation.
Some or all of the following methods will be used:
- Lecture/discussion;
- Group work;
- Peer editing;
- Presentation (individual or group);
- Independent research;
- Instructor feedback on students’ work; and
- Individual consultation.
- A minimum of two formal academic essays, with a combined value of at least 40% of the course grade.
- A minimum of 80% of the course grade will be based on writing assignments (essays, essay-based exams, journals, paragraphs). A maximum of 20% of the course grade may be based on informal writing (quizzes, short answer tests); oral reports/presentations; participation/preparation grades; and/or other non writing-intensive assignments.
- A minimum of 15% of the course grade will be based on in-class writing (essay or exam).
Upon completion of any second-year English literature course, the student should
- be able to use with increased proficiency the skills of literary analysis taught in first-year English courses;
- be able to recognize the significance of the literary and non-literary or cultural context of a work being studied, such as the biographical, historical, mythological or philosophical context;
- be able to read critically and use in essays secondary sources, such as criticism and other texts by the same author, as an aid to comprehending the primary text(s) being studied;
- be able to read critically and independently works or aspects of works not discussed in class; and
- be able to formulate a thesis on a given subject in one or more specific works, and to develop this thesis using suitable textual evidence.
Upon completion of English 2310, the student should also have deepened her/his understanding of
- the breadth and complexity of the literatures from at least three of the seven regions outside the British Isles and Anglo North America.
- some of the historical and geographic factors which influence literature outside the British Isles and Anglo North America (for example, the Conquest in Latin and Native American literature, or the Atlantic slave trade in Caribbean literature).
- some of the literary and religious texts that influence and constitute literature outside the British Isles and Anglo North America (for example, The Ramayana in sub-continental, Indo-Chinese, and Indonesian literature).
Students may read from an anthology such as The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces or The Longman Anthology of World Literature, or they may read from specifically designed lists, such as the following one on the theme of “Influence and Text”:
- Rumi, excerpts from The Masnavi
- Attar, excerpts from The Conference of the Birds
- Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
- Mahfouz, “El Gabalaawi”
- Gorgi, “Cairo is a Small City”
- Narayan, The Ramayana (translation from the Tamil, abridged)
- Koch, The Year of Living Dangerously
- Chuang Tze, excerpts from The Writings of Chuang Tze
- Cao Xueqin, excerpts from The Story of the Stone
Requisites
Prerequisites
Any TWO university-transfer first-year English literature courses, or ONE university-transfer first-year English literature course and ONE university-transfer first-year Creative Writing or English writing course.
Corequisites
No corequisite courses.
Equivalencies
No equivalent courses.
Course Guidelines
Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.
Course Transfers
These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca
| Institution | Transfer details for ENGL 2310 |
|---|---|
| Emily Carr University of Art & Design (EC) | EC ENGL 200 lev (3) |
| Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) | FDU ENGL 2201 (3) |
| Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) | KPU ENGL 2XXX (3) |
| Langara College (LANG) | LANG ENGL 2231 (3) |
| Simon Fraser University (SFU) | SFU WL 203 (3) |
| Thompson Rivers University (TRU) | TRU ENGL 2XXX (3) |
| Trinity Western University (TWU) | TWU ENGL 2XX (3) |
| University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) | UBCV ENGL_V 224 (3) |
| University of Northern BC (UNBC) | UNBC ENGL 2XX (3) |
| University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) | UFV ENGL 2XX (3) |
| University of Victoria (UVIC) | UVIC HUM 1XX (1.5) |
| Vancouver Island University (VIU) | VIU ENGL 2nd (3) |