Professor Laura Kolb, Great Works of World Literature Program Director:
Great Works of World Literature is designed to introduce you to texts from across the globe, written over three millennia of literary history. From epic poems that describe the glory and horrors of war, to comic dramas of mistaken identity and romance, to contemporary novels that explore the most pressing cultural and political questions of our day, the works in this class will teach you to see our world differently. Whether you choose to take ENG 2800 or ENG 2850, in Great Works of World Literature you will think through and with these texts about the questions that shape our existence. We use literature and literary analysis to hone our skills as writers and thinkers, defining and developing arguments about what we read—and why we read it.
In these smaller, discussion-based classes, you’ll have the opportunity to work closely with your professor and your classmates, to try out new writing styles and strategies, and to test out new ideas. Have you ever wanted to try your hand at drafting a manifesto? At writing a sonnet? We want you to come to class ready to ask questions, to challenge us and one another; tell us why you love, or why you hate, a given text; tell us what it is about the week’s reading that puzzles, disturbs, or excites you. Great Works is at its heart a joint project, a seminar created anew each semester between all of us together. Welcome!