Readings in World Literature I
Course Code
HUMA 11000 91
Course Description
Our theme for this course of Readings in World Literature is "The Epic". Beginning with the oldest extant literary text known to mankind, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and moving on to India's national epic The Mahabharata as well as The Odyssey, we study epic texts that are central to the literary and cultural traditions of various regions and peoples of the world.
As an introduction to the study of the Humanities, this course will help you develop your skills in textual analysis, independent critical thinking, and expository writing. As a course on literature, it will pay particular attention to issues such as narrative structure, verse form, performativity and poetic devices, but also to the question of how literature might matter for our lives here and now.
As a course that aims to address world literatures, this class will focus on ways in which texts from different cultural backgrounds articulate the cultural values, existential anxieties, and power structures of the societies that produced them.
Course Criteria
This course is only open to incoming UChicago transfer students. For more info, please visit the Summer Session Incoming Transfer Students page.
This course must be taken alongside HUMA 11100, Readings in World Literature II, as well as an afternoon writing course that runs August 4-September 12, 2025 (no class September 1).
Instructor(s)
Kim Kenny
UChicago Registration 1Visiting Application 2