COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (CLT)

Close reading and discussion of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy in translation. Particular attention to Dante’s life and times in relation to his writing of the Comedy and to significant historical, literary, philosophical, and theological references in the Comedy.

This course has been especially designed as a common course in the SOPHIA Program. As such, this course is meant to introduce students to the language of purpose and vocation and to motivate and inspire them in their search for life meaning and callings. We will examine a series of cultural texts – fiction, poetry, autobiography, memoir, film, and photography – that explore the idea of vocation across cultures, world views, and spiritual traditions with special attention to how these relate to Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teachings.

This course is an introduction to the study of women. The course will develop a coherent, integrated view of women and their roles; emphasize the full range of contributions of and the limited opportunities for women; examine and appraise the experiences of women; and critically examine the thinking about women at various times and from various perspectives. The basic approach is interdisciplinary and the concentration of the course is on women in North America from the 19th century to the present.

Subject and/or authors studied to be chosen with approval of professor.

This course uses the personal stories of women around the world as a lens into current global issues. Each week participants read accounts of women’s lives in regions outside of the United States, along with readable texts that provide historical and contemporary background for personal experiences. Students encounter the powerful and the powerless; the rich and the poor; the courageous and the meek; and in learning their stories, also learn something about the world that they inhabit, and that we inhabit along with them. In this global age in which we live, what happens at the individual and the local level is intricately connected with what is happening around the world, including in our own homes and communities. In experiencing a “world of women,” we learn about the human struggles that unite and divide people across cultures in the modern world. Taught in English.