COMPLIT 10SC: The Cult of Happiness: Pursuing the Good Life in America and China (CHINA 10SC)
What is happiness? Might writing your own (mock) obituary help you find happiness? What else can you do to be happy? What has happiness to do with the good life? Does happiness define the meaning and purpose of life for people everywhere? In this course, we combine reading, discussion, group activity, and fieldtrip to figure out, collectively over the course of 2.5 weeks, what happiness is all about. We consider what philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists, writers, and artists have to say about happiness and reflect on its relationship to wealth, wisdom, health, love, pleasure, justice, community, spirituality, and mortality. We give equal weight to Chinese and Western sources and interrogate deeply held assumptions through the lens of cross-cultural inquiry. During the summer, students read a novel and a popular treatise. In September, we review these texts and place them alongside scholarly works, movies, short fiction, and social commentary as we interrogate t
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What is happiness? Might writing your own (mock) obituary help you find happiness? What else can you do to be happy? What has happiness to do with the good life? Does happiness define the meaning and purpose of life for people everywhere? In this course, we combine reading, discussion, group activity, and fieldtrip to figure out, collectively over the course of 2.5 weeks, what happiness is all about. We consider what philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists, writers, and artists have to say about happiness and reflect on its relationship to wealth, wisdom, health, love, pleasure, justice, community, spirituality, and mortality. We give equal weight to Chinese and Western sources and interrogate deeply held assumptions through the lens of cross-cultural inquiry. During the summer, students read a novel and a popular treatise. In September, we review these texts and place them alongside scholarly works, movies, short fiction, and social commentary as we interrogate the chimera of happiness. In addition, we will experiment with meditation, short-form life writing (including mock obituaries!), and service-learning. We meet daily for lectures and seminar discussion. Students submit three short reflective papers and three online commentaries, and in small groups make an oral presentation and do a creative exercise.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Lee, H. (PI)
COMPLIT 21Q: Wilde's Worlds: Oscar Wilde in the International Context
This course introduces you to Oscar Wilde's life and works in various international literary, artistic, social, and cultural contexts in the European fin de siecle, as well as to Wilde's posthumous reception as an international iconic figure of LGBTQ+ literary and cultural history. We will consider Wilde's own roots in Irish culture; his love for Ancient Greece and Rome in the context of Oxford Hellenism; the influence of French and Belgian Decadence and Symbolism on The Picture of Dorian Gray and Salome (which we will read side by side with writings by Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stephane Mallarme, and Rachilde); Wilde's interest in the visual and decorative arts; Wilde's joyful dandyism and vibrant queer literary networks in Paris and London; the impact of Wilde's 1895 trials and imprisonment for "acts of gross indecency"; Wilde's reception in countries such as Germany, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.; and the vibrant posthumous afterlife of Wilde's work and persona in dance, opera, films, musi
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This course introduces you to Oscar Wilde's life and works in various international literary, artistic, social, and cultural contexts in the European fin de siecle, as well as to Wilde's posthumous reception as an international iconic figure of LGBTQ+ literary and cultural history. We will consider Wilde's own roots in Irish culture; his love for Ancient Greece and Rome in the context of Oxford Hellenism; the influence of French and Belgian Decadence and Symbolism on The Picture of Dorian Gray and Salome (which we will read side by side with writings by Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stephane Mallarme, and Rachilde); Wilde's interest in the visual and decorative arts; Wilde's joyful dandyism and vibrant queer literary networks in Paris and London; the impact of Wilde's 1895 trials and imprisonment for "acts of gross indecency"; Wilde's reception in countries such as Germany, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.; and the vibrant posthumous afterlife of Wilde's work and persona in dance, opera, films, musicals, cartoons, and popular culture from the 1900s to today. Studying Oscar Wilde's life and works in such comparative and international contexts opens a door to the historical 1890s, while also giving us the chance to understand and appreciate Wilde's legacy as a queer artist and cultural trailblazer that still speaks to us in our own time. This course will emphasize close reading, analytical writing, and honing your presentation skills as you learn to understand and appreciate the many worlds of Oscar Wilde from the 1890s to today.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, Writing 2
Instructors:
Dierkes, P. (PI)
COMPLIT 36A: Dangerous Ideas (ARTHIST 36, EALC 36, ENGLISH 71, ETHICSOC 36X, FRENCH 36, HISTORY 3D, MUSIC 36H, PHIL 36, POLISCI 70, RELIGST 36X, SLAVIC 36, TAPS 36)
Ideas matter. Concepts such as progress, technology, and sex, have inspired social movements, shaped political systems, and dramatically influenced the lives of individuals. Others, like cultural relativism and historical memory, play an important role in contemporary debates in the United States. All of these ideas are contested, and they have a real power to change lives, for better and for worse. In this one-unit class we will examine these "dangerous" ideas. Each week, a faculty member from a different department in the humanities and arts will explore a concept that has shaped human experience across time and space.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
4 times
(up to 4 units total)
Instructors:
Safran, G. (PI)
COMPLIT 37Q: Zionism and the Novel (JEWISHST 37Q)
At the end of the nineteenth century, Zionism emerged as a political movement to establish a national homeland for the Jews, eventually leading to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. This seminar uses novels to explore the changes in Zionism, the roots of the conflict in the Middle East, and the potentials for the future. We will take a close look at novels by Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, in order to understand multiple perspectives, and we will also consider works by authors from the North America and from Europe. Note: This course must be taken for a letter grade to be eligible for WAYS credit.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, Writing 2, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Berman, R. (PI)
COMPLIT 43: Modernity and Politics in Middle Eastern Literatures (HUMCORE 131)
This course will investigate cultural and literary responses to modernity in the Middle East. The intense modernization process that started in mid 19th century and lingers to this day in the region caused Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literary cultures to encounter rapid changes; borders dissolved, new societies and nations were formed, daily life westernized, and new literary forms took over the former models. In order to understand how writers and individuals negotiated between tradition and modernity and how they adapted their traditions into the modern life we will read both canonical and graphic novels comparatively from each language group and focus on the themes of nation, identity, and gender. All readings will be in English translation. This course is part of the Humanities Core:
https://humanitiescore.stanford.edu/
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Karahan, B. (PI)
COMPLIT 44: Humanities Core: How to be Modern in East Asia (CHINA 24, HUMCORE 133, JAPAN 24, KOREA 24)
Modern East Asia was almost continuously convulsed by war and revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. But the everyday experience of modernity was structured more profoundly by the widening gulf between the country and the city, economically, politically, and culturally. This course examines literary and cinematic works from China and Japan that respond to and reflect on the city/country divide, framing it against issues of class, gender, national identity, and ethnicity. It also explores changing ideas about home/hometown, native soil, the folk, roots, migration, enlightenment, civilization, progress, modernization, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and sustainability. All materials are in English. This course is part of the Humanities Core:
https://humanitiescore.stanford.edu/
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Reichert, J. (PI)
;
Xu, L. (PI)
COMPLIT 51Q: Comparative Fictions of Ethnicity (AMSTUD 51Q, CSRE 51Q)
Explorations of how literature can represent in complex and compelling ways issues of difference--how they appear, are debated, or silenced. Specific attention on learning how to read critically in ways that lead one to appreciate the power of literary texts, and learning to formulate your ideas into arguments. Course is a Sophomore Seminar and satisfies Write2. By application only
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum, Writing 2, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Palumbo-Liu, D. (PI)
COMPLIT 55N: Black Panther, Hamilton, Diaz, and Other Wondrous Lives (CSRE 55N)
This seminar concerns the design and analysis of imaginary (or constructed) worlds for narratives and media such as films, comics, and literary texts. The seminar's primary goal is to help participants understand the creation of better imaginary worlds - ultimately all our efforts should serve that higher purpose. Some of the things we will consider when taking on the analysis of a new world include: What are its primary features - spatial, cultural, biological, fantastic, cosmological? What is the world's ethos (the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize the world)? What are the precise strategies that are used by the artist to convey the world to us and us to the world? How are our characters connected to the world? And how are we - the viewer or reader or player - connected to the world? Note: This course must be taken for a letter grade to be eligible for WAYS credit.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Saldivar, J. (PI)
COMPLIT 57: Human Rights and World Literature
Human rights may be universal, but each appeal comes from a specific location with its own historical, social, and cultural context. This summer we will turn to literary narratives and films from a wide number of global locations to help us understand human rights; each story taps into fundamental beliefs about justice and ethics, from an eminently human and personal point of view. What does it mean not to have access to water, education, free speech, for example? This course has two components. The first will be a set of readings on the history and ethos of modern human rights. These readings will come from philosophy, history, political theory. The second, and major component is comprised of novels and films that come from different locations in the world, each telling a compelling story. We will come away from this class with a good introduction to human rights history and philosophy and a set of insights into a variety of imaginative perspectives on human rights issues from differe
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Human rights may be universal, but each appeal comes from a specific location with its own historical, social, and cultural context. This summer we will turn to literary narratives and films from a wide number of global locations to help us understand human rights; each story taps into fundamental beliefs about justice and ethics, from an eminently human and personal point of view. What does it mean not to have access to water, education, free speech, for example? This course has two components. The first will be a set of readings on the history and ethos of modern human rights. These readings will come from philosophy, history, political theory. The second, and major component is comprised of novels and films that come from different locations in the world, each telling a compelling story. We will come away from this class with a good introduction to human rights history and philosophy and a set of insights into a variety of imaginative perspectives on human rights issues from different global locations. Readings include: Amnesty International, Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Andrew Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, James Dawes, That the World May Know, Walter Echo-Hawk, In the Light of Justice, Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide, Bessie Head, The Word for World is Forest, Ursula LeGuin.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Palumbo-Liu, D. (PI)
COMPLIT 100: CAPITALS: How Cities Shape Cultures, States, and People (DLCL 100, FRENCH 175, GERMAN 175, HISTORY 206E, ILAC 175, ITALIAN 175, URBANST 153)
This course takes students on a trip to major capital cities at different moments in time, including Renaissance Florence, Golden Age Madrid, colonial Mexico City, imperial Beijing, Enlightenment and romantic Paris, existential and revolutionary St. Petersburg, roaring Berlin, modernist Vienna, and transnational Accra. While exploring each place in a particular historical moment, we will also consider the relations between culture, power, and social life. How does the cultural life of a country intersect with the political activity of a capital? How do large cities shape our everyday experience, our aesthetic preferences, and our sense of history? Why do some cities become cultural capitals? Primary materials for this course will consist of literary, visual, sociological, and historical documents (in translation).
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
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