Imagine reading Kafka while staying in Prague? Or Borges while exploring Buenos Aires? Even if you aren’t travelling but are fascinated by different cultures and love reading fiction, you will be able to combine these interests during this course. We study various themes within short fiction, written by renowned authors, which are set in international locations. This time you will travel through Africa, Paris, London, Turkey and Germany. Themes vary, for example, experiencing the loss of one’s homeland, and misplacement in an alternative reality. A lecture will be presented with discussion encouraged, aided by a set of questions. Texts or links to texts will be provided, with all texts being less than 200 pages (most are less than 100). This course requires no prerequisite enrolment in Cross-Cultural Literature courses 1-3 to enrol.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Madonna in a fur Coat, Sabahattin Ali (Turkey/Berlin)
• 2. First Love, Ivan Tergenev (Russia)
• 3. The Penal Colony, Franz Kafka (Czech Rep.)
• 4 The Pearl, John Steinbeck (Mexico)
• 5. The Pigeon, Peter Susskind (Germany)
• 6. The Other, Luis Borges (Argentina)
• 7. The Twilight World, Werner Herzog (Philppines)
• 8. Disgrace, J.M Coetzee (S. African)

COURSE OUTLINE

• Read or listen to one story each week, focusing attention on the nominated theme
• Learn about the background and historical context of each text
• Make comparisons of authors’ intentions of the nominated theme
• Discuss differing literary techniques used by each author
• Evaluate the authors’ achievements

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Closely analyse and understand international texts
2. Distinguish the global contexts of international texts
3. Gain knowledge of international texts in historical context
4. Evaluate authors’ communication
5. Become prepared for further reading and research
6. Travel with more depth of understanding