Described by The New York Times as a “writer of virtuosic talents who can seemingly do anything,” novelist, short-story writer, and essayist David Foster Wallace dramatically changed the face of contemporary fiction. In this course, we will explore Wallace’s fiction and non-fiction, focusing both on his use of language and on the philosophical ideas that inform his writing. We will also critically examine Wallace’s often problematic depictions of race, class, gender, and sexuality in his works.

Dante Alighieri is the author of poems in the “Dolce Stil Novo” style, political essays, and reflections on the use of the vernacular. He is mostly known for The Divine Comedy, the story of a journey through the budello of the Inferno, the enormous mountain of the Purgatorio, and the infinity of Paradiso. Through vivid images and memorable verses, the vicissitudes of the pilgrim Dante offer endless insight, and severe critiques, on virtually every aspect of Medieval culture (politics, religion, theology, love, philosophy, geography, medicine, and more). Some parts of this extraordinary work remain valuable even in today’s world. What makes Dante a literary giant, still worth reading? What did he read, which themes interested him, and why? How did he discuss them? What is the system of punishment and reward he created in The Comedy? And what would Dante write about today? Through a mix of seminar and brief lectures, we will discuss these and many more questions, relatively to The Comedy, as well as to some of Dante other works. Together, we will also look for contemporary references to Dante, in Italy and beyond, for instance in novels, comic books, music, theater-dance, and documentaries. Class is in English but discussion in Italian is possible and encouraged.

Selected English and/or Continental literature of the period 400-1500, organized around such topics as 'Chaucer's Contemporaries,' 'Women Authors,' 'Fabliaux,' 'Dream Visions,' 'The Alliterative Tradition,' 'Medieval Mysticism,' or 'The Lyric. Prerequisite: English 221 or 250 or consent of instructor.

Reflecting the conditions of its historical and cultural genesis, the novel has been a force for aesthetic, formal, social, and political change for over four centuries. This course traces the structural and thematic developments of longform fiction across various national traditions by focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, the reflexive influence of literary works over time, innovations in the novel’s form, fiction’s engagement with genre and history, and the evolving status of literature. Thinking transnationally, students will read examples of fiction from each of the last four centuries, including such authors as Daniel Defoe, Edgar Allan Poe, José Saramago, Isabel Allende, and Ling Ma, alongside key works theorizing the novel as cultural form. (1 unit)

Intensive study (in translation) of Dante and his intertexts as context for readings and/or further coursework in later English literature (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley, Joyce, T. S. Eliot, etc.). Prerequisite: English 221 or 250 or consent of instructor. 1 unit - Evitt.