What is literature? How is it related to language and culture? What can we learn about different cultures and societies from the stories that they produced? With the shrinking of distances due to travel and technology in the modern age, do literatures of the world become more similar or more different? This unit reflects on these issues by looking at a range of exemplary literary works translated into English from Asian, European, and Middle Eastern languages, and examines them in the context of translation studies, national literatures, and different cultural and narrative traditions.

This unit will provide students with foundational knowledge of the major theoretical approaches in the fields of international comparative literature, literary theory, postcolonial studies, and translation studies. Students will learn about the way in which literary representation is informed by, and in turn informs, international relations and cross-cultural negotiations. They will begin to develop proficiency in comparative analysis via examination of the different articulations of literary themes and ideas in different national contexts.

What is the meaning of "love"? Is it the same for different individuals and cultures at different periods? How does it relate to the profound crisis of meaning in contemporary society? What is its relationship to desire, language and death? Why do the Greeks have three words for love and the English one? This unit of study explores the theme of love in a variety of national literatures including Arabic, English, Greek, French and Italian.

What are the great works of literature of the 20th century? How does history leave its mark on them? This unit introduces some exemplary literary works translated into English from Asian and European languages as well as works originally written in English. It studies them in the context of world history, national literatures and different narrative traditions.

What are the great spiritual and philosophical works of world literature? How have they come to be so regarded? What is it that has made them so enduring and adaptable? What is their relevance to a postmodern society? This unit introduces, in English and from a contemporary perspective, some of the literary cornerstones of reflection on the human condition and seeks to reveal and understand some of their continuing power.

This Unit will look at the interaction of literature and visual and performance arts in different countries in the 19th and 20th centuries. How do these art forms draw upon each other to represent and frame society and culture, and how does this influence our reading of them? These questions will be examined through examples from literature, theatre, painting, dance, photography, cinema and/or mixed media, and movements such as orientalism, realism, symbolism, modernism, postmodernism, pop art and abstract expressionism.

The 'city' is a diverse and controversial theme in world literature. It touches upon past and present, alienation and fulfillment, luxury and poverty, success and failure, anonymity and fame. There are modern and old cities, cosmopolitan and 'holy' cities. By examining how the cultural and historical transformation of urban living has been approached by writers of different cultural and national backgrounds, this unit of study offers a journey to different geographic locations but also a journey through time.

This unit surveys the connection between literature and revolution by investigating the ways in which literary texts and movements across the world have influenced radical responses to the status quo, questioning, and provoking a re-conceptualisation of prevailing values and traditions. But how and when do literary experiments become revolutionary? Are they the same in different cultures? Could a pattern of synergies connecting literary with political and social revolutions emerge from a historical as well as cross-cultural investigation?

Science Fiction is one of the most interesting explorations of human future. Yet it addresses a number of social, political and existential issues that refer to the present: dilemmas, phobias and hopes of a world traumatised by war, disease and internal contradictions. Through the comparative study of novels and movies, this unit explores how the future, from a promised land of a great utopia, has become the dreadful exile into a dark dystopia.

This unit will investigate how film stars reflect national preoccupations and how they achieve national and transnational fame. It will examine and compare several major film stars from several cultures and will analyse their star image through, for example, their on-screen performance in film adaptations, their celebrity bodies and faces and their representations in the popular media. Students will be introduced to film star theories. Students will have to attend at least 4 film screenings.

What is love? Italian authors throughout the centuries have provided many different interpretations. Drawing upon major works of Italian literature, this unit will explore a range of texts from the Middle Ages through to the 19th century that deal with love, its cultural and social contexts. The texts will be considered within the context of the visual culture of the time.

This unit of study is intended for students who have a sound intermediate competence of Modern Standard Chinese and wish to study the language for specific purposes. The unit provides training in basic knowledge of Chinese terms, etiquette and ethics in different professions, such as medicine, law, engineering and business. It will enhance students' practical communication skills in different social and professional contexts. It will also help them develop a general understanding of inter-professional knowledge in Chinese.

This unit examines a range of Chinese-language works of fiction, poetry, and drama in the Republican and early People's Republic, including works by key figures such as Lu Xun, Eileen Chang, and Lao She. Texts will be placed in the social and political context of the period, when literature was considered a key tool for the modernisation of China.

The unit studies key aspects of Chinese performance art and performance literature. It explores the development of Chinese theatre from ritual to ritual drama to literary drama and examines how ritual/theatrical elements are integrated into musical drama, the dominant form of Chinese theatre known as xiqu as represented by Kun opera and Beijing opera.

Is modern culture a force for good? How does culture shape our place in the modern world? This unit introduces students to the answers German thinkers have found to these questions since the mid-nineteenth century. Reading texts by major thinkers (Nietzsche, Marx, the Frankfurt School) in the original language, we will consider the relationship between art and ideology, culture and the unconscious, and aesthetics and mass culture. Students will learn how to critically analyse cultural products across a range of media, and to reflect on the uses and limits of theory in analysing culture.

An examination of the relationship between Italian cinema and fiction. Do they speak a common language? Do they employ comparable techniques? Who copies whom? This unit investigates these and other questions by analysing the adaptation of selected contemporary Italian novels into film.

This unit will look at different approaches to studying the relationship between literary texts and their social contexts. It will explore patterns of literary production and audience reception. Topics covered will include the politics and economics of literature production and the roles of author and reader. These topics will be explored within the framework of global, trans-cultural and comparative literary studies.

Interdisciplinarity is a key skill in fostering agility in life and work. This unit provides learning experiences that build students' skills, knowledge and understanding of the application of their disciplinary background to interdisciplinary contexts. In this unit, students will work in teams and develop interdisciplinarity skills through problem-based learning projects responding to 'real world problems'.

This seminar will trace the history of Comparative Literature as it evolved first in Europe (Goethe's idea of Weltliteratur, the 'French School', and Auerbach's and Spitzer's philology school in Istanbul) then elsewhere (with particular focus on North and South America and North and South East Asia) with focus on new perspectives from postcolonial, feminist and gay/lesbian/queer studies.

This unit will familiarise students with theoretical and methodological debates in comparative literature and their wider impact on the study of interactions between literature, culture and society.

In this unit you begin a substantial, independent research project in International Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. Regular meetings with a supervisor approved by the Program of International Comparative Literature and Translation Studies Honours Coordinator will guide your progress. You will develop a plan for researching and writing the thesis, submit an ethics application if appropriate, familiarize yourself with disciplinary conventions and standards, engage with relevant literature, theories and methodologies, and submit drafts at agreed times.

In this unit you complete and submit your substantial, independent research project in International Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. Regular meetings with a supervisor approved by the Program of International Comparative Literature and Translation Studies Honours Coordinator will guide your progress. You will continue to submit drafts at agreed times, and develop your expertise in relevant research methods and analytical skills as well as in the subject matter of your specialist topic.