In this course, we will explore the theme of community and collective experience from a variety of different linguistic and regional contexts. By moving from rural peripheries in Finland to Swedish dystopic towns, all the way to the German countryside and American urban spaces, we will analyze, in a comparative manner, how authors from different cultures have imagined, hoped, and feared to see communities function in the modern world. Furthermore, we will see how representations of community change as they are adapted from one medium to another – particularly from novel to short story and short film – and translated from one language to another.

Our course will cover communities of gender, language, ethnicity, region, political affiliation, and other intersecting aspects of identity; we will look at female and feminist communities, at transnational and immigrant communities, at countryside and urban communities, as well as at conservative and socialist communities. Our readings will cover both utopian and dystopian representations of collectivity, and various questions we will be discussing include: What kinds of communities has literature been interested in representing and why? How has literature taken part in molding our understanding of communities and with whom we belong? What are some of the textual and narrative devices used to create a sense of community in literature? Furthermore, how can we use world literature to critique our own contemporary communities as well as imagine alternative future communities for ourselves?

Satisfies General Education Requirements:

• Group-Satisfying: Arts and Letters
• Multicultural Courses: International Cultures (IC)