English 495, Senior Seminar: Middle Eastern Literature

Dr. Michael Bryson 
Sierra Tower 832
michael.bryson@csun.edu

 

Teacher and Student

 

Course Description: 

This course will be an immersive exploration of the rich and diverse literary traditions of the Middle East. It will introduce you to a wide range of works, spanning from ancient epics and religious texts to hero tales, medieval romance, mystical poetry, philosophical texts, and contemporary writing. The readings will cross time and geography, from the earliest creation myths to the revolutionary works of modern-day authors. As we explore these texts, we will consider the historical, cultural, and religious contexts that shape them, as well as the ways in which Middle Eastern literature reflects and responds to global currents.

The primary aim of this course is to deepen your understanding of the Middle East by focusing on its literature as a vital lens through which we can appreciate the region’s complexity, beauty, and struggles, while also exploring the ways in which Western literature is often derived from/related to such traditions. Your final essay will offer the opportunity to synthesize these skills and contribute your unique perspective to the study of Middle Eastern literature.

Office Hours

  • I will be available in ST832 on the Thursdays of lecture weeks from 2-4 PM PST. I will not have hours during finals week.

Email

  • I will also be generally available by email. Questions are encouraged, and I will do my best to get back to you with the best answers I have within 24 hours (and usually sooner). If you are having difficulty with the material, tell me. I’ll do the best I can to explain things more clearly, or answer any questions you have.

Use of the Writing Center

  • However, I will not serve as a pre-grade reviewer for written work. That’s the kind of help you can get more efficiently from the CSUN Writing Center.

Evaluation Method: 2 essays 500 points each (1000 points total).

Evaluation Standards: The essays will be graded on a +/- scale, using the usual A-F symbols. Essays must be written carefully, and revised before submission, not after.  To achieve the best results, I encourage all of you to write your responses as early as possible, and then take a draft of your final essay into the Writing Center. But if that is not possible, at the very minimum I expect you to pay close attention to details: do not misspell character names (keep an eye on your word processor's spell check function), misspell or fail to italicize literary titles, or fail to pay attention to basic citation mechanics and conventions of quotation.  See the links below (in the assignment descriptions) for how to handle quotation and citation.

In general, the grading scale will be as follows:

Essays

A+     100% (500/500)
A       95% (475/500)
A-      90% (450/500)
B+     88% (440/500)
B       85% (435/500)
B-     80% (400/500)
C+    78% (390/500)
C      75% (375/500)
C-     70% (350/500)
D+    68% (340/500)
D      65% (325/500)
D-    60% (300/500)
F      50% (250/500)

Work plagiarized or clearly by AI, or not submitted 0%

Course
A      925-1000
A-    900-924
B+    875-899
B      825-849
B-    800-824
C+   775-799
C     725-774
C-    700-724
D+    675-699
D      625-674
D-    600-624
F      0-599

 

 

Assignments:

First, a note on what I find to be valuable and what I find to be a waste of time in terms of literature courses and the learning experience.

When approaching the literature of any given period (or author):

  1.  The most valuable thing is simply this: careful and attentive reading (I am still surprised by how many people skip this step.)
  2. The second-most valuable thing is paying careful attention to the various contexts (historical/social/political/artistic) that surround the works in question (just a little more of this kind of attention would head off many of the more absurd notions that persist around Hamlet, for example)—such contexts can be gleaned from a wide variety of sources: your instructor (if you have a good one...not always a guarantee), reference works (yes, even Wikipedia, which is actually quite reliable for most things that are not contemporary and politically-disputed in nature), and published scholarship—books and articles about the author/works/time, sometimes written by literary scholars, but often by academically-trained historians of the period(s) in question.
  3. And finally, what is of value is returning to the text (the play, poem, etc.) again and again, always trying to keep in mind that what is actually in the text has to be our guiding authority—clever interpretations sometimes have value, and sometimes can be misleading. I am not opposed to such work, in fact, I engage in it myself. But, when doing such work, always try as much as possible to let the text itself—not an academic theory about the text/applied to the text—be your guide.
  4. What is not of particular value, at least in my judgment, are the very elements you will note I have left out of this course:
  5. Your engagement is your reading, and the thinking you do about your reading, especially concerning its relation(s) to other art (literary and otherwise) and its relation(s) to life as you know it, and to what you learn (and have learned) about life as others have known it, both now and in the past. If you do not do this reading and thinking at anything more than a minimal level, no amount of Education-school-inspired "learner-centered" activities will compensate for that. Read. Think. Read again. Think further. And then repeat the entire cycle.

And now, a description of the assignments you will be asked to submit for grading credit:

Essay 1: worth 500 points (50% of the grade for the course) in the range of 2000 words (6-7 pages). This will be a narrative/apologia pro vita sua of yourself as an English major (reader, writer, etc.).

Start by reflecting on this basic question:

  • How did you come to literature in the first place, in other words, why do you read, outside the purview of a bureaucratized higher-education institution that seems well-nigh obsessed by doing "smart things" with literature?

[One might well ask why literature needs to have anything "done" with it in the first place, but that would be to reveal oneself as unmutual.]

Now, with reference to three of the works you have read so far in this class, consider the following questions:

  • What has the "educational" experience of being an undergraduate (and/or graduate) student of writing and literature given you, not given you, even taken from you where writing and literature are concerned?
  • After your years as an English major, what do you still not know about literature (the various fields, national origins, genres, histories, etc.) that you wish you did know?
  • What has been your experience with the uses (and abuses) of literary theory, the way it has been taught to you/the way(s) you have (not) been taught to use it, and how has that added to, or detracted from, your study of writing and/or literature?

This essay will be due via Canvas submission by 11:59 PM (PST) on 10/30.

Essay 2: worth 500 points (50% of the grade for the course) in the range of 2000 words (6-7 pages). With reference to at least three of the works we have read this semester, put your self imaginitively back in time and give your current best advice to your younger self about the path they are embarking on. Consider the following questions:

  • What should they watch out for?
  • What should they do differently?
  • The same?
  • What classes should they take, or avoid?
  • What books should they read or avoid?
  • What should they try to learn that you did not/have not yet?
  • And finally, a corollary question: do you think that younger self will listen to you? Or have you become a kind of Cassandra, doomed to know and understand, but never be known or understood?

The final essay will be due via Canvas submission by 11:59 PM (PST) on 12/18.

Statement on Academic Dishonesty and the use of AI: Plagiarism is a serious offense that will be treated seriously. In many cases, this likely indicates that the offender has no brain. Please read the CSUN policy on not having a brain here. Reliance on AI to write one's assignments, especially given the personal nature of the assignments described above, likely also indicates that the offender has no soul. Unfortunately, CSUN does not have a policy on not having a soul (I imagine that this comes as no surprise). But I do. In such a case, a grade of zero will reflect that unensouled nature. But fear not; because of this deficit, such offenders may well have a bright future ahead of them in politics, business, academic administration and perhaps even pastoral work.

Weekly Preview

Week 1 (8/27)—In-Class Lecture 1: 7PM JR 302. Introduction: the ancient roots of Middle Eastern Literature in Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Persian, Avestan, Sanskrit, and Hebrew texts, and its foundational role in what later comes to be regarded as the “Western” tradition. Disparate traditions? Or parts of a whole?

Weeks 2-3, Creation and Flood Myths (9/3, 9/10) Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, Genesis, and the Bundahišn.

  • The Sumerian/Akkadian texts: Enuma Elish (The Epic of Creation), and Atrahasis from Myths from Mesopotamia. 
  • The Hebrew texts: Genesis 1-9 (Two Creation stories, plus Flood story) 
  • The Old Persian/Avestan texts: The Bundahišn (pages 6-15, 76-80)

Weeks 4-5, The Warrior Hero (9/17, 9/24)—The Epic of Gilgamesh, The David Epic, The Shahnameh, and David of Sassoun. 

  • The Epic of Gilgamesh, from Myths from Mesopotamia.
  • The David Epic (from the Bible: 1 Samuel 16-31; 2 Samuel 1-24; 1 Kings 1-2:12 );
  • Ferdowsi. Shahnameh (Book of Kings): The Demon-King Zahak, Rostam and his Horse Rakhsh, The Seven Trials of Rostam, Rostam and Esfandyar;
  • David of Sassoun: First Cycle: Sanasar and Baghdasar, Part 1: Battle against the Khalif of Baghdad. Third Cycle: David of Sassoun, Part 1: David's fight against Msrah Melik.

Weeks 6-7, The Philosophical Hero (10/1, 10/8)—The Bhagavad Gita and Hay Ibn Yaqzan.

  • Bhagavad Gita. 
  • Ibn Tufayl. Hayy Ibn Yaqzan (Alive, Son of Awake).

Weeks 8-9, The Journey to Heaven and Hell, and the Rebel (10/15, 10/22)—The Book of Arda Viraf, and the tale of Iblis from the Quran. Essay 1 due at 10/30 at 11:59 PM.

  • The Book of Arda Viraf 
  • Iblis' Refusal to Bow before Adam, from the Quran: Surah Al-Baqarah (2:34); Surah Al-A'raf (7:11-18); Surah Al-Hijr (15:28-44); Surah Sad (38:71-85).

Weeks 10- 11, The Frame Story (10/29, 11/5)—Panchatantra, Kalilah and Dimnah, and The Arabian Nights.

  • Panchatantra: Preamble, and Book II: The Winning of Friends
  • Kalilah and Dimnah: Introduction (25-34), and Kalilah and Dimnah section, 1-99.
  • The Arabian Nights: Prologue (5-21), and The Story of the Hunchback (248-356).

Weeks 12-13, Romance, Mysticism, and Serious Irreverence (11/12, 11/19)—Ganjavi, Hafiz, and Abu Nuwas.

  • Nezami Ganjavi. Layli and Majnun. 
  • Hafiz. The Green Sea of Heaven: Eighty Ghazals from the Divan of Hafiz: Poems 1-21, 28, 30, 38, 40, 45, 53, 60, 62, 65-66, 70-71, 75, 79-80.
  • Abu Nuwas. Vintage Humour: Section III, Pour Me the Haram Before the Halal.

Week 14, Thanksgiving Holiday (11/26)

Week 15, Modern Poetry and its Ancient Roots (12/3)—Enheduana's "The Exaltation of Inana," plus “A Love Song of Shu-Suen,” “A Song of Inana and Dumuzid,” The Song of Songs, and poems by Farrokhzad and Qabbani.

Finals Week (12/14-12/18)—Essay 2 due on Canvas 12/18 at 11:59 PM


Final due by email attachment on 12/18 at 11:59:59 PM—no physical submissions

The Routledge Companion to Humanism and Literature  The Humanist (Re)Turn 
2022  2019 2017 2012 2004