Special Topic In Literature I

AY2019/2020 Semester 1

Can money buy happiness? What is the meaning of success? How can we alleviate poverty? Literature has dealt with these questions for centuries, if not millennia - from Aesop's fables through Shakespeare to the present time. In this course, you will study a series of texts from the English-speaking world dealing with themes of money, success, and consumerism. You will learn about the mechanisms of an urban economy from John Dos Passos's sprawling Manhattan Transfer, deepen your understanding of greed through Frank Norris's cautionary tale McTeague, familiarize yourself with feminist economics through Agnes Smedley's long-neglected classic Daughter of Earth, and analyze the tensions between old and new money through F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians. In this way, the course offers an introduction to economic concepts and ideas through their dramatization in literature, while on a deeper level also exploring the timeless and universal questions prompted by this staging. As part of the course requirements, you will complete one group presentation and one literary essay. In addition, you are expected to actively participate in class discussion. Through the creative project 'My Way to Wealth,' you will also reflect on your own attitude to personal success, drawing on both the course content and the wisdom of your peers.