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Apr 20, 2024
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ENGL 239 - How Literature Addresses Enduring Questions in Four World Religions 3 hours
Which questions about the value and purposes of human life lie at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism? Which are some of the illuminating literary responses to these questions? The best literary responses include writings about the individual’s search to discover meaning in the physical and spiritual dimensions of life, including the search for wisdom while encountering trials of body and spirit, and the mindful cultivation of the virtues. These significant searches and spiritual journeys are central to discovering life’s meaning, so many writers have imagined rich worlds and dramatized diverse yet comparable quests. The important questions are taken up by the four world religions’ scriptural traditions and by literature’s expressions of the cultural, tribal, and gendered conditions and hopes of people making their human journeys. By initiating dialogues among students about such common themes, this course invites students to read works from Jewish traditions such as the Bible’s Song of Songs and selected psalms; a novel of education, The Chosen; poetry by Amichai, Bloch, and Pagis; and stories by Malamud and Ozick. Literature that draws on Christian traditions includes Baldwin’s novel Go Tell It on the Mountain; stories by O’Connor and Joyce; and poetry by Eliot, Heaney, and ni Dhomhnaill. Writings from Islamic traditions include poetry and memoirs by Rumi, Darwish, and Naomi Shihab Nye; and Zeina, a novel by Nawal El Saadawi. Students read Hesse’s classic novel, Siddhartha, to explore Buddhist traditions; haiku by the Japanese poets Issa and Basho; and works by American writers such as Snyder and Ginsberg.
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