REL 235
The Qur'an and Literature Fall 2016
Division II
Cross-listed COMP 235 / ARAB 235
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This course explores the rich and multifaceted relationship between the Qur’an and literature from several different perspectives. The first part of the course will examine Qur’anic stylistics through primary readings in translation and scholarship on the question of whether the Qur’an is literature. Readings will consider how the Qur’an sheds light on the category of literature through attention to such features as sound, figurative language, and genre. Students will also discover what the Qur’an has to say about poets and stories. We will then turn to the classical discourse on Qur’anic inimitability (i`jaz al-Qur’an), with an emphasis on stylistic/rhetorical inimitability and its relationship to Arabic literary theory. We will make use of recent translations of i`jaz treatises, manuals of literary criticism, and historical readings on the status of the Qur’an in early Islamic history. Finally, we will read a selection of later literature that takes up Qur’anic themes and language in Islamic history, in order to explore questions of intertextuality, rewriting, and the guises that commentary can take.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 40
Expected: 15
Class#: 1098
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: 2 papers (5-7 pp., 8-10 pp.), short response papers, class participation
Enrollment Preferences: Comparative Literature majors, Arabic Studies majors
Distributions: Division II
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under COMP or ARAB; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under REL
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
REL 235 Division II COMP 235 Division I ARAB 235 Division I

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