GLITS 251 A: Introduction to Global Literatures: Cross-Cultural Themes

UNDERWORLDS

RUSS 260/C LIT 251 C/GLITS 251 A

MTWTh 2:30-3:20

Instructor: Dr. Henry

office: Padelford Hall A-211

email: bjhenry@uw.edu

office hours: Thurs, 4:30-6:30, on Zoom

https://washington.zoom.us/j/96836221517

cellphone: 206 659-2659

Teaching assistant: Svetlana Ostroverkhova

office: Padelford A-210 B

email: svostr@uw.edu

office hours: M & W, 1-2, in person

Final Projects Due

Tuesday, March 18^th, 2025, by 5 pm

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9758751

Required reading (hard copies):

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, trans. by Natasha S. Randall. Modern Library paperback,

            New York, 2006. ISBN 0-8129-7462 X ($14.00)

The House of the Dead, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, Dover

            Publications, Mineola NY, 2004. ISBN 978-0-486-43409-4 ($3.44)

Notes on the Underground: An Essay on Technology, Society, and the Imagination, by

            Rosalind Williams, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2008 (2nd edition). ISBN 978-0-262-

            73190-4 ($21.95)

PDF course pack, syllabus, all other documents are on Canvas

TIPS

• Do readings before They will be discussed on the day that they appear on the syllabus.
• Written assignments are due on the days that they appear on the syllabus, and must be uploaded to Canvas before class
• Reading quizzes are open for just over 24 hours, all are required, and there are no makeup quizzes.
• Download the free Canvas app – very useful if you’re without wi-fi

Week 1: Initiation

Jan 6 Introductions

Jan 7 So You Want to Visit the Underworld  Reading: A security interview for would-be visitors to the underworld; “The Gods of the Underworld,” from Greek Myths, 119-123 (CANVAS)

Jan 8 Folktales: “Three Kingdoms” (Три царства – Медное, серебряное, и золотое, 128) and “Vasilisa the Beautiful” (Василиса Прекрасная, 104) (CANVAS)

Jan 9 Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940), A Country Doctor’s Notebook (Записки юного врача, 1925-27) “The Steel Windpipe” (Стальное горло), “Baptism by Rotation” (Крещение поворотом) (CANVAS)

Week 2 Initiation

Jan 13 “The Blizzard” (Вьюга), “Egyptian Darkness” (Тьма египетская) “The Speckled Rash” (Звездная сыпь) (CANVAS)

Jan 14 Bulgakov,“The Embroidered Towel” (Полотенце с петухом),  “The Vanishing Eye” (Пропавший глаз) (CANVAS)

Jan 15 Bulgakov, “Morphine” (Морфий) (CANVAS)

Jan 16 Local underworlds

Reading: “Korean Thanksgiving: Is Dining Al Fresco Among Tombstones an Asian Thing,” by Mary H. K. Choi, https://aeon.co/essays/is-dining-al-fresco-among-tombstones-an-asian-thing

(Also on Canvas as a PDF)

Written assignment 1: Due Jan 16, 2 pm. BEFORE CLASS

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9758753

Many cultures, past and present, associate particular geographic features or actual places in the real world with entrances to the underworld.

• Are there intersections of the lands of the living and the dead in the world that you know?
• These need not be obvious places, like cemeteries, but may be places that are eerie or unsettling, for various reasons.
• Where are they, and why do they resonate with you as borderlands between worlds?
• Do these intersections share any features with literary or other imaginary underworlds, such as appear in films or video games?
• Include a picture if you have one (not required).

Week 3 Wisdom

Jan 20 NO CLASS MLK DAY

Jan 21 Odysseus & Aeneas, from Mythology: Voyage of the Hero (CANVAS)

Jan 22 Plato, “The Story of Er” from The Republic, 388-97 (CANVAS)

Jan 23 Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), The House of the Dead (Записки из мертвого дома, 1861), pp. 1-78, Ch. I (Introduction) through VI (The First Month)

Reading quiz 1: Weeks 1-3 Opens Jan 23, 3:30 pm, closes Jan 24, 5 pm

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/quizzes/2109888

Week 4 Redemption

Jan 27 Please watch “White Bear” from season two of the Black Mirror series at home, and be prepared to discuss it in class TODAY.

The episode is available at Odegaard on DVD and through Netflix.

Jan 28 Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead, pp. 78-160, Ch. VII (New Acquaintances - Part II, through Ch. II, The Hospital)

Jan 29 Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead, pp. 160-end (Part II, Ch. III, The Hospital - How I Left Prison)

Jan 30 Christian Descent: The Harrowing of Hell and The Descent of the Virgin into Hell (Хождение Богородицы по Мукам), music file and lyrics to “I am a Poor, Wayfaring Stranger” (CANVAS)

Written assignment 2: Redemption Due Jan 30, 2 pm – BEFORE CLASS

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9758754

In pagan descent stories the underworld can be a source of wisdom and prophecy. Is this also the case in the Christian descent stories?

• Is Goryanchikov’s redemption in The Dead House a Christian one?
• Do Christian descent stories focus on suffering as a form of knowledge, a way to redemption?

• Is there redemption to be found in the Christian Hell, or is it purely a form of punishment? 

Week 5 Redemption

Feb 3 Dante’s Inferno: The Graphic Novel (CANVAS)

Feb 4 Film in class: Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

Feb 5 Pan’s Labyrinth

Feb 6: Pan’s Labyrinth discussion

Reading quiz 2: Opens Feb 6, 2025 at 3:30 pm, closes Feb 7, 2025, at 5 pm.

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/quizzes/2109886

Week 6 Descent into Grief and Depression

Feb 10 The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2150 - 1400 BCE), Books 7, 9, & 10 (CANVAS)

Feb 11 Stories of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya (b. 1938): Two Kingdoms (Два царства, 2007),

A New Soul (Новая душа, 2002), The Fountain House (Дом с фонтаном, 2003)

Feb 12 Allie Brosh, (b. 1985) Hyperbole & a Half  http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Reading:

• “The God of Cake”: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-of-cake.html,
• “The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas” http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/12/year-kenny-loggins-ruined-christmas.html
• “Wild Animal. Simple Dog Goes for a Joy Ride” http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/04/wild-animal-simple-dog-goes-for-joy.html

Feb 13 Hyperbole & a Half: Adventures in Depression I & II

• http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html
• http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-10-02T14:53:00-06:00&max-results=10

Reading quiz 3:Weeks 6 Opens Feb 13, 3:30, closes Feb 14, 5 p.m

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/quizzes/2109887

Week 7 Women’s Descent Stories

Feb 17 NO CLASS – PRESIDENTS’ DAY

Feb 18 The Rape of Persephone, from Classical Mythology, by A. R. Moncrieff,

Feb 19 Louise Glück (1943-2023), “The Night Migrations” (8); “Persephone the Wanderer” (21-24), “A Myth of Innocence,” (54-55), “Averno” (64-65), “Persephone the Wanderer” (77-80) from Averno (2006) (all pages bookmarked in PDF) (CANVAS)

Feb 20 “Orpheus and Eurydice,” from Classical Mythology and "Inanna (Ishtar)," from Mythology: Voyage of the Hero, David Adams Leeming; “The Descent of Inanna” (translated by Diane Wolkstein & Samuel Noah Kramer), “Cupid and Psyche,” adapted from Apuleius, The Golden Ass (CANVAS).

Written assignment 3: Women’s underworlds. Due Feb 20, 2 pm -- BEFORE CLASS

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9936694

Women’s descent stories are a popular subject for adaptation in modern art forms. (See Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, the webtoon Lore Olympus, etc.)

• How does Louise Glück play with what we think we know about Persephone’s story?
• Why has the story of Persephone and Hades attracted so much interest?

Week 8 Modernity

Feb 24 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (b. 1992), “Friday Black” (CANVAS), from his short-story collection, Friday Black (2018) (CANVAS)

Feb 25 “Through the Flash,” from Friday Black (2018) (CANVAS)

Students taking the class for writing credit: upload drafts here

 By 11 pm, Tuesday, February 25^th, 2025

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9758752

 Feb 26 Notes on the Underground, Rosalind Williams, Ch. 1-4

Feb 27 The labyrinth: “Theseus,” from Classical Myths that Live Today and “Heracles” from Mythology: Voyage of the Hero (CANVAS)

Reading quiz 4: Weeks 7 & 8 Opens Feb 27 at 3:30 pm, and closes Feb 28 at 5 pm

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/quizzes/2109885

Week 9 Modernity

Mar 3 Notes on the Underground, Rosalind Williams, Ch. 5-7

Written assignment 4: Artificial Infinitude  Due Mar 3, by 2 pm. BEFORE CLASS

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/assignments/9758755

Upload an image of "artificial infinitude" pasted into a Word doc or PDF.

• Below the image, explain in one paragraph why the image that you selected represents artificial infinitude

• Assignment must be uploaded by 2 pm on Mar 3
• Please do not ask Svetlana or me what “artificial infinitude” is.
• If you ask us what “artificial infinitude” is, we’ll know you haven’t done the reading.

Mar 4 Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), “On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters” (О литературе, революции, энтропии и прочем, 1923) (CANVAS)

Mar 5 Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), We (Мы, 1921) Records 1-19, pp. 3-100 (Whole text is also on Canvas)

Mar 6 We, Records 20-40, pp. 101-203

Week 10 The West

Mar 10 What is the West? Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) (CANVAS)

Mar 11 No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007) (shown in class)

Mar 12 No Country for Old Men

Mar 13 No Country for Old Men discussion

Reading quiz 5: Weeks 9 & 10 Quiz opens Mar 13, 2025 at 3:30 pm, and closes Mar 14, 5 pm.

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1785534/quizzes/2109889

Reading quizzes

There are five reading quizzes that will cover material assigned and discussed in class. There will be ten multiple choice questions in each quiz, and each quiz is worth 10 points. Quizzes are open for just over 24 hours, and there are no re-takes.

Written assignments

There are four written assignments that ask you to reflect on the materials that we read.

• Written assignments should use 12-point font, be double-spaced, and have 1-inch margins  
• One page only.  About 250 words.
• Be concise, be direct, and make every word count.

• Spelling, grammar, and usage errors will have an impact on your grade.
• Papers must be submitted to Canvas BEFORE class – the dropbox closes before we meet.
• Unless you are ill, no late papers will be accepted.

Final project

You must choose one of these two options for your final.  If you are taking the class for W credit, you will need to do option 1 – a traditional research paper.

Option 1: 5-7 pg. paper/Writing credit paper

• The paper should analyze a work of your choosing that deals with underworld themes. It cannot be a work that we have read in class.
• You can choose to write about almost anything: literature, film, music, visual art, graphic novels, video games, architecture, sites or activities (“dark” tourism, memorials, cave exploration, “Underground Seattle”) that simulate or resemble an underworld descent, either actual or metaphoric.
• What qualifies it as an underworld descent story? Does it offer its characters or users what traditional underworlds offer? How does it differ from traditional underworlds?
• Please be sure to clear the topic with me or Svetlana before starting your work.

OR

Option 2: Creative project about your own personal descent to the underworld. 

• This is an artistic work that can take any form -- literary, visual, musical, dance, film, or even a combination of these. 
• You can represent your personal underworld in any way that you want -- funny, sad, cathartic, scary, confessional, beautiful, or some combination thereof.
• Literary works may exceed 10 pages (double-spaced, please).
• Regardless of medium, your work should – and probably will, both consciously and unconsciously – make thematic connections to the recurring underworld motifs that we've discussed in class.
• An artist’s statement (1-2 pages) must accompany your creative work
• You should be able to reflect on where your ideas for the work came from, why they take the form that they do, and what they mean to you.

Why does this project need to be creative, rather than an autobiographical essay?

• Only art is large enough for us to express – and thereby reflect on – experience.
• Expressing yourself creatively is a form of understanding.
• When we write stories or paint or make music about our ideas and experiences, things emerge from the creation of art that we could not have suspected and could not have understood otherwise.
• Metaphor and art are larger than the individuals who make it.
• By expressing yourself creatively, you come closer to the wisdom that the underworld offers those who descend to it.
• Only Svetlana and I will see your work, and what you share is completely confidential.
• If you prefer one of us grade the assignment rather than the other, please let us know.
• Please come talk to us if you have any difficulties with the framework of this assignment, or its personal nature, or just want to talk about ideas you might have for the project.

Writing Credit

In order to receive “W” credit for this class (in addition to VLPA credit), you must write and revise a 5-7 page paper on a topic that you have discussed either with me or Svetlana.

A writing credit paper must be an analytical research paper with all the critical apparatus that goes with it (bibliography, footnotes).

• A draft of your paper must be uploaded to Canvas by Tuesday, Feb 25^th, 2025 by 11 pm.
• We will read the draft, make comments and indicate where changes and corrections need to be made, and we will return it to you one week before the final, on Mar 11, 2025
• You then revise the paper in accordance with the corrections and changes we have indicated, and submit the revised paper on March 18^th, 2025, when the final is due for everyone in class.

Because of the time-consuming nature of our reading and commenting on drafts, it is essential that you take the following steps if you wish to receive writing credit:

You must:

• Notify me in person AND by email that you’ll be taking the class for W credit
• You must do this no later than the end of week 5
• There are no exceptions to this rule.
• If you have not followed these steps, we will not accept your drafts for W credit.

Method of evaluation:

Quizzes 30% Written assignments 30% Final project: 40% 

Participation:

Every class is a collective and collaborative effort, and for that, people need to contribute to discussion. You’re not graded on participation as such, but if you contribute regularly to discussion, I will know your name, and that will only have a positive impact on your final grade. Please argue, ask questions, engage with other students directly – anything that prevents me from having to talk for 50 minutes straight.

 Late policy:

Due dates are given well in advance, and the only acceptable reason for missing a quiz or written assignment is illness or injury. If you know you will be out of town, you will need to turn the work in early.

            Quizzes are open for more than 24 hours, and you can take them on your phone if you have downloaded the Canvas app. The app is a good one, and is essential if you find yourself without wifi. The lack of which is not a valid reason for missing a quiz or a deadline.

 Class policies:

If you miss class, please let Svetlana or me know this. I do not record lectures or classes, and our classroom is not set up for Panopto. I do not share my lecture notes.

            Please arrive on time for class. If you will be consistently late, due to your preceding class’s distance from ours, let me know this as soon as possible.

            Food and drinks in class: drinks are ok, but no food is allowed in our classroom.

            Please don’t call me by my first name. I’m old. You’re not. I’m “Dr. Henry.”

Cellphones:

Please put them away. Just for 50 minutes. If I can do it, you can do it.

Student honesty – please see the University’s official policies at:

https://www.washington.edu/cssc/facultystaff/academic-misconduct/ 

Students suspected of plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, or use of AI-generated text for any written assignments will be given a 0.0 for the assignment. We will also reassess your previous assignments, and it is possible you will receive a 0 for the class itself. This failing grade will appear on your permanent academic transcript, to which professional and graduate schools, employers, and coaches will all have access.