The purpose of this course is to explore the nature of the literary as an aesthetic, historical, and social category in a comparative context. Topics to be considered include: definitions of literature; literary studies as an academic discipline; theories of literary meaning; the connections between literature and identity (including national identity) and the relative usefulness of these connections; cross- cultural and cross-historical concepts of literary art. MCL majors and graduate students will be expected to conduct research in the target language. May be repeated up to six credits with different subtitles. Provides MCL Major Elective credit and MCL minor credit.