Examines contemporar y literature from around the world, either in translation or written in English, analyzing it in terms of cultural differences, gender roles, literary archetypes, universalities of human experience and thought, and each book's thematic focus and philosophical outlook. Potential issues raised by the course include existentialism in literature, symbolism and magical realism as literary styles, self-consciousness and structuralism in literary form, experimental fiction, the relationship of literature to political and cultural change, ethnocentrism and global consciousness, and the increasing emphasis in contemporary literature on the individual's responses to a bewildering, frustrating, and sometimes oppressive social context. [ 3 credits ]