Greek American Culture: Translation, Multilingualism, and Diaspora

This course introduces students to the rich tradition of literature about and by Greeks in America over the past century, exploring questions of multilingualism, translation and gender. Students examine how contemporary debates in diaspora studies and translation theory can inform each other and how both, in turn, can inform a discussion of the writing of the Greek American experience in histories, novels, poetry, and films. Authors include Broumas, Cicellis, Eugenides, Kaplani, Kazan, Papadiamantis, Selz, Spanidou, Valtinos as well as performance artists such as Diamanda Galas. Theoretical and comparative texts include Benjamin, Derrida, Hoffman, Kafka, Kallifatides, Roth, Rushdie, Wirth-Nesher and the Wizard of Oz. No knowledge of Greek is necessary, although an extra-credit tutorial is available for Greek speakers. Students with a comparative interest in Diaspora and multilingual literature are encouraged to enroll.