Self-Paced High School World Literature

World Literature introduces students to literature from the world beyond America and Great Britain. We will spend some time on Ancient Greek and Roman works, we’ll read from the Middle Ages and 19th century, and we'll also include books from a non-Western perspective. The class is by no means comprehensive but will give students a taste of literature from across the centuries and around the world. The books are varied and interesting and will broaden your student’s view of the world. See course book list below.

Note: This class is designed for older high school students and is not recommended for students below 11th grade. While I select only books that I consider age-appropriate, some books will contain mature themes.

For this self-paced class:

• Students have access to recorded lectures from their course and can choose which books to read and in what order.
• Students will have access to weekly reading pacing guides and auto-grade quizzes.
• This class does not include live class sessions or teacher support.
• All recordings will be available from September 2 through the end of the following August.

Book List

There are many options for acquiring these books. You can order them from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or another online retailer. If you want to save money, you can check them out of the library. For most of them, you can get e-book versions or access them online and read them on your computer screen. Please note any particular edition or translation, as those are the ones you need; if no specifics are included, any version will work. (For any required reading not on the list, we will provide online versions.) 

• Mythology, by Edith Hamilton
• The Odyssey, by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald  Note: this is a different translation than the one I use for Lit 1: The Ancient World.)
• Antigone, by Sophocles (This play is available online in several places.)
• The Aeneid, by Virgil (translation by Allen Mandelbaum)
• The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri (translation by John Ciardi)
• Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky)
• Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
• Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
• The Epic of Gilgamesh (Any translation will do; several are available for free online.)
• Don Quixote, by Cervantes (abridged translation by Walter Starkie)
• The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan