Literature and the Nobel Prize
GLITS 200A/ASIAN 498C
Autumn 2026
Lectures: Tuesdays, 1:30-3:20 CDH 115
Sections: Thursdays, either 12:30-1:20 PAA A212 or 1:30-2:20 RAI 107
Professor Ted Mack (tmack@uw.edu)
Office Hour: T 3:30-4:30 GWN 248 and by appointment
Stef Vukadinovich (vukadino@uw.edu)
Office hours by appointment
Come read and learn about the some of the most significant works of world literature of the past century with a different guest lecturer every week. "The Nobel Prize and World Literature” brings together 10 professors from the Humanities in a fun, low-stakes, 3-credit course (credit/no-credit grading) to talk about Nobel Prize-winning authors from Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Europe. Guest lecturers and students will discuss literature and immigration, war, race, religion, gender, language and translation, as well as the role of literary prizes and even what counts as literature. One lecture per week (Tu 1:30-3:20) with short readings and a 1-hour quiz/discussion section (Th 12:30 or 11:30). FIG (First-year Interest Groups) section available. Come for life-changing reads and great discussions!
Each week you will read works of literature using the Hypothesis app (embedded here in Canvas). You will be expected to make 4 annotations to the Hypothesis document by 11:59pm, the night before the faculty lecture. The annotations will be two 100-200 word comments and two replies to your classmates' comments. Then, each Tuesday, you will be expected to attend the faculty lecture on the authors of those works of literature. Finally, each Thursday you will be expected to attend and participate in your section discussion of those lectures and works.
This course is only graded CR/NC. In order to receive credit, you will need to have an overall score of 70% or higher. That grade is determined by your Hypothesis assignments (40%), your participation in section (30%), and your attendance at faculty lectures (30%).
** Please note that this syllabus is still in draft form; some scheduling and assignments may change. **