Introductory Courses for Anything You Want to Learn in 2025
Government • 5 min read
Individual Course
Course Length
12 weeks
5-7 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 299
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 299
Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of world literature.
This literature course explores how great writers refract their world and how their works are transformed when they intervene in our global cultural landscape today. No national literature has ever grown up in isolation from the cultures around it; from the earliest periods, great works of literature have probed the tensions, conflicts, and connections among neighboring cultures and often more distant regions as well. Focusing mainly on works of literature that take the experience of the broader world as their theme, this course will explore the varied artistic modes in which great writers have situated themselves in the world, helping us to understand the deep roots of today's intertwined global cultures. The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world.
Explore the history of world literature.
Understand how literary works and books are transformed by cultural transmission.
Understand how to critically analyze literary works.
Ways to take this course
A Verified Certificate costs $299 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
Your Instructor
Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature, Harvard University
Martin Puchner is a prize-winning author, educator, and public speaker. His writings range from philosophy and theater to world literature and emerging technologies.
Your Instructor
Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature at Harvard University
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Government • 5 min read
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