This course introduces students to the origins and evolution of literature through an examination of some of the earliest texts that have shaped the literary history of the world. Reading sacred texts (such as the the Book of Genesis, selections from the Qur'an, or works from other traditions), epics (such as Gilgamesh and The Odyssey), dramas (by Euripides), philosophical dialogue (Plato), literary theory (Aristotle), African folklore, and poetry, we will study the historical, thematic, and stylistic origins of the literary genres and texts that have endured since antiquity. We will also listen for echoes of these works in later writers such as Mary Shelley, Kafka, and Zora Neale Hurston. Among the larger questions that we will consider are the personal and social functions of reading and writing; the complex uses that writers make of the material they inherit from their traditions; the politics of canon-formation; and the role literature can play in a liberal education.