Chair of Literature Humanities: Prof. Christia Mercer, 707 Philosophy Hall; (212) 854-3190
Literature Humanities Bulletin

Literature Humanities: Masterpieces of Western Literature and Philosophy  (originally Humanities A) has been part of the Core Curriculum of Columbia College for seventy-five years. Some titles have never left the required reading list: Homer, The Iliad; Aeschylus, Oresteia; Sophocles, Oedipus The King; Dante, The Inferno; and William Shakespeare, King Lear. Others have rotated on and off. Today’s Literature Humanities includes works ranging from The Holy Bible and Augustine’s Confessions to Montaigne’s Essays and Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse.

Lit Hum, as it is commonly known, is designed to enhance students’ understanding of main lines of literary and philosophical development that have shaped western thought for nearly three millennia. Much more than a survey of great books, Lit Hum encourages students to become critical readers of the literary past we have inherited. Although most of our Lit Hum works (and the cultures they represent) are remote from us, we nonetheless learn something about ourselves in struggling to appreciate and understand them. Why did these works cause previous generations to value them so highly? In what ways are our authors in conversation with each other? How are these books relevant to our lives? In the end, what do we gain from them? These questions offer just a sample of the kinds of provocation that Lit Hum is meant to arouse. Students should not expect Lit Hum to teach them what these texts are about. Rather, it asks students to join a small group of classmates to raise questions and debate answers. Lit Hum seminars should fascinate, delight, and confound. Our hope is that students will return to these books, their beauty, and the profound questions they raise over the course of their lives.