Like most literary geeks, I’ve read a lot of Jorge Luis Borges. If you haven’t, look into the influences of your favorite writers, and you may find the Argentine short-story craftsman appearing with Beatles-like frequency. Indeed, Borges’ body of work radiates inspiration far beyond the realm of the short story, and even beyond literature as commonly practiced. Creators from David Foster Wallace to Alex Cox to W.G. Sebald to the Firesign Theater have all, from their various places on the cultural landscape, freely admitted their Borgesian leanings. That Borges’ stories — or, in the more-encompassing term adherents prefer to use, his “fictions” — continue to provide so much fuel to so many imaginations outside his time and tradition speaks to their simultaneous intellectual richness and basic, precognitive impact. Perhaps “The Garden of Forking Paths” or “The Aleph” haven’t had that impact on you, but they’ve surely had it on an artist you enjoy.

Now, thanks to UbuWeb, you can not only read Borges, but hear him as well. They offer MP3s of Borges’ complete Norton Lectures, which the writer gave at Harvard University in the fall of 1967 and the spring of 1968:

Video recreations that teach world legends and folktales will be enjoyed by all audiences.

Afghanistan - Eight Strands for Afghanistan; Albania - The Land of the Eagles; Algeria - The Legend of Tin Hinan; Angola - Kianda Takes a Bride; Azerbaijan - The Dove and Peace; Bolivia - The Legend of Chijchipa; Brazil - The Amazon River; Burma - Moguk - The Legend of the Rubies; Cambodia - The Tale of Thunder and Lightning; China - Journey to Dadu Marco Poso, The Silver Fish and The Great Wall.

Colombia - The Legend of Furatena; Djibouti - The Legend of Hadal Mahiss; DRC - The Kingdom of Kongo; Egypt - Cleopatra; Eritrea - Queen of Sheba; Ethiopia - The Lion's Whisker; Georgia - The Pheasant of Tbilisi; India - Taj Mahal; Indonesia - The Legend of Merong Mahawangsa; Iran - The 1001 Nights; Iraq - Abul Abbas the Elephant; Israel - Solomon the Wise King; Ivory Coast
The Legend of Queen Pokou.

Japan - The Naming of Mount Fuji; Kazakhstan - The Legend of the Dombra; Kenya - The Spirit Wife; Kurdistan - Legend of Zembilfiroz; Kuwait - Mariam and Salim: Defenders of Kuwait; Lebanon - Cadmus The First Teacher; Liberia - The Chief's Wise Wife; Libya - The Legend of Cyrene; Mali - The Lost Manuscripts of Timbuktu; Mexico - The Lengend of Popocateptl & Iztaccihuatle; Mongolia- The Camel and the Rat; Morocco - The Legend of the Almond Tree; Nepal -Boudhanath; Nigeria - Bayajidda; North Korean - The Legend of Tangun; Oman - The Frozen Dates.

Philippines - The Legend of Apo Lakay-Lakay, The Chocolates Hills of Bohol Island, Legend of Alitaptap and the Fireflies; Poland - The Mermaid of Warsaw; Portugal - The Rooster from Barcelos; Saudi Arabia - Poetry in Pre-Islamic Arabia Qays and Layla, Poetry in Pre-Islamic Arabia Antara and 'Abla; Serbia - Marko - Hero and King; Somalia - The Camel in the Sky; Syria - How the West Was Won by the Arabs; Thailand - Ta-in and Ta-na; Tunisia - Queen Ellissar, The Punic Wars; Turkey - Troy; Turkmenistan - Sultan Sanjar and the Fairy; UAE - The Milk Container; Uzbekistan - How Samarkand Got Its Name; Venezuela - The Five White Eagles; Vietman - The Legend of Betel: Cao Tan and Cao Lang; Yemen - The Discovery of Coffee.

A collection of free and open primary texts in digital formats for the study of early world literature in English translation. Multiple English translations are provided for comparison and study, as well as open secondary and supplemental resources.

A collection of free and open primary texts in digital formats for the study of early world literature in English translation. Multiple English translations are provided for comparison and study, as well as open secondary and supplemental resources.

This resource gives directions for a project about polytheistic religions. It aims to answer the question how is religion a narrative for the culture of a civilization? Students will work in groups and present their work. 

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 featuring two verses from the Tao Te Ching, as translated by Tormond Byrn. The passages have a Dale-Chall text difficulty index of 5-6 and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 3.6.

No longer considered ‘side’ issues within eighteenth and nineteenth-century studies, slavery, ‘race’, abolition and emancipation are now understood to occupy a central place, not only within the period’s history, but within its literature, philosophy and the concerns of canonical and less well-known writers. The course moves forward to the present day to consider how slavery persists as a central concern within world literature.

This lesson asks students to dig into a select scene to examine the complex and stereotype-defying character of Lady Macbeth.

This is a redesign of an online course (ENG 140) with all course materials available online and free for students. Texts include: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Book of Job, Analects by Confucius, Ancient Egyptian Love Poetry, the Daodejing by Lao-tzu. By redesigning the course, I can select literature from more diverse traditions and culture and include more unique works which are not available in textbook that I typically use in this course. This module includes new assignments for the new readings and assessments for these new assignments.All course content created by Kerrianne Gamache. Content added to OER Commons by Jordana Shaw