Introductory Courses for Anything You Want to Learn in 2026
Government • 5 min read
Individual Course
Masterpieces of World Literature
Course Length
12 weeks
5-7 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 299
On demand
Enroll on edXEnroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 299
On demand
Enroll on edXEmbark 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.
Self-Guided
edX
Global Learning Community
- Learning Outcome
Explore the history of world literature.
- Learning Outcome
Understand how literary works and books are transformed by cultural transmission.
- Learning Outcome
Understand how to critically analyze literary works.
- Learn from Harvard faculty
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Ways to take this course
Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate
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.
Faculty
Your Instructor
Martin Puchner
Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature, Harvard University
Martin Puchner is the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His prize-winning books range from philosophy and the arts to technology and include the Norton Anthology of World Literature, which has brought 4000 years of literature to students across the globe; The Written World, a Wall Street Journal bestseller that has been translated into twenty-five languages; and Literature for a Changing Planet, which draws lessons from world literature for addressing climate change. His most recent book, Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop is a global history of the arts and humanities. His personalized chatbots let users converse with Socrates, the Buddha and many others. He is a member of the European Academy and has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Cullman Fellowship, the Berlin Prize, the Humboldt Prize and the Massachusetts Book Award. He writes on culture and the arts on his Substack: https://martinpuchner.substack.com.
Your Instructor
David Damrosch
Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature at Harvard University
Finished the Masterpieces of World Literature course. Beautiful course, I found inspiring commonalities between literature, humanities, culture, and the world of Design and its dynamics in a global context.
Juan M.
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