THE END OF THE WORLD
English 373.001 - K Edgington
Fall 1996
English 270 - The End of the World - Fall 1996
In this course we will be reading literature that employs apocalyptic
settings to examine philosophical questions, such as the existence and nature
of a divine being, free will, human nature, morality, individual identity, and
the desire for immortality. Texts include the following:
- Endgame, an absurdist play set either in a bomb shelter
following
a nuclear disaster or in the head of one of the characters, by Samuel Beckett
(Irish), 1957
-
The Wall, a novel in journal form about human isolation and
survival, by Marlen Haushofer (Austrian), 1962
-
The Handmaid's Tale, dystopean fiction in which a neo-Puritan
theocracy has taken over the United States, by Margaret Atwood (Canadian)
1985
-
Humans, a comic popular novel in which God has ordered the end
of the world and Satan has come forward to save us, by Donald Westlake
(American) 1992
-
Wittgenstein's Mistress, a modernist novel about either the last
person on earth or a crazy bag lady in New York City, by David Markson
(American) 1988
-
The History of the World in 10« Chapters, a postmodernist
retelling of the story of Noah's ark from the point of view of a beetle, among
other things, by Julian Barnes (English) 1989
-
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, described by
the L.A. Times as "set at the juncture of cyberpunk, postmodernism,
and hard-boiled detective fiction," by Haruki Murakami (Japanese) 1993
-
Immortality, a postmodern novel in which Goethe and Hemingway
meet in the afterlife, and the author becomes a character in his own fiction
(unless the characters come to life) by Milan Kundera (Czech) 1990.
Requirements include 2 papers, midterm, and final. Class discussion/lecture.
For more information contact K Edgington