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Dreams and revelations about global apocalypse are almost as old as literature itself. Why are so many writers and thinkers drawn to the notion of “apocalypse” as a recurring theme across so many different literary and film genres and artistic media, and what does apocalypse look like in different cultural contexts and time periods? How do ancient religious iterations of end-times compare to modern understandings of the apocalypse as environmental or socio-economic collapse or outbreak of disease, war, and even supernatural monsters? COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 135: APOCALYPTIC WORLDS will explore these and other questions. Our list of readings tentatively include selections from Genesis, Daniel, & Revelation; Albert Camus’ The Plague; J. G. Ballard’s The Drowned World; Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal; Chris Marker’s La Jetée; selections from the manga series Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa; and the first season of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Course Syllabus (.pdf)