Apocalyptic Visions
Essential Questions:
How can we begin to explain the enduring human fascination with end times?
In what different ways do literary visionaries imagine the extinction of mankind and the destruction of the planet? Similarly, how do they envision what might remain after apocalypses?
What do apocalyptic texts reveal about the authors and cultures that produce them?
As we come to know the end of the world, can we feel fine?
Content:
Texts include
- "The Book of Revelation"
- H.G. Wells (The Time Machine)
- Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood’s End)
- Walter M. Miller, Jr. (A Canticle for Leibowitz)
- George R. Stewart (Earth Abides)
- John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids)
- Harlan Ellison (“A Boy and His Dog”)
- Samuel Beckett (Endgame)
- Kurt Vonnegut (Cat’s Cradle)
- Thomas Pynchon (“Entropy”)
- Russell Hoban (Riddley Walker)
- Cormac McCarthy (The Road)
- Shakespeare (King Lear)
- M. K. Wren’s (A Gift upon the Shore)
- Stephen Vincent Benet ("By the Waters of Babylon")
- Kubrick (Dr Strangelove)
- Lyric poems by Archibald Macleish, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Mary Karr, John Keats, Matthew Arnold and others
Skills and Processes:
- Acquire the vocabulary and skills required for literate discussion of eschatology
- Improve skills as writers of critical and prose
- Hone ability to locate, assess and incorporate outside critical voices
- Develop critical abilities as readers
- Maintain a cheery demeanor while reading, viewing, and discussing the texts
- Prepare and present class meetings, both in collaborative groups and as individuals
- Apply principles of unguided peer reviewing and metacritical self-review for both content and style
- Use techniques of active reading, class note-taking, and test-taking
Assessment:
- Midterm and Final exams
- Three analytical essays
- Student-led class presentations
- Class participation
Resources:
Departmental handouts, including:
- Elements of a Persuasive Essay
- How to Study English at Catlin Gabel
- MLA Citation Guidelines
- Style is How You Say What You Say