HL3046 LITERATURE & EVIL

In this course, we will consider the conceptualization and use of distinct notions of "evil" in literature and literary theory - whether as a "problem" (in the sense of a moral and/or intellectual challenge), a source of aesthetic inspiration, a feature of narrative and/or poetry, a strategy for prejudice and discrimination, or mere mystification and fantasy. Most of us are familiar with the experience of a disjunction between the way the world is, and the way (we think) the world ought to be. Such experiences can at times attain a certain quality or intensity that makes us reach for the word "evil," and seem to us to require narratives of justification which then legitimize or delegitimize a possible set of actions. At other times, the experience of evil will prompt us to imagine different versions of existing and possible worlds where the terms of existence are more (or less) hospitable to human and/or animal flourishing. Such feats of the imagination may end up placing us on similar vantage ground as the various metaphysical creators of a variety of religious traditions, raising the question of the age-old analogy between author and God. As we go through this course, we will seek to hone our understanding of the meaning(s) we have given to this elusive yet ever-present notion of "evil," paying particular attention to the ways in which various writers and thinkers have been drawn to and/or repelled by its forceful claim on the senses, the intellect, and the imagination. Our investigations will also lead us to philosophers and theologians who have sought to grapple with "evil" as a phenomenon and/or a concept, and will interest students in particular with a mind for free, interdisciplinary inquiry into a topic for which there are perhaps no firm answers.