Some Versions of the Apocalypse
This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Master of Liberal Arts curriculum.
The end of the world is one of the most durable of mankind's obsessions. From prophetic texts of the ancient world to today's fascination with zombie plagues, environmental disaster, and nuclear winter, the genre of apocalypse has proven an extraordinarily fertile way to give expression to religious, moral, political, and economic beliefs and anxieties. In this course we will explore what is both fearful and alluring about catastrophe on an unimaginable scale, as we read and view some paradigmatic apocalyptic works across a wide historical range. The course will focus on close attention to the aesthetics of individual works, locating those works in their historical contexts, and the theoretical analysis of the texts' motivating concerns.
- Fulfills the Core - Humanities requirement
- Fulfills the Elective - General requirement
- Fulfills the Elective - Literary Studies requirement
About the Professor
Mark Miller
Mark Miller is an associate professor in the English department at the University of Chicago. He is in the early stages of a book project called The Drive of Psychoanalytic Theory: A Reintroduction to Freud and Lacan. He also teaches and writes about medieval literature and culture, especially Chaucer and other fourteenth century English writers. In 2004, he received the Mark B. Ashin Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Click here to read about Mark Miller's sample class, "Some Versions of the Apocalypse."