Lehramtsstudiengänge (ANG.03210.01); MA Angloamerikanische Literatur, Sprache und Kultur, MA Englische Sprache und Literatur (ANG.03929.02 und ANG.03934.02)
“Evil” is a term we often hear: evil at its root, its ultimate source; fundamental, basic, uncaused or its own cause, essential. What we usually call “evil” is wrongdoing plus n, or wrongdoing raised to the nth power (above or beyond the ordinary norm). As Henry James has a character put it in the The Golden Bowl: The “very, very wrong” is “what’s called Evil—with a very big E.” In this course, we will trace the genealogy of evil in American literature back to the Puritan beginnings (e.g., Salem witch trials, Increase Mather, Jonathan Edwards). Special attention will be given to the following phases: American Renaissance (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe), Southern Gothic (William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Shirley Jackson), and contemporary fiction (Cormac McCarthy, Bret Easton Ellis). While mainly discussing short stories and novels, we will also take a glance at poetry (Elisabeth Bishop) and a graphic novel (Alan Moore).
It is advisable to read the novels in advance.
Required Texts:
- William Faulkner, Sanctuary (Vintage Classics, 2011)
- Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin Modern Classics, 2009)
- Cormac McCarthy, The Child of God (Picador, 2010)
- A reader with primary and secondary texts will be made available at the beginning of the course.
