ENGL 3245 Evil: The Literary Question of the Human

Course description

This course is designed to explore the relationship between ethics, politics, and aesthetics through careful attention to literary explorations of the complex problem of evil in a range of literary and visual texts including genres from myth through poetry and drama to painting and film. We will read and study excerpts of works from Aristotle, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, through Shakespeare, Cervantes, María de Zayas, Leibniz, Milton, Hieronymous Bosch, and Krzysztof Kie??lowski. The recurring questions for us along the way will be about the role of reading and interpretation in relation to the problem of evil and what the philosopher Paul Ricoeur calls the “richness of the real.” This class may be used toward the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.

This course may be used toward the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.

Summer 2024: Ithaca campus

Associate Philip Lorenz

Associate Professor of English