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The course will inquire into the intellectual labryinths, the emotional riddles, and the moral traps in which the nuclear dilemma has enmeshed American and human understanding and imagination in the last half century. After acquainting ourselves with the basic physical facts of the peril, we will examine it through the lenses of high strategy, philosophy, fiction, memoirs, poetry, and film. We will inquire into the tone, the strengths and weaknesses, and the underlying assumptions of each of these approaches to the question. Our own underlying assumption will be that we are pursuing from many angles an unfinished inquiry into an unresolved dilemma, not presenting finished truth. Among other questions, we will ask: What does it mean--and what sho uld it mean--to each person that the species is capable of destroying itself? Why do direct cinematic renderings of nuclear war make such a small impression? Why are jokes more successful? Why did Gabriel Garcia Marquez say that it "eludes even the clear-sightedness of poetry"? What is the status of the dilemma today? What is the relationship of the difficulty to other forms of what Hannah Arendt has called "radical evil"?
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-26-2001
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459