ENGL151 - Thinking the Unthinkable: Writing About the Nuclear Dilemma

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Academic Year 2000/2001

Thinking the Unthinkable: Writing About the Nuclear Dilemma
ENGL 151 SP

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"?

MAJOR READINGS

HIROSHIMA, John Hersey
THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB, Richard Rhodes DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE, Freeman Dyson
THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE, Hermann Kahn
Poems by Robert Penn Warren, Joseph Brodsky, Richard Wilbur, William Wordsworth, others
THE FATE OF THE EARTH, Jonathan Schell
THE ABOLITION REVOLUTION, Jonathan Schell (forthcoming)
THE ARCHITECT OF DESIRE, Susannah Lessard THINKING, Hannah Arendt
HIROSHIMA IN AMERICA, Robert Jay Lifton
ON THE BEACH, Nevil Shute
LOS ALAMOS, Joseph Kanon
Films: DR. STRANGELOVE, AMAZING GRACE AND CHUCK, THE ATOMIC CAFE
THE ATOMIC BOMB: THE CRITICAL ISSUE, Barton J. Bernstein, ed.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two essays-one short, one long. No exam. Class preparation and participation are important. Letter grades.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Short sample of writing, or statement of reason for wishing to be in the class, or of interest in subject. By 4:00 pm, January 24, 2001 to Sheila Kelleher. Class list posted on department bulletin board by first day of class. 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

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Graded

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Schell,Jonathan

Times: .M..... 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: CRT271

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 12)

SR. major: Jr. major:

SR. non-major: Jr. non-major: SO: FR:

Special Attributes:

Permission: Permission of Instructor Required

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001