English 494: The Aesthetics of Extinction
Week 1: Time, Film, and the Genres of Extinction
Mon. Jan. 6 Introduction: The Aesthetics of Extinction.pptx
Wed., Jan. 8 H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
Elana Gomel, “Shapes of the Past and the Future”*
The Discussion Prompt will be available on Thursday morning.
Week 2: Chronotopes of the Anthropocene
Mon, Jan. 13 Wells, The Time Machine
Wed. Jan. 15 Wells, The Time Machine
Aaron Rosenberg, “Romancing the Anthropocene”*
Week 3: The Prehistory of Extinction
Mon. Jan. 20: MLK Holiday
Wed. Jan. 22: William Golding, The Inheritors
Week 4: What’s So Funny about Neanderthals?
Mon. Jan 27: The Inheritors
Mark McGurl, “The Posthuman Comedy”*
Wed. Jan 29: Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven
Week 5: Powers of Performance
Mon. Feb. 3: Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven
Pieter Vermeulen, “Beauty that Must Die”*
Wed. Feb. 5 Writing Groups
Week 6: Cyborg and Human
Mon. Feb. 10 Jeannette Winterson, The Stone Gods
Wed. Feb. 12 Winterson, The Stone Gods
Theory as Practice Due Thursday
Week 7: The Genres of the Anthropocene
Mon. Feb. 17: Presidents Day Holiday
Wed. Feb. 19: David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Week 8: Scalar Narratives
Mon. Feb. 24: David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Mahlu Mertens & Stef Craps, “Contemporary Fiction vs.
the Challenge of Imagining the Timescale of Climate Change”*
Wed. Feb. 26: David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Week 9: Agency and Action
Mon. March 2 Ben Winters, The Last Policeman
Bruno Latour, “Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene”*
Wed. March 4: Winters, The Last Policeman
Week 10: What Comes Next?
Mon. March 9: Writing Groups
Wed. March 11: Conclusions
Wednesday, March 18th: Final Essay Due
Wed. March 11: Conclusions