Comparative Literature 141 - Good and Evil

This course will explore the concepts of Good and Evil as expressed in philosophical and theological texts and in their imaginative representation in literature, film and television, photography, and other forms of popular media. Cross-cultural perspectives and approaches to moral problems such as the suffering of the innocent, the existence of evil, the development of a moral consciousness and social responsibility, and the role of faith and spirituality will be considered. A range of historical and contemporary events and controversies will be discussed in relation to these issues including immigration, war, gender and sexuality, and new technologies. An investigation of ethical and moral behavior, in theory and praxis, during and in the immediate aftermath of World War II: how Europe (and the world) was divided into two blocs--the US and Western Europe on the one hand; the Soviet Union and its satellites countries, on the other--and how concepts of 'good' and 'evil' were articulated and expressed there, as seen through major films and novels of the 1940s through the 1960s." (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)