21L.705/SP.512 (Major Authors) Rewriting Genesis: "Paradise Lost" and Twentieth-Century Fantasy
Spring 2009
Massacio's Expulsion.
Instructor: Mary C Fuller
Seminar meeting: TR 11-12:30 (56-169)
Spring 2009 topic:
What does the Genesis story of creation and temptation tell us about gender, about heterosexuality, and about the origins of evil? What is the nature of God, and how can we account for that nature in a cosmos where evil exists? When is rebellion justified, and when is authority legitimate? These are some of the key questions that engaged the poet John Milton, and that continue to engage readers of his work.
In 1667, Milton published what he intended both as the crowning achievement of a poetic career and a justification of God's ways to man: an epic poem which retold and reimagined the Biblical story of creation, temptation, and original sin. Even in a hostile political climate, Paradise Lost was almost immediately recognized as a classic, and one fate of a classic is to be rewritten, both by admirers and by antagonists. Modern readers have continued to contend with both Milton’s text and its sources.
In this class, we will read Paradise Lost alongside works of 20th century fantasy and science fiction which rethink both Milton's text and its source: Perelandra and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) and the trilogy His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman). As well as glancing at selections from Milton’s own writings on divorce and freedom of the press, we will also engage with a variety of modern critical perspectives on Milton (C.S. Lewis, Stanley Fish, Patricia Parker, William Kerrigan, and others) and on Genesis (Elaine Pagels, Mary Nyquist).
Announcements
Course evaluations
When you have a minute, please go to web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation to provide your feedback about the seminar. This link will be active until Monday, 5/18, at 9 AM. You can find more details on the Online Evaluations flyer posted under Materials>General.
Announced on 14 May 2009 11:50 a.m. by Mary C Fuller
Seminar papers due
Several of you have asked for extra time on the final essays due today, and worth a significant part of your final grade. In principle, this shouldn't be necessary, but in practice I'm willing to get the essays early tomorrow (before leaving the country for several days). Accordingly, I've revised the due date to May 15 (tomorrow), 9 AM. After that, the link to upload work on Stellar will no longer be visible, and you will lose points on the essay for lateness.
When you're done, you might get a kick out of one final reading, provided by Chris Choi: Neil Gaiman's short story "The Problem of Susan," linked under Materials>Interesting things. Gaiman's story imagines what happened to C.S. Lewis's Susan in later life.
Announced on 14 May 2009 10:28 a.m. by Mary C Fuller
Two additions to the wiki
- I've posted a sign-up sheet for presentations of your work in progress the week of May 5-10.
- I've also posted a page where (if you want) you can post the titles of books you have taken out of the library. There are several titles that appear in more than one of your bibliographies, so it would be helpful to keep track of who has what in case someone else needs to look at it. Feel free to add the titles of articles if you find anything that's especially interesting, and I would also encourage you to look at each other's proposals and bibliographies -- some people have identified sources that might be helpful for others as well.
Announced on 24 April 2009 2:25 p.m. by Mary C Fuller
