MA.AA.LW 01 Text/Context: Last Things (seminar; 10CP Module in combination with Prof. Dirk Vanderbeke’s seminar Apocalypse(s): The End is Nigh)
Although the view that life is “nasty, brutish, and short” (Thomas Hobbes) was not the predominant one during the Middle Ages, it cannot be denied that the medieval approach to life awarded afterlife a greater importance than modern ideologies. As a consequence, questions as to how the end of the individual terrestrial existence as well as the global one could be negotiated loom large in the medieval mindset.
We will read, study, and discuss medieval texts and works of art that deal with these questions from various points of view.
Recommended introductory reading: Martha Himmelfarb. 2010. The Apocalypse: A Brief History. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. (An electronic version will be available on Moodle)
Please note that the first session (05 April 2023) and the sessions 17 & 24 May are online sessions. |
