It would be hard to find a culture that has no cosmic catastrophes in its sacred narratives: deluge myths, combats in the sky, universal conflagrations. Usually these catastrophes are in the past, whether at the beginning of the world or in human memory. Sometimes they are also foretold for the future, and are then viewed apocalyptically, as ultimate revelations of a divine plan. Why do so many cultures have these stories, and why are they central to their sacred texts? We will examine a range of explanations and see how each affects our evaluation of the works read, as documents of human experience, as canonical texts, and as literature. Readings will include the Greek Theogony, the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish, selections from the Bible, the Norse Eddas, and the Mayan Popol Vuh.

This course will focus on comedies that disappoint the audience's expectation that the human problems raised will be resolved by the characters in a satisfying way. After examining some comedies which most would agree do deliver happy endings (by Aristophanes, Menander, and Plautus), we will turn to the great tradition of problem comedy, studying works (and productions of works) by playwrights such as Terence, Shakespeare, and Sam Shepherd. In our attempt to develop theoretical approaches to problem comedy and to understand its social implications, we will read along the way essays by Freud, Henri Bergson, Northrup Frye, and others. We will devote considerable attention to the cultural contexts of the plays we are reading, and also to issues of staging and performance practice.