Excavating Deep Time: Literature and the Human Condition

(4 Credits)

This course engages with literary works that explore the long human and pre-human past, from prehistoric imaginaries to environmental visions in literature, history and culture. How did the public come to terms with unimaginable reaches of time through fossils and dinosaur bones? How did writers, philosophers and artists react to the discoveries of the first prehistoric cave art found in Spain in 1879, the Gilgamesh tablets unearthed in 1880, the “Peking Man” in 1921, the Lascaux caves in 1941 or the Tollund Man in 1950s Denmark? Through poetry, film and visual art, the course will analyze ways in which writers and others theorized modernity and representations of human culture, with an emphasis on environmental and ethical thought. Field trips include the Shanghai Natural History Museum and Guangfulin Archaeological Park. Prerequisite: GPS or Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: Humanities Major Advanced Course.