First-Year Seminar: Uncharted Territory: Underworlds in Literature and the Visual Arts

This course examines concepts and representations of underworlds in literature and the visual arts from the ancient world to the Middle Ages and Renaissance to modernity. Our journey will take us to the realms of the afterlife as well as into the abyss of the human psyche and the shady areas of underground criminal activities. We will explore how the desire to know the beyond has triggered people's imagination, inspired literary and artistic traditions.