(Preliminary) Schedule

This schedule is, I might add, an ideal - I don't honestly think we're gonna make it through all these points entirely. We will definitely have to deal with 1) the Puritans 2) Melville 3) the differences between traditional, religious apocalypse and secular apocalypse 4) and some of the modes of secular apocalypse (Jack London - TS Eliot - Paul Auster will have their appearance).

• Session I (April 18) - Introduction to the class, our materials, to apocalypses in general (short), ancient, "traditional" apocalypses in general (short), THE apocalypse, aka The Revelation of St. John (longer, much longer).
  

• April 25 - on this beautiful evening in late April, no class session will make your day: we'll have to cancel it. Why? You are supposed to be in U9/111 at 6 pm to attend the introductory session of the tutorial on "Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten". The tutorial will take place NOT ONLY on Wednesday evenings, but on various other scheduled occasions - so you can attend this class and the tutorial.
  

• Session II (May 2) - The apocalyptic inception of American colonization - introduction: the Puritan settlers and the City Upon a Hill - Puritan literary genres and writers - The Apocalypse in Puritan Rhetoric - poetry by Michael Wigglesworth.
  
• Session III (May 9) - Cotton Mather and in particular, his Wonders of the Invisible World (small parts of it, not the whole thing) - the corruption of the apocalytic site - witchcraft and magic -
  
• Session IV (May 16) - Cotton Mather continued - the post-millenial and more optimistic view on apocalypse of Jonathan Edwards - the Great Awakening
• Session V (May 23) - The Confidence Man introduced

• Session VI (May 30) - May 30: I'll hand out the list of topics for our response paper on this day. I'll also post it here. And - The Confidence Man continued a little more.

• Session VII ( June 6) Capitalist Apocalypse: excerpts from Ignatius Donelly's Caesar's Column - the urge to re-colonize the country: Jack London's The Scarlet Plague and George R. Stewart's Earth Abides
  
• Session VIII (June 13) - Jack London continued - & 2) Weird & Gothic Apocalypse: stories by H.P. Lovecraft

• June 13: Last day to submit your response paper.
  

• Session IX (June 20) - Weird Apocalypse continued - HP Lovecraft: The Colour out of Space - Nuclear Apocalypse
• Session X (June 27) - Paul Auster's In the Country of Last Things.
• Session XI (July 4) - In the Country of Last Things continued

• By July 4, at latest, you ought to have some idea of what you would like to write your term paper on. You are absolutely free in your choice and I will gladly help you find and refine a topic, within reasonable limits (your paper should naturally take up a topic more or less related to our class discussions) - just talk to me about it, even before July 4, if you like.
  

• Session XII (July 11) - The two Bush administrations and apocalyptic rhetoric - the impending climate change and apocalyptic fears - apocalypse, power, and politics
• Session XIII (July 18) - Apocalypse, Power, and Politics continued - and: last things, as it were. We could read some comic strips on the apocalypse, or we might consider turning the seminar into an apocalyptic cult unit with a vision for the final days to come.
  

• August 15: Last day to submit your term paper.