End Times: Post-apocalyptic Fiction

Since biblical times, human beings have been fascinated by the notion of apocalypse. In this online course, we will discuss the growing popularity of post-apocalyptic fiction, and explore the personal, political and planetary crises that informs it. We will focus on three very different evocations of apocalypse – ecological catastrophe, nuclear war and the Rapture – in the work of Octavia Butler, Cormac McCarthy and Tom Perrotta.

What does this course cover:

We will read three post-apocalyptic novels on this course. We will spend two weeks on each novel, and learners will benefit most by reading the whole text. See the week-by-week breakdown below:

Weeks 1 + 2. Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993)

Weeks 3 + 4. Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)

Weeks 5 + 6. Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers (2011)

By the end of the course, you should be familiar with:

· Some of the key texts of post-apocalyptic fiction

· The personal, political and planetary crises that inspired these post-apocalyptic novels

· The genre of post-apocalyptic fiction and its history