Course Description
Evil has long been a core issue of theological and ethical concern. While in the Christian era it found its scary incarnation in the figure of Satan, in the modern times when the idea of an supernatural devil lost its appeal, evil becomes a name for the dark side of the human psyche, unknowable and, if knowable, unable to understand. This course, however, does not directly concern itself with this huge body of obsessions and discussions but rather use them as the context and resources to explore something else, namely, the conspicuously modern phenomenon of evil being not only represented but “enjoyed” in imaginative writings. I call this the aestheticization of evil and it encompasses a wide range of texts and agendas. While evil is inexcusably condemned in public, people in effect consume it voluminously in fiction and movies so much that it sells.