The Philosophical Thriller
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General
Course Long Title
The Philosophical Thriller
Subject Code
CHMN
Course Number
575
School(s)
Academic Level
GR - Graduate
Description
The Philosophical Thriller
What if we lived in a world in which events outside of science -- events that could never be explained by science -- can occur? What kind of philosophy would such a world invite? What kind of stories could we tell about it? These are questions that have troubled critical approaches to science fiction. In this course we will use the French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux's essay "Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction" to develop a critical framework for reconsidering the detective novel in this context. Focusing on three very different contemporary detective novels -- Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Pledge, Brian Evenson's Last Days, and Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy--, we will study these novels as philosophical thrillers that pose to us the challenge of thinking, writing stories, and making art in a world in which there is no reason why anything should stay the same from one moment to the next. Philosophers and critics to be considered include Nietzsche, Hume, Kant, Agamben, Felman, Ghosh, and Felski. Additional literary texts by Borges, Asimov, Henry James, and Hawthorne. Course will include a visit by Brian Evenson.
What if we lived in a world in which events outside of science -- events that could never be explained by science -- can occur? What kind of philosophy would such a world invite? What kind of stories could we tell about it? These are questions that have troubled critical approaches to science fiction. In this course we will use the French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux's essay "Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction" to develop a critical framework for reconsidering the detective novel in this context. Focusing on three very different contemporary detective novels -- Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Pledge, Brian Evenson's Last Days, and Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy--, we will study these novels as philosophical thrillers that pose to us the challenge of thinking, writing stories, and making art in a world in which there is no reason why anything should stay the same from one moment to the next. Philosophers and critics to be considered include Nietzsche, Hume, Kant, Agamben, Felman, Ghosh, and Felski. Additional literary texts by Borges, Asimov, Henry James, and Hawthorne. Course will include a visit by Brian Evenson.