Do we prefer stories where good triumphs over evil, or where evil prevails? Can we define good and evil in absolute terms within literature, or is morality subjective and best examined through the lens of culture and history? What insights can we gain about popular culture’s depictions of morality by examining good and evil in literature?

To answer these and other questions about good and evil in literature, we will read: William Shakespeare’s Othello (1603), Voltaire’s Candide (1759), selections from James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914), Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958), David Henry Hwang’s M Butterfly (1988), selections from Salman Rushdie’s East, West (1994), and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006). In addition, we will read one short story each from William Faulker, Yukio Mishima, Kurt Vonnegut, and Louise Erdrich. Your grade will be based on pop reading quizzes, in-class participation, two exams, and one short paper.