ENGL 563

Fall 2026 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 24-Dec 9

Credit: 4 hours.

May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: One year of graduate study of literature or consent of instructor.

ENGL 563 class schedule data for fall 2026
Status CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
3
39506
Lecture-Discussion
A
9:00AM -11:20AM
R
English Building
Oh, R
Availability:
Open (Restricted)
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/24/26-12/09/26
Section Title:
Seminar Lit Movements
Section Info:
FA26 ENGL 563 - Seminar in Literary Movements - Rebecca Oh - Apocalypse - The times are apocalyptic. Since at least midcentury, apocalypse no longer signifies a divine world-ending but a secular one. It encompasses the midcentury nuclear complex and fears of nuclear annihilation, neoliberal austerity, the effects of war and colonialism, and most recently it names the crisis of futurity inaugurated by climate change. This course will explore the cultures of apocalypse – the narratives, genres, affects, representations, and discourses – produced out of perceptions of futurelessness that have succeeded each other in the modern era. In relation to nuclearity, neoliberalism, and environmental crisis in the US and the global South, we will examine scholarly and cultural texts that confront apocalypse’s unwanted futures and “sense of an ending” from both the future and the past. What happens to its stakes and forms when apocalypse can be prevented and conversely when it cannot be changed? Are speculative and historical apocalypses always distinct or do their temporalities blur? Relatedly, how do we track the unevenness of apocalypse, the fact that futurelessness is never actually universal? Readings may include criticism by Jacques Derrida, David Pike, Eva Horn, Teresa Heffernan, Monika Kaup, Dan Sinykin, Jessica Hurley, and others. Aesthetic works may include The Road, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Future Home of the Living God, Animal’s People, How Beautiful We Were, The Year of the Flood, Parable of the Sower, Mad Max: Fury Road, Apocalypse Now, Arlit: Duxieme Paris, Iep Jaltok, Anote’s Ark, and The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On. Course work will likely include discussion leading, the cultivation of a research archive, an annotated bibliography, and a final seminar paper.
Restriction(s):
Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
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