1). Students will gain an understanding of the far reaching importance of catastrophe/disaster literature, regarding its modes of representation of actual events, the human reactions of those who experience such events, and the ways that such events both inform and disrupt the patterns of progress and social development within the civilizations that experience them. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
2). Students will engage with critical evaluations of the language used to express catastrophe and disaster, regarding how its writers make use of a range of figurative devices, such as: hyperbole, allegory, metaphor, simile, allusion, parable, irony, paradox, inter-textuality, and other tropes in order to account for the problem of adequately signifying the outcome of catastrophic events and their harsh conditions. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
3). Students will learn to recognize how various rhetorical modes, such as elegy, encomium, eulogy, jeremiad, lamentation, prophecy, critique, etc. inform the writing of disaster literature, and why these modes are employed by various authors. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
4). Students will develop insights into the ways that disaster literature engages in appeals to human sympathy and understanding, as well as how it challenges readers in terms of its realist and naturalist representations of human vulnerability, endurance, courage, wisdom, capability, suffering, etc. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
5). Students will demonstrate a mastery of the meaning, historical background, and cultural significance of a particular catastrophe/disaster work by researching and writing about a text not examined in the course that treats such an event. This will constitute their major assignment for the course.

1). Students will gain an understanding of the far reaching importance of catastrophe/disaster literature, regarding its modes of representation of actual events, the human reactions of those who experience such events, and the ways that such events both inform and disrupt the patterns of progress and social development within the civilizations that experience them. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
2). Students will engage with critical evaluations of the language used to express catastrophe and disaster, regarding how its writers make use of a range of figurative devices, such as: hyperbole, allegory, metaphor, similar, allusion, parany, paradox, inter-textuality, and other tropes in order to account for the problem of adequately signing the outcome of catastrophic events and their harsh conditions. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
3). Students will learn to recognize how various rhetorical modes, such as energy, encomium, economy, jeremia, lamentation, prophecy, critice, etc. inform the writing of disaster literature, and why these modes are employed by various authors. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
4). Students will develop insights into the ways that disaster literature engages in appeals to human sympathy and understanding, as well as how it challenges readers in terms of its realist and naturalist representations of human vulnerability, endurance, courage, wisdom, capability, suffering, etc. They will demonstrate this on papers, in presentations, and in a research project.
5). Students will demonstrate a master of the meaning, historical background, and cultural significance of a particular catastrophe/disaster work by researching and writing about a text not examined in the course that treats such an event. This will constitute their major assignment for the course.

The literature of catastrophe and disaster has existed for centuries, and informs the cultural and historical understanding of how human beings cope with extraordinarily damaging and destructive events and circumstances. Major disasters are a part of the history of every culture, and the literature that derives from their aftermath allows us a view into their cultural interpretation, the kinds of language used in expressing their significance, and the moral and emotional content that such literature reflects. This course will examine catastrophe and disaster literatures from a variety of cultures, across the genres of journalism, fiction, history, criticism, essays and personal accounts, the better to situate this type of literature in terms of its cultural, literary and historical significance and its relevance to the periods in which it emerged.

The literature of catastrophe and disaster has existed for centuries, and informs the cultural and historical understanding of how human beings cope with extraordinarily damaging and destructive events and circumstances. Major disasters are a part of the history of every culture, and the literature that derives from their aftermath allows us a view into their cultural interpretation, the kinds of language used in expressing their significance, and the moral and emotional content that such literature reflects. This course will examine catastrophe and disaster literatures from a variety of cultures, across the genres of journalism, fiction, history, criticism, essays and personal accounts, the better to situate this type of literature in terms of its cultural, literature and historical significance and its relevance to the periods in which it emerged.

Course Materials:
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
(etext - free download)

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester
Published July 5th 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2001)
0060838590 (ISBN13: 9780060838591)

The Culture of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America
by Kevin Rozario, University of Chicago Press, 2007
ISBN 978-0-22672-570-3

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle
Published August 16th 2004 by Grove Press (first published August 1st 2003)
ISBN 080214151X (ISBN13: 9780802141514)

An Essay about Triangle Fire Poetry by Janet Zandy
(online source, emailed to students)

A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Published October 10th 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2005)
ISBN 0060572000 (ISBN13: 9780060572006)

“THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS” by Jack London (essay on the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906) (online source, emailed to students)

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
by John M. Barry Published October 4th 2005 by Penguin Books (first published February 9th 2004)
ISBN 0143036491 (ISBN13: 9780143036494)

“Pale Horse, Pale Rider” by Katherine Anne Porter (run off, minimal cost)

Course Materials:
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
(text - free download)

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester
Published July 5th 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2001)
0060838590 (ISBN13: 9780060838591)

The Culture of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America
by Kevin Rozario, University of Chicago Press, 2007
ISBN 978-0-22672-570-3

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle
Published August 16th 2004 by Grove Press (first published August 1st 2003)
ISBN 080214151X (ISBN13: 9780802141514)

An Essay about Triangle Fire Poetry by Janet Zandy
(online source, emailed to students)

A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Published October 10th 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2005)
ISBN 0060572000 (ISBN13: 9780060572006)

“THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS” by Jack London (essay on the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906) (online source, emailed to students)

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
by John M. Barry Published October 4th 2005 by Penguin Books (first published February 9th 2004)
ISBN 0143036491 (ISBN13: 9780143036494)

“Pale Horse, Pale Rider” by Katherine Anne Porter (run off, minimum cost)