S0910 Shipwrecks: Uses of Catastrophe from The Tempest to the Titanic

Shipwrecks are terrible catastrophes – and highly meaningful events. In many cases the reports and representations of sinking, drowning and/or rescue provide providential frames and try to derive moral messages from the disaster. On the other hand, such narratives are often troubled by the fear that our communication codes are threatened by the sheer scale and sublimity of shipwreck. How, then, to turn catastrophe into art? What visual and verbal means are available and what meaning can they (re-)produce? What are, in specific circumstances, the aesthetics and the politics of representing maritime disaster? The seminar will raise and explore these questions on the solid basis of close reading, ranging from early modern voyages to postmodern and postcolonial tales.

Evaluation method
Close reading and plenary discussion, based on short introductory lecture units; group work and project presentations; feedback through personal consultation; suggested evaluation through one oral presentation and one short written piece during the semester, plus an essay to be submitted by the end of the semester.