ENGL 255 - Superheroes

FDR: HL
Credits: 4
Planned Offering: Spring 2012 and alternate years

Prerequisite: Completion of FW requirement. The course explores the early development of the superhero character and narrative form, focusing on pulp literature texts published before the first appearance of Superman in 1938. The cultural context, including Nietzsche’s Übermensch philosophy and the eugenics movement, is also central. The second half of the course is devoted to the evolution of the superhero in fiction, comic books, and film, from 1938 to the present. Students read, analyze, and interpret literary and cultural texts to produce their own analytical and creative works. Gavaler.