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Detailed information about the course / exam

This course/examination is part of the module(s) listed below. Please check the relevant examination regulations to determine whether a module is classed as a compulsory, elective compulsory, or elective module in your degree program. The learning objectives are given in the module description, which can be viewed by clicking on the module number.

Module number (link to module description)	Module title	Module coordinator	ECTS credits for module
82-008-L-ANG41-V-H-0916	Literature and Media (Mastermodul)	Class, Monika	5

Course no.: Exam no.:	82-008-L-ANG41-V-S-SE-0916.20262.001
Course title: Exam title:	Literature and Media
Kategorie:	seminar (on-campus)
Language of lesson:	Englisch
Date:	10/21/2026 - 2/5/2027
Organizer:	Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
Lecturer: Examiner:	Temmen, Jens
Exam type:
Exam mode:
Max. number of participants:	10 unlimited
Type of studies:
Learning objectives:
Content/topics:	In our contemporary moment of anthropogenic polycrisis, imaginaries of the apocalypse abound. Stories of climate catastrophe, narratives of pandemic crisis and imaginaries of planetary destruction and abandonment, negotiated particularly (but not exclusively) in American literature and culture, reflect a growing anxiety about the impending end of the world as we know it. In the specific US context, these global discourses intersect with the rise of right-wing tech-optimism and an assumed decline of the US empire and the global order connected to it. Despite this (justified) sense novelty and urgency expressed in these imaginaries, contemporary visions of global annihilation still draw on a long-standing canon of cultural texts that negotiate the meaning of the apocalypse in America across different periods, regions, genres and literary and cultural traditions. Tracing these narratives back to the inception of the United States, we find them entangled with discourses of settler-colonialism, anti-Black racism, and eugenics, for example, highlighting that, in US cultural imagination, the world has been ending all the time. Our class takes a critical look at narratives across different media, and at the ways in which they negotiate the end of the world as we know it. We will discuss the traditions, forms, and devices of apocalyptic literature, as well as the roles narratives of annihilation play in our contemporary moment of planetary polycrisis.
Recommended prerequisites:
E-learning offer (URL):
Literature:
Teaching and learning formats/course types:
Registration from… to:	9/22/2026 -
Last possible date of deregistration:

Status:

a.Ready to apply

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Scheduled event/examination dates

Date / Time	Room	Lecturer
Wed 21.10.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 28.10.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 04.11.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 11.11.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 18.11.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 25.11.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 02.12.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 09.12.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 16.12.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 23.12.2026 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 13.01.2027 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 20.01.2027 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens
Wed 27.01.2027 10:15 - 11:45 AM	WH-112	Temmen, Jens