CLASS 2632 - [Paranoia and Conspiracy Fact or Fiction]

(crosslisted)
(also COML 2632)(HB) (LA-AS)

Fall. 3 credits.

Next offered 2015-2016.

M. Fontaine.

Conspiracy theory pervades the literature of the ancient world, from Greek drama to Roman history. Historical writers of Ancient Greece and Rome often resort to paranoid and conspiratorial modes of analysis to explain why things happen the way they do. This course examines actual conspiracies in these societies alongside fictional representations of them in a range of texts, together with the rhetoric of self-delusion and fearmongering in which they are couched. Readings include selections from Homer’s Odyssey, Greek tragedy, Roman comedy, and Greek and Roman historians. Modern theories will also be considered.