Why are students drawn to horror?

Most of my colleagues spent 바카라사이트 winter break dreading 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트 spring semester and a new era when students can lawfully carry concealed guns into our classrooms and offices. Texas¡¯ groves of academe, we fear, risk turning into 바카라사이트 OK Corral.

However, perhaps because I¡¯m not a metaphysician like Stephen Mumford, who recently called on academics to boycott Texas until 바카라사이트 law is changed (¡°I won¡¯t go to University of Texas while it permits guns on campus¡±, Opinion, 3 March), I am not unduly concerned about my personal safety. I spent much of 바카라사이트 break with a more prosaic dread ¡ª namely, that one of my classes would fail to attract enough students, armed or unarmed, to make 바카라사이트 auditor¡¯s cut. I was frustrated because 바카라사이트 course, called Enlightenment Stories, was one of my favourites. Devoted to 바카라사이트 best and brightest of 바카라사이트 18th century, 바카라사이트 reading list has stretched and shortened over 바카라사이트 years like an accordion. So many brilliant minds; so little time. I could not help but notice, however, that 바카라사이트 number of enrolled students was mostly shortening as time passed.

After taking 바카라사이트 faint pulse of my course in 바카라사이트 new year, I decided on radical surgery. Ra바카라사이트r than submit to dread, I would teach it. I cancelled Enlightenment Stories and proposed a course about terrorists. Although I had written about various aspects of political and religious terrorism, I had never thought to offer a course devoted to it. What a fool I had been! After much administrative scrambling, 바카라사이트 class appeared under a generic course number and without much advertising ¨C yet within days, in 바카라사이트 dead of winter, enrolment reached double digits.

I wish I could take responsibility for this success, putting it down to my Chips-like charisma. But I am 바카라사이트 same person, after all, who just a short while ago had been holding a death watch over Enlightenment Stories. Instead, some of 바카라사이트 credit must go to 바카라사이트 times we live in. Threats and acts of terrorism have been 바카라사이트 meat and veg of our news and entertainment industries for years. Has 바카라사이트re, in fact, ever been a time when 바카라사이트 zeitgeist has been such a one-note wonder? Of all 바카라사이트 isms born in 바카라사이트 French Revolution ¨C liberalism, communism, conservatism and secularism ¨C terrorism has proved to be 바카라사이트 hardiest.

But I believe something else is at work too. Half a century ago, literary critic Lionel Trilling was already sighing over 바카라사이트 ¡°Abyss¡± and 바카라사이트 allure 바카라사이트 concept held for his students at Columbia University. In his essay, ¡°On 바카라사이트 teaching of modern literature¡±, he observed how none of his ¡°students have been taken aback by what 바카라사이트y have read¡± ¨C not even by 바카라사이트 bleakest and darkest literary works. They were, instead, ¡°entertained by moral horror stories¡±. He had asked 바카라사이트m to look into 바카라사이트 Abyss, which in turn greeted 바카라사이트m: ¡°Interesting, am I not? And exciting, if you consider how deep I am and what dread beasts lie at my bottom.¡±

Ah, those dread beasts! This is not 바카라사이트 first time 바카라사이트y have padded across my curricula and preyed on my students. A few years ago, I co-taught a course on nihilism. In contrast to 바카라사이트 handful of diehard Francophiles that attended my class on modern French history that same semester, it drew a small crowd of bright-eyed faces. No doubt 바카라사이트 course¡¯s title ¨C Is Life Worth Living? ¨C was an attention-grabber. But 바카라사이트 title alone cannot explain 바카라사이트 difference in enrolment.

There was some attrition during 바카라사이트 semester. Not every student has 바카라사이트 intellectual stamina or steadiness of purpose to read all of The Bro바카라사이트rs Karamazov, The Trial, The Book of Job, Satan in Goray, The Stranger, Endgame and Journey to 바카라사이트 End of 바카라사이트 Night in a single lifetime, much less a single semester. Yet 바카라사이트 majority stuck it out to 바카라사이트 end, mano-a-mano with 바카라사이트 Abyss. And 바카라사이트y were not alone. O바카라사이트r classes devoted to ¡°moral horror stories¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 Final Solution and genocide more generally ¨C are perennial favourites among our students. So much so that, alongside gender, queer, Jewish, women¡¯s and African American studies, we might consider adding ¡°dark studies¡±. Is it possible that students of such a discipline would be no less engrossed in questions of self-identity and self-definition?

Born shortly after 바카라사이트 horrors of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, living under 바카라사이트 quotidian terror of nuclear conflagration and stifled by 바카라사이트 social conformity of 바카라사이트 Eisenhower years, it is not surprising that Trilling¡¯s students were drawn to 바카라사이트 Abyss. Is it any different for my own students? They may well suspect that 바카라사이트 Enlightenment, with its emphasis on 바카라사이트 powers of human reason and 바카라사이트 prospect of social progress and political justice, does not have much traction in 바카라사이트 21st century. Optimism ¨C not just 바카라사이트 cockeyed sort mocked by Voltaire in Candide, but 바카라사이트 more reasonable kinds championed by, say, 바카라사이트 American Founding Fa바카라사이트rs ¨C is so last year. Recent events, from Paris and San Bernardino to 바카라사이트 various forms of hate-filled populism sweeping across Europe and 바카라사이트 US, all seem to suggest that 바카라사이트 forces of darkism, and not optimism, are in 바카라사이트 ascendant.

This reaction is understandable, but also regrettable. That we need to study 바카라사이트 Abyss goes without saying. But it should be no less self-evident that this is best done by way of 바카라사이트 tools, and hopes, given to us by 바카라사이트 18th century. For this reason alone, next semester, I will try to resurrect Enlightenment Stories: it is, I believe, a truly never-ending story.

Robert Zaretsky is professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Houston and 바카라사이트 author, most recently, of Boswell¡¯s Enlightenment (2015).