A ship sails from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. The journey lasts nearly five months. At last, a distant land appears, and the crew rejoices - until a terrible whirlwind arises. The shipwreck leaves no survivors. This is the ending of Ulysses' speech in canto COMPLIT 26 of Dante's Inferno. What is the connection between Ulysses' voyage into uncharted waters and the philosophical concept of prime matter? How does navigation shape cosmogonical doctrines and vice versa? What links oceanic storms to chaos? This course explores Ulysses' journey and shipwreck in Dante as lens to examine literary depictions of water, oceans, and storms as sites of cosmogonical and cosmological thought across literary traditions and languages. We will study how literature reflects the philosophical, theological, scientific, colonial, and postcolonial dimensions of oceanic navigation. Our analysis will include epic poems and novels where sailors are face sea storms, paralleling the cosmos' struggle against the return of chaos. We will also explore the various conceptions of chaos and prime matter, from Genesis to Caribbean theory. Readings will include - but are not limited to - Homer, Plato, Edouard Glissant, Luis de Camoes, Ovid, Lucretius, John Milton, Derek Walcott, Joseph Conrad, and Francisco Coloane.
3 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
A ship sails from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. The journey lasts nearly five months. At last, a distant land appears, and the crew rejoices - until a terrible whirlwind arises. The shipwreck leaves no survivors. This is the ending of Ulysses' speech in canto 26 of Dante's Inferno. What is the connection between Ulysses' voyage into uncharted waters and the philosophical concept of prime matter? How does navigation shape cosmogonical doctrines and vice versa? What links oceanic storms to chaos? This course explores Ulysses' journey and shipwreck in Dante as lens to examine literary depictions of water, oceans, and storms as sites of cosmogonical and cosmological thought across literary traditions and languages. We will study how literature reflects the philosophical, theological, scientific, colonial, and postcolonial dimensions of oceanic navigation. Our analysis will include epic poems and novels where sailors are face sea storms, paralleling the cosmos' struggle against the return of chaos. We will also explore the various conceptions of chaos and prime matter, from Genesis to Caribbean theory. Readings will include - but are not limited to - Homer, Plato, Edouard Glissant, Luis de Camoes, Ovid, Lucretius, John Milton, Derek Walcott, Joseph Conrad, and Francisco Coloane.
Offered in Autumn 2025 at Stanford University.