This English seminar revolves around a simple question: "How do we write about that which is described as indescribable?" As long as humans have been making literary work, we've been trying to depict and understand these weird, "peak" experiences when sense, logic, and even language fall apart. Beginning with William James' "Mysticism" lectures, we'll establish a shared vocabulary and classification via James' "mystical ladder." We'll then explore how these experiences persist in life and literature from the last fifty years, and the different circumstances - natural, spiritual, chemical, and political - that give rise to them. We'll also explore how this material is an extension of concepts, techniques, and themes that emerged during another era of immense political, technological, and ecological upheaval: the Romantic period. What do these substances and situations reveal about us? What do they say about our relationship to the world, both natural and industrial? What do they reveal about our political, ecological, and social lives? How has the way we've written about them evolved? And how do the best writers attempt to capture these most ineffable and mysterious parts of life? These questions will guide our journey. This course is an opportunity for students to read widely and weirdly, to explore some seminal texts from a literary period, to utilize critical frameworks to understand current work, and to enhance their critical and creative writing skills.
3 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit · GER: WAY-CE
This English seminar revolves around a simple question: "How do we write about that which is described as indescribable?" As long as humans have been making literary work, we've been trying to depict and understand these weird, "peak" experiences when sense, logic, and even language fall apart. Beginning with William James' "Mysticism" lectures, we'll establish a shared vocabulary and classification via James' "mystical ladder." We'll then explore how these experiences persist in life and literature from the last fifty years, and the different circumstances - natural, spiritual, chemical, and political - that give rise to them. We'll also explore how this material is an extension of concepts, techniques, and themes that emerged during another era of immense political, technological, and ecological upheaval: the Romantic period. What do these substances and situations reveal about us? What do they say about our relationship to the world, both natural and industrial? What do they reveal about our political, ecological, and social lives? How has the way we've written about them evolved? And how do the best writers attempt to capture these most ineffable and mysterious parts of life? These questions will guide our journey. This course is an opportunity for students to read widely and weirdly, to explore some seminal texts from a literary period, to utilize critical frameworks to understand current work, and to enhance their critical and creative writing skills.
Offered in Winter 2027 at Stanford University.