THE WOW , THEN AND NOW

What “wows” us? How is it related to both a sense of the grand and of the small? Of the sacred and the unthinkably devastating? Of the mundane and the unique? This introductory course looks at this question by means of religion (mysticism), aesthetics (the sublime), the psychedelic, and the poetic in terms of how they condition and enable these experiences, often in joint manner. We begin by navigating through a wide range of medieval mystical texts (poetry and prose) ranging in date from Late Antiquity to the fifteenth centuries and explore how wonder, transport, and awe become articulated, often through the trope of love. The second half of the course expands to situate mystery and enchantment in relation to borderline experiences in contemporary contexts. We will explore what these borderline experiences entail, what kind of meaning they promise, and how they isolate or assimilate individuals, mark people and language, inhabit and alter our embodied selves. In addition, we will see how the legacy of mysticism has permeated later traditions of enchantment and its situatedness in contemporary culture, whether it be in the prevalence of love in pop lyric, rave culture, contemporary psychedelic experiences, the sacrality of nature, the mystification of state power, or even just the role of poetry and art in filling a spiritual role in our present. Throughout our readings, we will confront the question of what mysticism and enchantment mean, what they promise and how either can be accessed, how they might center or de-center the human (affirming or displacing the Anthropocene), how women’s and men’s mystical texts compare, and how “literariness” impacts these experiences. How does poetic form or literary prose shape the nature of borderline experience – mysticism included? What do we make of the insistence on bodily experience and how does it relate to biography? Where do we find the language and tropes of mysticism in contemporary culture (psychedelics, fascist propaganda, philosophical meditation) and to what end?

Mystical texts will include works by St. Paul, St. Augustine, Origen, Beatrice of Nazareth and her hagiographer, Hadewijch of Brabant and William of St. Thierry, Marguerite d'Oignt and Guigo II, Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, but also works by Huxley and Bataille; all other texts will, however, be read in modern English translation. No prerequisites necessary. Please note that even while