So. I made this for a “HANNIBAL UNIVERSITY” but is that even something anyone would be remotely interested?
SYLLABUS: “The Aesthetics of the Abyss”
Foundations in the Architecture of the Self
(Exploring the structures of identity, desire, and consciousness)
1. PSY 101: Masks and Mirrors: The Multiplicity of the Self
- Jung’s Persona, Shadow, and Individuation
- Lacan’s Mirror Stage
- Performance theory (Goffman, Butler)
2. PHI 117: The Abyss Stares Back: Nietzsche, Power, and the Eternal Return
- Apollonian vs. Dionysian
- Master/Slave morality
- Becoming vs. Being
3. ART 203: The Beautiful Grotesque
- Anatomy as aesthetic object
- Baroque excess and sublimation
- Symbolism and the erotic body in art
4. SOC 140: Cults, Cannibalism, and the Rites of Civilization
- Taboos and sacred violence (Girard)
- Civilized savagery
- Fine dining as domination
Descent into Otherness
(Exploring madness, love, transformation, and the divine predator)
5. PSY 207: Erotics of Death and Surrender
- Thanatos and Eros
- Devotion as annihilation
- Erotic obsession and mutual possession
6. REL 221: The God Who Eats: Myth and Sacrifice
- Dionysus, Shiva, and flesh as offering
- Mystical cannibalism in religious traditions
- Transubstantiation as transformation ritual
7. FILM 301: Dreamlogic and the Unreliable Gaze
- Surrealism, horror, and dream sequences
- The use of framing, slowness, and silence
- Symbolic disorientation (Bergman, Żuławski, Tarkovsky)
8. LIT 212: The Romantic Monster
- Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula
- Ambiguity, seduction, and ethical disintegration
- Beauty and horror as lovers
Becoming the Other
(Initiation, merging, and transcendence through the act of surrender)
9. PHI 302: Devouring the Beloved: Love as Transformation
- Bhakti traditions and divine union
- Bataille’s inner experience and erotic limit
- Sufism and the disappearance of self in the Beloved
10. ANTH 351: Rituals of the Hunt
- Predator/prey symbolism
- The gaze as weapon and intimacy
- Shamanic metamorphosis and animal identity
11. ART 377: The Tableau Mort: Staging Death as Art
- Performance art and the aesthetics of stillness
- Francesca Woodman, Joel-Peter Witkin
- Forensics and beauty