ENGL 20103 World Literature: Do We Need Another Hero?
GE-Human Culture: Literature/Human Diversity In the soundtrack for the 1985 post-apocalyptic movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Tina Turner’s hit song claimed that “we don’t need another hero,” because there has to be “something better out there.” For centuries, different cultures around the world have told stories about heroic characters. Typical heroes go on quests, overcome obstacles, stand up to oppression, and even sacrifice themselves to save others. In this class, we will read and discuss plays, novels, poems, and stories from around the world to figure out what makes a hero and whether, as Tina Turner claimed, we don’t need heroes to find meaning and goodness in the world. We will pay particular attention to unconventional or unexpected heroes as we discuss and create our own definitions of heroism.
Credits
3