The figure of the Messiah is closely linked with the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, in which an oppressed people gave itself up to visions of redemption and retribution. The cultural dominance of apocalyptic imagery from the turn of the last century; the fascination with the Messianic in stories by Franz Kafka, Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, Satan in Goray, on the 'false Messiah' Sabbatai Zwi, and the Theses on the Philosophy of History by Walter Benjamin; and how these Jewish 'double outsiders' focused the unease of a European society soon to be seduced by 'false Messiahs' of a much more menacing kind, such as Franco, Hitler, Mussolini and Petain. What are the attractions, and dangers, of the 'Messianic'?

Aims to develop students' critical understanding of the attractions and dangers of Messianic leaders who promise spiritual or national rebirth through a study of archetypes in Jewish and Western history and the cultural despair of the interwar period. Students will be encouraged to particpate in wide-ranging class discussions as equals and to search for suitable audio-visual materials for their presentations.