HNRS 4

Welcome to Dark Side: Human Pathology in World Literature

Honors Collegium · 5 units · Undergraduate lower division (0-99)

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Designed for College Honors students. Exploration of various aspects of pathological human behavior and how they are portrayed in classic literary works. Spans disciplines of comparative literature (French, German, American Gothic, modern, English), medicine/psychiatry, and history. Major themes include fear and oppression; murder and infanticide; despair and suicide; barbarism and repression; hatred and revenge; incest and shame; jealousy and paranoia; madness and psychosis; sociopathy and evil. Elucidation of themes through texts, and discussion of each text in its historical and social context. Examination of pathological behaviors in context of their medical and psychiatric framework when they correspond to clinical diagnostic entity. Texts used as springboard to elaborate on recurrent themes in history of human civilization.

P/NP or letter grading.

When it runs

Not on the schedule for any of Fall 2025 through Spring 2027. UCLA publishes only that window, so this does not mean the course is gone — check the official listing.

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Requisites

UCLA lists no requisites for this course.

Requires

Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.

Nothing — this is an entry point.

Unlocks

What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.

No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.