Metamorphosis and Transformation: Literature and Myth

This is an Enduring Question course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take both BIOL1712 and ENGL1751. What does it mean to experience metamorphosis or transformation? Metamorphosis is a rich concept in both the sciences and the humanities. These paired courses will explore the transition of metamorphosis from the perspective of the natural world and from the perspective of literature, considering how bodies, minds, and characters undergo discrete transformations through time. We will explore what stimulates metamorphosis in biological organisms and fictional characters and what comes next after a major transformation. We will also ask where the raw materials of the metamorphic transformation come from and examine the risks, challenges, and rewards of emerging in the world with a new, mature form. In addition, we will investigate how metamorphic transformations are coordinated with growth -- biological, physiological, psychological, or spiritual. The two courses will evaluate and test one another's definitions of metamorphosis in order to understand this fundamental concept from two different disciplinary perspectives.