People have often attempted to attribute misfortunes to a supernatural destructive force. Personified as the Devil, this force has been used to account for the philosophical (and very practical) problem of the origin of evil. But the Devil is also a character in narratives: he has a story - indeed, many stories. This seminar will explore how these stories define evil; how they articulate claims about the human inclinations that lend themselves to diabolic or demonic contamination; and how they comment on the propensity to demonize the other, to estrange ourselves from our own domestic malevolence. Before considering portrayals of the Devil in works by Milton, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and in popular culture and film, we will consider biblical, apocryphal, and scholarly sources. While drawing from various cultures and periods, we will particularly focus on the rich assortment of devils and demons in the Russian tradition. The reading load is heavy. Students will submit online responses, two short papers, and a final project.