Special Topics in English and American Literature: Science Fiction: Utopia, Dystopia
This course explores literary and filmic expressions of utopia and dystopia. We'll focus in particular on those expressions that offer social critique. Students will examine the notions of community proposed by sci-fi authors and filmmakers in order to interrogate the foundational assumptions of their utopic or dystopic visions. Primary texts are Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (1924), Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), Michael Radford’s filmic adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993), and Andrew Stanton’s recent animated film Wall-E (2008). Our conceptual framework will be informed through brief forays into the historical foundations of utopic and dystopic literatures. Supplementary texts include brief selections from Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels (1726), and H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896).
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