ENG-388 Utopias and Dystopias
This course follows the spirit of utopian experimentation as it travels through the linguistic patterns and imaginative conditions of brave new worlds in literature. We will consider how utopian thinking allows writers to take creative license with political systems, social relations, gender roles, and racial identities, and to blur dividing lines between nature, technology, and culture as well as between Earth and the cosmos. Our readings will balance such foundational texts as Plato's Republic and More's Utopia with revolutionary works from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, and conjure utopian dreams as well as dystopian worlds gone wrong. Selected works of literary criticism and films will also be included.
Offered
Occasionally