DHUM 25A09 - Utopian and Dystopian Visions in Literature, Film and the Arts

One of the most popular trends in fiction, film and television today is that of a ‘dystopia'—a distant or not-so-distant future or parallel world in which the problems of today's society have gone unchecked and have reached horrifying extremes. Its corollary, utopian fiction (or the projection of an ideal world that unfortunately does not exist, or does not yet exist) is far less common today—yet these opposing dynamics in writing, painting and visual storytelling still have the same purpose: to stress the shortcomings of our world today by either showing a world in which they have been solved (utopia) or a world in which they have gotten far worse (dystopia). Another key feature of utopian/dystopian storytelling is that it has indeed existed for centuries. This class will allow students to follow that development from its utopian origins in Platonic philosophy and later in Augustinian and myriad other religious doctrines, through key trends of the Age of Discovery, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, then through the 20th century's overwhelming dominance of dystopian visions (focusing successfully on extreme politics, technology and censorship), to current trends in terms of feminist dystopias and parallel developments in environmental dystopias. The overall chronological structure of our class discussions will be augmented by parallels drawn to today's trends.
Dennis TREDY
Séminaire
English
Autumn 2024-2025
Grading is based on Continuous Assessment and breaks down as follows: 30-minute In-Class Presentation: 30% Two-Part Comprehensive Final Exam: 35% One Written Homework Assignment: 25% In-Class Participation: 10%
Choice of 4 novels or short stories to read:
Reading 1: Eugene Zamyatin's We (1924) or Ayn Rand's Anthem (1936)
Reading 2 & 3: Choice A: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) and Vonnegut's Player Piano (1952) or Choice B: P.D. James's The Children of Men (1992) and Cormac McCarthy's The Road (2006)
Reading 4: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Students are encouraged to watch and discuss films and series dealing with utopia or dystopia, but these are only suggestions.
(For example, films such as Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men (2006), John Hillcoat's The Road (2009), Michael Radford's 1984 (1984), or the series Black Mirror on Netflix or The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu).
A more complete syllabus, with suggested readings and films, will be given in class.
Claeys, Gregory (ed.). A Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.
Gordon, Michael D., Helen Tiller and Gyan Prakash. Utopia/Dystopia: Conditions of Historical Possibility. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2010.
Levitas, Ruth. The Concept of Utopia. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1990.
Manuel, Frank E., and Fritzie P. Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
Moylan, Tom. Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 2000.
Negley, Glenn. Utopian Literature. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1977.
Roemer, Kenneth M. The Obsolete Necessity: America in Utopian Writings, 1888–1900. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1976.