English 248-002
Literature and Contemporary Life: Utopiac and Dystopias
Instr: Cara Ogburn
Office: CRT 529, 229-4869
e-mail: ceogburn@uwm.edu
Office hours: by appointment.
Course Information: TR 12:30-1:45, BOL 281
Course Description
The word "utopia" comes from the Greek ou-topos meaning "no place." A literary utopia creates an ideal place that does not exist, that cannot exist. In this course, we will read and explore narratives of utopias and their opposites, "dystopias." In either permutation, this form of social critique is almost a genre in itself. The creation of a literary utopia aims to provide an ideal toward which we aim (but understand we can never achieve?), whereas dystopia parodies the ills the author sees in society by creating a new society that is problematic (at best!).
We will read these novels (and novella-length works) with social critique in mind, to think past the limitations of these "no-places" towards what they might envision or critique in the real world. Also, as many of these narratives profess to look to the future (namely the 21st century), we will look to our own "real" world to see what may have resulted from or been the cause of these literary "warnings."
Texts May Include:
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
B.F. Skinner, Walden II
Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, Herland
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Class Requirements:
Attendance/Participation: 25%
Weekly Reading Responses: 30%
Longer Papers (and Mid-Term Exam?): 45%
