School of Humanities \ English Language and Literature
Course Credit
ECTS Credit
Course Type
Instructional Language
Programs that can take the course
In this course, man's search for eternal happiness, fulfillment, equality and his consent to establish a state will be discussed through classical examples. Their political and philosophical motivations will be underlined. Furthermore, the commonalities of these utopias and the threats hidden in their social structures will be discussed with reference to human nature. Parallel to the historical background, the rise of dystopian writing from the late nineteenth century onwards will be explained. Orwell, Huxley and Totalitarian regimes and the misuse of scientific and technological progress will be the main topics when analyzing the novels written by Atwood.
Textbook and / or References
Plato's The Republic; More's Utopia; Campanella's The City of the Sun; Swift's Gulliver's Travels
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932); Margaret Atwood's The
Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Claeys, G. "The Origins of Dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell" in The Cambridge Companion to Utopian
Literature.; Kumar, Krishan. Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modern Times.
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the concepts of "utopia" and "dystopia" and the historical reasons for their rise in speculative literature.
1. Understanding human desires behind dreams of utopia
2. To learn the basics of utopian literature
3. To understand the historical and political reasons for the development of dystopian writing
4. To learn the basics of dystopian writing
Week 1: Introduction to the concepts of "Utopia" and "Dystopia": mythological, religious and medieval sources of utopian thought The rise of Utopia and Dystopia literatures; their differences from science fiction and apocalyptic literature
Week 2: Plato, the Republic & More, Chapters from Utopia
Week 3: Chapters from Campanella, The City of the Sun
Week 4: Swift, "the land of the Houyhnhnms," Gulliver's Travels
Week 5: Midterm Exam & Examples of dystopia, reasons for the emergence of the genre, basic features
Week 6: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Week 7: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Week 8: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
Week 9: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
Week 10: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Week 11: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Week 12: End of Semester Review
Tentative Assesment Methods
• Midterm 30 %
• Final 40 %
• Participation 10 %
• Homework 20 %
|
Program Outcome
*
|
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
|
Course Outcome
|
|---|
| 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|