ENG585: Utopias & Dystopias in Literature

Fantastic societies have held a fascination for writers from Thomas More to the present day. Utopia, "no place," represents an idealized society whose inhabitants willingly embrace its difference from our own world. Dystopic visions are the disturbing flip side of this coin. Both genres inevitably cause readers to draw parallels between their own experiences and those of the protagonists. Scientific and technological advances are often at the root of the utopic/dystopic discourse, and one of the main functions of this course is to explore the presentation of technology as narrative. The course seeks to examine some of these alternate worlds to explore the way writers of fiction and filmmakers have presented the effect of projected changes and developments on the fabric of society. We will build our visionary galaxy from the following: Thomas More, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, Cormac McCarthy, Alfonso Cuarón, and other contemporary writers and filmmakers. Students will write analytical and creative essays.