01:00P-02:15P TR (15) 3 cr.
REQUIRES THE PERMISSION OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT’S DIRECTOR OF HONORS.
SPECIAL TOPIC: “THE EYES OF ALL PEOPLE ARE UPON US": THE UTOPIAN TRADITION IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
This course will trace how the utopian desire to create a better world has shaped American literature and culture over the past century. Modern utopian writers engage the great political and social problems of their times. Their cultural project is to propose alternatives to the status quo. Political, social and economic reality is questioned and solved within the compass of a book, film, architectural statement, or living communitarian experiment. We will address issues such as the foundation of modern Anglo-American utopianism in the late nineteenth century; the resurgence of political hope that is a persistent feature of new science and technology; the renewal of literary utopia in contemporary science fiction; the modification of utopian convention through political debates around capitalism, democracy and socialism, gender and race; and the influence of utopian thought on the relationship between human community and natural and man-made environments We will also pay heed to the aesthetics of utopian representation with particular reference to the environmental and rhetorical frames common within the utopian tradition. Substantial secondary literature of historical and critical work will provide context and perspective for our reading, research and discussion during the semester. Primary authors will include H. G. Wells, Marge Piercy, Ernest Callenbach, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Course assignments will include a short essay-review of an assigned critical topic (3-5 pages), double-spaced), a research team presentation, a write-up of that presentation (2-3 pages), a research proposal for a final paper (2-3 pages), a final paper engaging a topic relevant to the course based on proposal and presentation (10-15 pages). Regular attendance and informed classroom participation are required.