Reading & Composition

In this course we will develop writing and argumentative skills through exploring imaginative and theoretical texts that offer us models of alternatives worlds whose social structures attempt to solve some of the perennial problems of modern living. We will think through questions concerning the consequences of industrialization, gender relations, and the conditions needed to bring about a just society, among others. We will watch several contemporary films, and read a variety of texts from different historical periods and cultural traditions, focusing specifically on utopian fiction and sci-fi. We will consider some of the following questions: under what social conditions an “alternative world” becomes desirable? What do we mean by “world” and what might be its opposites? What role do literary form and genre have in constructing an alternative world? What kind of attitude do we adopt vis à vis such texts whose implicit or explicit aim is to be “more” than an imaginary experiment?

Other than regular writing assignments, students will be asked to write a short piece elaborating an alternative world of their own.

Books Required

Thomas More, Utopia
Octavia Butler, Kindred
Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Tom Shippey, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories
Course Reader*

Films

Wachowski Brothers, Matrix I
Jean-Luc Godard, Alphaville