2023-2024 Catalog

ENGL 295 Topics in English

Topics vary. Different topics may satisfy different Core requirements.

The Dystopian Novel

This course explores the emergence of dystopia as a genre for the modern novel, reading the most salient works of the genre. We seek to understand what elements cohere the genre of dystopian fiction, what elements are borrowed from other forms and what invented anew.  And finally, we also consider what is peculiar to dystopia as a genre all its own.  

Alongside such classics as Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, Huxley’s Brave New World, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, we will also read work by Octavia ButlerKazuo Ishiguro,  Ling Ma, M.R. Carey and others.   The syllabus will include brief philosophical and critical readings on utopia, science, satire, feminism, race, capitalism, and modernity and a few films (Blade Runner; Babadook; Thing). Core Requirement Met: Global Connections. Major Requirement Met: Group II.

Credits

4 units