127011 KO Critical Readings in Literature (2021W)

Looking back at the early-to-mid 20th century and its impact upon modern civilization, historian Eric Hobsbawm writes: “The decades from the outbreak of the First World War to the aftermath of the Second, was an Age of Catastrophe for this society” (Age of Extremes, 1994). Reacting to the disasters and calamities of this era, novelists from the 1930s onward prophesied what the future would look like if technological development, imperial expansion, environmental destruction, war and conflict, concentrated wealth, alienation, and financialization were to continue unabated. These concerns crystallized in the development of Dystopian Fiction (from Greek: ‘dys’, bad + ‘tópos’, place). Authors of this particular genre shared a fear that society was on a path rushing headlong into collapse. However, many of these authors differed in their view of precisely what this collapse would look like, and how societies (e.g. governments, institutions, communities) would react to it. Nevertheless, these authors mostly agreed that Dystopias arise out of the material, structural, and economic instabilities that shape the modern world.

This Critical Readings course will focus on Dystopian Fiction, and some key texts within this genre. Using the “critique of capitalism” as an analytical paradigm, we will consider how political economy, capital accumulation, and class struggle directly bear on a range of cultural and social concerns, such as: race, gender, corporate surveillance, national identity, and climate change. Broadly speaking, such a critique will clarify the contradictory power-relations that continue to bring about global instability and decay.

Course outcome:
• Students will be able to identify different critical fields and theoretical concepts used in literary and cultural analysis.
• Students will be able recognize different features of Dystopian Fiction and how they relate to social critique and cultural politics.
• Students will be able to understand how ‘theory’ and ‘critique’ operate as useful scholarly tools within the field of literary studies.