Universität Wien

123422 SE Literary & Cultural Studies Seminar / BA Paper / MA British/Irish/New English/American (2017W)

Bad Lands: Literary and Filmic Dystopias

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 18 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 11.10. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 18.10. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 25.10. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 08.11. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 15.11. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 22.11. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 29.11. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 06.12. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 13.12. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 10.01. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 17.01. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 24.01. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Wednesday 31.01. 16:00 - 18:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Plato's The Republic, which discusses the organisation of an ideal state and government, marks the beginning of Western traditions of utopian fiction, which - in the English context - is famously taken up during the Early Modern period by Thomas More's Utopia (1516) and Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1626). Etymologically, 'utopia' combines the non-existing ('ou' = Greek for 'non'; topos = Greek for 'place') with good ('eu' = Greek for 'good'). As a genre, it also gave birth to its opposite: 'dystopias' are fantasies of bad places, of things gone wrong, of destructive constellations, noxious or even toxic environments and oppressive structures. As discursive products, they express collective anxieties prevalent at the respective historical moments.
In this course we are going to concentrate on 20th and 21st century dystopias, starting by bracketing this period with discussions of E.M. Forster's short story "The Machine Stops" (1909) and the beginning of the TV-series Broken Mirror (2011). Apart from these, we are going to analyse four novels (Brave New World, 1984, Never Let Me Go, The Handmaid's Tale: points ride on text knowledge quizzes, so make sure to allow yourselves time to read these), three films (Gattaca, The Matrix, V for Vendetta) and one TV series (The Handmaid's Tale), which represent major strands of dystopian fiction that focus on totalitarianism; the human/machine dichotomy; surveillance and biopower (reproduction; organ donation).
The revived interest in the dystopian genre - Orwell's and Atwood's novels occupied top place in Amazon's bestseller list for a while earlier this year - needs to be read against the backdrop of recent events in the Anglo-American political arena. Currently, especially The Handmaid's Tale proves to be an inspiration: adaptations include a film (Schlöndorff), an opera (Ruders/Bentley), a ballet (York), a graphic novel (Nault) and an art installation (Scher/Miller) on New York's High Line (https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/27/15449484/handmaids-tale-hulu-high-line-art-installation). During the past few months, cosplay activists in the US have, moverover, taken to protesting against misogynist state legislation 'in character', that is, wearing while 'handmaid's costumes' (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/us/handmaids-protests-abortion.html). As this example indicates, dystopias speak most urgently to readers/viewers at the moment, and this course aims to harness the energy freed by this vibrant ongoing cultural activity.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance; regular preparation of assigned reading material; active participation in class; active in specialist team for one lesson per term; active in peer-feedback; 4 plot-quizzes; final paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Attendance: 5%
Quiz 1 (Huxley): 3%
Quiz 2 (Orwell): 3%
Quiz 3 (Atwood): 3%
Quiz 4 (Ishiguro): 3%
Active participation: 10%
Specialist task: 33%
Term paper: 40%

Grades must be collected in all four areas to pass the course. No more than two lessons may be missed without medical reason. If a doctor's certificate is produced, a third lesson may be missed but is to be compensated for at the teacher's discretion. The benchmark for passing this course is at 60%.

The written work has to be accompanied by a signed anti-plagiarism statement.

Examination topics

There will be no written exam.

Reading list

Texts made available as pdfs (moodle):

- E.M. Forster, "The Machine Stops" (1909)
- all secondary reading

Books to buy:

- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) [978-0099477464]
- George Orwell, 1984 (1949) [978-0141391700]
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) (1985) [978-1784870966]
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005) [978-0571224142]

In principle, any critical edition of these novels is fine. If you already own a copy, use that, if you are looking to buy, please purchase the listed editions. (The books are available at Facultas am Campus bookstore.)

Films/TV to watch:

- Andrew Niccol, Gattaca (1997)
- The Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix (1999)
- James Mc Teigue, V for Vendetta (2006)
- Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror, season 1, episode 1 (2011)
- Bruce Miller, The Handmaid's Tale (HULU TV series, 2017)

Background reading:

- Graham J. Murphy, "Dystopia" in: Mark Bould (ed.), Routledge Companion to science fiction (as a pdf on moodle)

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, MA 844;
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.4-322, BA09.2, 10.2, MA4, MA5, MA6, MA7
Lehrinhalt: 12-0502

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33