Julia Miele Rodas

Literature, Sarah Lawrence College

Utopian Fiction & Social (Dis)Order

Since the publication of Sir Thomas More's original Utopia in 1516, writers have produced thousands of fictional societies with social orders based on everything from communism to Christianity, and from matriarchy to military dictatorship. Whether these societies are essentially good ("utopian") or essentially bad ("dystopian"), the work of utopian fiction is always, on some level, to question the assumptions of the society in which the reader lives. This course will attempt to delve into both these assumptions and these questions. Assigned readings will include selections from Genesis, from Thomas More's Utopia (1516), and from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1887), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland (1915), Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1931), George Orwell's 1984 (1949), Robert Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold (1964), and John Varley's "The Persistence of Vision" (1978).

January
conf. wk.	Tues	17	Introductions
B	Thurs	19	Genesis, chs 1-4 Due: Response paper/Short paper (see description)
A	Tues	24	More, Utopia (book II) sample response paper (Costa) sample response paper (Forman) sample short paper (Light)
	Thurs	26	More, Utopia (book II)
B	Tues	31	Swift, Gulliver's Travels (book 4)
February
B	Thurs	2	Swift, Gulliver's Travels (book 4)
A	Tues	7	Defoe, Robinson Crusoe sample response paper (Alon) sample short paper (Rich)
	Thurs	9	Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
B	Tues	14	Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
	Thurs	16	Butler, Erewhon
A	Tues	21	Butler, Erewhon
	Thurs	23	Butler, Erewhon
B	Tues	28	Bellamy, Looking Backward sample response paper (Alon)
March
B	Thurs	2	Bellamy, Looking Backward
A	Tues	7	Bellamy, Looking Backward
	Thurs	9	Bellamy, Looking Backward
NO CONF	Tues	14	Spring Break
	Thurs	16
	Tues	21
	Thurs	23

B	Tues	28	Gilman, Herland
	Thurs	30	Gilman, Herland
April
A	Tues	4	Huxley, Brave New World
	Thurs	6	Huxley, Brave New World
B	Tues	11	Huxley, Brave New World
	Thurs	13	Orwell, 1984
A	Tues	18	Orwell, 1984
	Thurs	20	Orwell, 1984
B	Tues	25	Orwell, 1984
	Thurs	27	Heinlein, Farnham's Freehold
May
A	Tues	2	No reading--conference presentations--bring something nice to class? Due: Long Paper/Conference Projects/Worksheets
	Thurs	4	Heinlein, Farnham's Freehold
B	Tues	9	Varley, "The Persistence of Vision"
NO CONFS	Thurs	11	Film viewing? / Catch-up and review