First-year Seminar:  Utopian Literature
Updated 6 April 2001

Fall Semester 2001 MWF
Instructor: Darby Lewes, Associate Professor of English (Office D318)
Office: (570) 321-4114
Home: (570) 546-7521

Email: lewes@lycoming.edu

 

 

Course Description
 
 

Utopia is a slippery term; its definition varies from writer to writer -- and from reader to reader.  When we allow ourselves to dream of the ideal life and the ideal society, we reveal the values, assumptions, aspirations, deepest fears, and limitations that, consciously or unconsciously, help shape the choices we make for ourselves and our society in the real world.   This course will examine the human yearning for radically improved, imaginary elsewheres -- a motif which extends from ancient tales of the Golden Age to twentieth century predictions of future wonderlands -- and explore elements of commonality and difference.  These works offer insights that seem increasingly provocative (and frequently poignant) as the millennium draws nearer.  The student's reading of the assigned utopian texts, and viewing of selected films, will be the subjects of discussion, brief lectures, tests, quizzes student presentations, and essays.   Students will also research, read, and report on an additional text, either "literary" or theoretical. 

 

Requirements and Grading

In order to pass this course successfully, you must

Attend class regularly.
Class participation will make up a considerable portion of the final grade: more than three absences will each lower the final grade one-half a letter grade, and students with more than six absences will fail the class.

Turn in all assigned work on time.
There are no late papers in this class: only timely papers and "F" papers. Extensions may be arranged, IN ADVANCE, if the situation warrants.

Expect surprise quizzes on a regular basis.
Grades for these quizzes will be averaged into the class participation grade.

Score an overall average of at least "D-"
on the examinations 

Grade distribution is weighted as follows

1. Class participation:  25% 
2. Two presentations (library/Powerpoint) 25% 
3. Four 3-5 page papers 25% 
4. Four examinations 25%

 

Textbooks 

Note:  Should you wish to order texts before class begins--always a good idea--all of these texts are available through

Amazon.com

.  They will of course also be available from the Lycoming College bookstore sometime in August.

  1. Lewes, Dream Revisionaries (Alabama UP). 
  2. Plato, The Republic, trans. Allan Bloom (Basic Books)
  3. More, Utopia  (Norton)
  4. Bellamy, Looking Backward (Penguin)
  5. Huxley, Brave New World (Perennial Classics)
  6. Johnson, Utopian Literature  (Random House)
  7. Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (New American Library Classics)
  8. Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time (Fawcett) 

 

Course Outline and Assignments
 

Week #1 Overview

Monday

27 August

REVIEW

Course Introduction

Wednesday

2 August

READINGS

Lewes Chapter 2

Friday

31 August

LIBRARY

Library Day (Plato)

 


 
 

Week #2  Plato, The Republic

Monday

3 September

READINGS

Plato 1

Wednesday

5 September

READINGS

Plato 2

Friday

7 September

READINGS

Plato 3

 


 
 

Week #3  Plato, The Republic

Monday

10 September

READINGS

Plato 4

Wednesday

12 September

READINGS

Plato 5

Friday

14 September

COMPUTER LAB

Powerpoint instruction

 


 
 

Week #4  Plato, The Republic

Monday

17 September

READINGS

Plato 6

Wednesday

19 September

READINGS

Plato 7

Friday

21 September

READING

Plato 8

 


 
 

Week #5

Monday

24 September

READING

Plato 9

Wednesday

26 September

READING

Plato 10

Friday

28 September

EXAM #1

Plato

 


 
 

Week #6  More, Utopia

Monday

1 October

PAPER#1 DUE
LIBRARY

Library Day (More and Bellamy): leaders to be assigned

Wednesday

3 October

READING

More

Friday

5 October

READING

More

 


 
 

Week #7  Bellamy, Looking Backward

Monday

8 October

READING

Bellamy

Wednesday

10 October

READING

Bellamy

Friday

12 October

READING

Bellamy

 


 
 

Week #8

Monday

15 October

EXAM #2

Bellamy and More

Wednesday

17 October

LIBRARY
PAPER #2 DUE

Library Day (Huxley and Orwell): leaders to be assigned

Friday

19 October

READING

Huxley

 


 
 

Week #9 

Monday

22 October

READING

Huxley

Wednesday

24 October

READING

Huxley

Friday

26 October

NO CLASS

Long weekend

 


 
 

Week #10  Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Monday

29 October

READING

Orwell

Wednesday

31 October

READING

Orwell

Friday

2 November

READING

Orwell

 


 
 

Week #11 

Monday

5 November

FILM

"The Handmaid’s Tale"

Wednesday

7 November

FILM

"The Handmaid’s Tale"

Friday

9 November

FILM

"The Handmaid’s Tale"

 


 
 

Week #12 

Monday

12 November

EXAM #3

Huxley and Orwell

Wednesday

14 November

NO CLASS

Lewes 7

Friday

16 November

NO CLASS

 Teacher at conference

 


 
 

Week #13 NO CLASS

Monday

19 November

LIBRARY

Women's Utopian literature: leaders to be assigned

Wednesday

21 November

NO CLASS

Thanksgiving

Friday

23 November

NO CLASS

Thanksgiving

 


 
 

Week #14 Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time

Monday

26 November

READING

Piercy

Wednesday

28 November

READING

Piercy

Friday

30 November

EXAM #4

Exam:  Piercy and "The Handmaid’s Tale"

 


 
 

Week #15

Monday

3 December

REVIEW
PAPER #4 DUE

Class Evaluations
Piercy (if needed)

PRESENTATIONS

Wednesday

5 December

PRESENTATIONS

Friday

7 December

PRESENTATIONS

 

 


 
 

Week #16

Date To Be Announced

NO FINAL EXAM

PRESENTATIONS (IF NEEDED)