COSEM-UA 120 - Utopia and Apocalypse

Institution:

New York University

Subject:

Description:

The utopian impulse is the drive to create the perfect world; the apocalypse is the global cataclysm that is often considered utopia's prerequisite. In this seminar, we examine the development of the utopian tradition, as both literary genre and philosophical thought experiment. Among the questions to be considered: What is the relationship between utopia and the novel? How do we get from "here" (the imperfect world) to "there" (the perfect one), and how is this journey enacted in fiction? Why are the family, gender, and sexuality so central to the utopian tradition? What is the utopian conception of pleasure? Utopia is often seen as the culmination of historical progress, the goal toward which humanity has been striving. Later utopian (and anti-utopian) fictions often place their "perfect" societies in a postapocalyptic framework, adding particular moral and temporal dimensions to utopia: not only does utopia become the endpoint of history, but the perfection of the coming world can be invoked to justify the cataclysm that precedes it. Course materials consist of fiction, scripture, philosophy, film, and graphic novels, including the works of Bacon, Campanella, Dostoevsky, LeGuin, Marx and Engels, More, Moore and Gibbons, and Plato.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nyu.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 998-1212

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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