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With writers like Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells and George Orwell Great Britain looks back on a long tradition of dystopian literature. Scholars opine that some of the most controversial and celebrated dystopias have been written in the early twentieth century in response to various wars and totalitarian regimes. Yet in the twenty-first century, dystopian fiction flourishes again with writers as diverse as Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and Suzanne Collins (who landmarks a rising popularity of dystopian fiction among young adult readers).
With an eye on Great Britain, we find that the isles are both a popular setting for futuristic nightmares and home to a large number of speculative writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, P.D. James, China Mieville, Alan Moore and (on occasion) Jeanette Winterson. Why is this type of fiction so enduring, what are the features that have migrated from Orwell to later decades and which of its themes might have changed over time? Which historical moments of cultural discourses do dystopias respond to these days? Comparing Orwell`s Nineteen Eighty-Four with dystopian literature from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this seminar will explore key elements of dystopia then and now. The module examines themes such as the control of language, religion, history, artificial intelligence and gender and considers the ways in which the contemporary can be explored in an imagined future.
In preparation for the seminar, please acquire and read the following novels:
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods |
