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| Semester | spring semester 2012 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Ladina Bezzola Lambert (ladina.bezzola@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | A utopian fiction presents an ideal place that does not exist; alternatively, it presents an evidently not ideal, but different place as a means of engaging with the prospect of the ideal. Utopias advocate change. Their potency in visualizing change has made them an attractive tool for political activists, religious writers, pedagogues, scientists, feminists, and other parties. But their preoccupation with inventing alternative worlds places them centrally in the domain of poetry. This course will focus on a selection of utopian fictions from the early modern period to the eighteenth century. We will discuss their fiction making in connection with processes of exploration and discovery, with travel writing, propaganda, moral edification, satire, the poet's role in society, popular entertainment, and the rise of the novel. While some of the key texts to be studied were originally written in Latin (though in an English speaking context and soon made available in English), they have proved vastly influential for the development of English literature. |
| Learning objectives | Students exercise and expand the range of skills they have acquired in the first three semesters. A more informed engagement with primary and critical texts will enable them to write their first (shorter) seminar paper at the end of the term and to make an informed decision regarding their further course of studies. The course's focus on the mixed genre of utopian fiction will familiarize students with the cultural, political, and aesthetic debates of a remoter chapter in the history of English literature and culture and expand their familiarity with different critical approaches to texts. |
| Bibliography | "Three Early Modern Utopias" (Oxford World's Classics; ISBN-13: 978-0199537990); Jonathan Swift: "Gulliver's Travels" (Penguin: ISBN-13: 978-0141439495); "The Norton Anthology of English Literature", vol. 1 (7th or 8th ed.) Additional primary texts as well as critical texts will be made available on the course server (ISIS). |
| Comments | Participants are required to read the three utopian fictions by Thomas More, Francis Bacon, and Henry Neville included in the Oxford World's Classics edition before term starts. Copies have been ordered at "Labyrinth" bookstore (Nadelberg 17). |
| Weblink | ISIS |
| Admission requirements | Successful attendance of the first semester of a second-year proseminar in Literature and Culture Studies. |
| Course application | Enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch indicating your 1st and 2nd choice proseminar. The first 18 to enrol are guaranteed a place in the course of their 1st choice; others may be shifted to one of the other courses on offer. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Ausbildung zur Lehrperson für die Sekundarstufe I) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Sek-I-Fach: Englisch) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Students are expected to make one oral presentation. Active participation in classroom discussion and regular attendance are mandatory. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |