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| Semester | fall semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Ladina Bezzola Lambert (ladina.bezzola@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | A utopian fiction presents an inexistent ideal place; alternatively, it presents a dystopian place mirroring the real/familiar and engaging with the ideal. Utopias and dystopias advocate and visualize change, which has made them an attractive tool for political activists, religious writers, pedagogues, scientists, feminists, and other parties. This course will focus on a selection of quite different 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 published in an English speaking context and soon made available in English), they proved vastly influential for the development of English literature. |
| Learning objectives | Familiarizing students with early modern cultural, its political, aesthetic, poetological debates and their interrelations; sharpening their awareness of the cultural embeddedness of texts. |
| Bibliography | Books to bring along and to have read beforehand, starting in week 5: • "More, Bacon, Neville: Three Early Modern Utopias" (Oxford World’s Classics, ISBN: 978-0199537990) • Francis Godwin, "The Man in the Moon" (Broadview Press, 978-1551118963 or Kindle) • Margaret Cavendish, "The Blazing World and Other Writings" (Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0140433722) • John Bunyan, "The Pilgrim’s Progress" (Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0141439716) • Jonathan Swift, "Gulliver’s Travels" (Penguin, ISBN: 978-0141439495). Secondary literature as well as shorter primary texts discussed at the beginning of the semester will be made available on the course server. |
| Comments | Students are expected to have read the primary texts by the time they are discussed in the course. Additional secondary texts will be assigned from week to week. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | Successful completion of BA |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 19.09.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 26.09.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 03.10.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 10.10.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 17.10.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 24.10.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 31.10.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 07.11.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 14.11.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 21.11.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 28.11.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 05.12.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 12.12.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 19.12.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Modul: Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | t.b.a. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |