Given the prominence of movements such as Black Lives Matter or #metoo which battle the continuous hold of various systemic injustices, as well as the realities of the recent pandemic, Russia’s attack on the Ukraine, and climate change, grim prognoses of the future loom large – on our minds, on the evening news, and also in literature.
In this class, we will take a closer look at such fictional ‘worst-case scenarios’, or literary dystopias, in order to gain some insight into the genre’s inner workings and, to some extent, its transformation over time and lasting appeal. Drawing on excerpts from prototypical dystopian works such as Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984, we will begin by establishing the genre’s key themes and characteristics, also with respect to related genres such as postapocalyptic fiction or alternate histories. We will then engage closely with several examples of recent dystopian texts which will be considered in the light of both the historical and the genre contexts from which they emerged. Audio-visual adaptations, too, will be considered.
- Lehrende/r: Stefanie Tegeler