12/21/2024 8:19:18 PM	ENGL 14 Course Outline as of Spring 2025	Changed Course
CATALOG INFORMATION
Discipline and Nbr:  ENGL 14	Title:  DYSTOPIAN LITERATURE
Full Title:  Dystopian Literature
Last Reviewed:2/28/2022

Units		Course Hours per Week			Nbr of Weeks	Course Hours Total
Maximum	3.00	Lecture Scheduled	3.00		17.5 max.	Lecture Scheduled	52.50
Minimum	3.00	Lab Scheduled	0		17.5 min.	Lab Scheduled	0
		Contact DHR	0			Contact DHR	0
		Contact Total	3.00			Contact Total	52.50
		Non-contact DHR	0			Non-contact DHR Total	0

Total Out of Class Hours:  105.00

Total Student Learning Hours: 157.50

Title 5 Category:  AA Degree Applicable
Grading:  Grade or P/NP
Repeatability:  00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP
Also Listed As: 
Formerly: 

Catalog Description:

In this course students will survey the genre of dystopian literature: works set in a futuristic bad-place (dys-topos). Study will include classic and contemporary works; major writers and themes of dystopian literature; technocultural theory; and an exploration of why dystopian literature has captured the contemporary cultural imagination.

Prerequisites/Corequisites:
Completion of ENGL 1A OR EMLS 10 (formerly ESL 10) or equivalent

Recommended Preparation:

Limits on Enrollment:

Schedule of Classes Information
Description:

In this course students will survey the genre of dystopian literature: works set in a futuristic bad-place (dys-topos). Study will include classic and contemporary works; major writers and themes of dystopian literature; technocultural theory; and an exploration of why dystopian literature has captured the contemporary cultural imagination.

(Grade or P/NP)
Prerequisites:Completion of ENGL 1A OR EMLS 10 (formerly ESL 10) or equivalent
Recommended:
Limits on Enrollment:
Transfer Credit:CSU;UC.
Repeatability:00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP

ARTICULATION, MAJOR, and CERTIFICATION INFORMATION

Associate Degree:		Effective:	Fall 2017	Inactive:
Area:	E	Humanities
CSU GE:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	C2	Humanities		Fall 2017
IGETC:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	3B	Humanities		Fall 2017
CSU Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 2017	Inactive:
UC Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 2017	Inactive:
C-ID:

Certificate/Major Applicable: Major Applicable Course

COURSE CONTENT

Student Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1.  Critically read, analyze, and interpret major works of dystopian literature.

2.  Write critical analysis papers about dystopian literature.

3.  Demonstrate understanding of historical and cultural influences on dystopian literature.

4.  Demonstrate undergraduate level understanding of technocultural theory.

 

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Define dystopian literature as a genre.

2. Distinguish dystopian literature from utopian fiction, science fiction and speculative fiction.

3. Identify precursors to dystopian literature.

4. Identify historical influences on dystopian literature.

5. Identify selected major writers in dystopian literature and analyze their contribution to the genre.

6. Demonstrate an undergraduate level understanding of technocultural theory.

7. Read, analyze and interpret dystopian literature.

8. Write coherent essays about dystopian works.

9. Conduct research in relation to dystopian themes.

10. Effectively use secondary and critical material in the study of literary texts.

11. Demonstrate a semiotic understanding of why dystopian literature is capturing the contemporary cultural imagination.

Topics and Scope

I. Dystopian literature as a genre

    A. Dystopian fiction

    B. Utopian fiction

    C. Science fiction

    D. Speculative fiction

    E. Poetry

    F. Plays

    G. Related nonfiction

II.  Precursors to dystopian fiction

    A. Utopia, by Thomas More

    B. The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon

    C. The City of the Sun, by Tomasso Campanella

    D. English Romantic Writers

         1. Mary Shelley

         2. William Blake

         3. William Wordsworth

         4. Samuel Coleridge

         5. John Keats

         6. George Byron

         7. Percy Shelley

    E. American Transcendentalists

         1. Ralph Waldo Emerson

         2. Henry David Thoreau

    F.   Modernists

         1. William Butler Yeats

         2. Samuel Beckett

         3. T.S. Eliot      

III.  Overview of historical influences on dystopian fiction

    A. Paradigm shift from medieval to early modern era

         1. Capitalism

         2. Enlightenment ideology

         3. Science

    B. The Industrial Revolution

         1. Steam

         2. Electricity

         3. Assembly line

    C.  Atomic Bomb

    D.Digital Age

IV. Major figures in dystopian literature

    A. Contributions of novelists: e.g. George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Anthony Burgess, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Neil Stephenson, William Gibson, Samuel Delany, Mary Shelley

    B. Contributions of non-fiction writers: e.g. modernity and technocultural theorists

    C. Contributions of poets: e.g. Yeats, Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot

    D. Contributions of playwrights: Samuel Beckett

V. Technocultural Theory

    A. Frankfurt School

         1. Marcuse

         2. Adorno

         3. Horkheimer

    B. Afrofuturism

         1. Technoracism

         2. Technopower relations

    C. Posthumanism: Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto

    D. Anarcho Primitivism

    E. Techno Utopians

    F. Other texts and theory

VI. Literary Research

    A. Secondary Sources

    B. MLA Documentation

VII. Semiotics and Cultural Imagination

Assignments:

Reading assignments may include

1. Assigned readings from major works of dystopian literature

2. Selected essays or books on dystopian literature as a genre

3. Selected essays or books written by modernity and/or technocultural theorists

4. Selected essays or books written by other critical theorists, such as postcolonial, Marxist, feminist, etc.

5. Weekly reading quizzes

 

Writing assignments (6,500-8,000 total words) may include

 

1. 1-2 essay exams

2. Analytical essays on assigned works

3. Personal essays in response to assigned works

4. Technocultural analysis of a text

5. Semiotic analysis of dystopian literature and contemporary culture

6. Essay requiring research and MLA documentation

 

Alternative optional assignments such as presentation, media, or group assignments.

Methods of Evaluation/Basis of Grade.

Writing: Assessment tools that demonstrate writing skill and/or require students to select, organize and explain ideas in writing.		Writing 70 - 80%
Analytical essays, personal essays, technocultural analysis, semiotic analysis, research essay.
Problem solving: Assessment tools, other than exams, that demonstrate competence in computational or non-computational problem solving skills.		Problem Solving 0 - 0%
None
Skill Demonstrations: All skill-based and physical demonstrations used for assessment purposes including skill performance exams.		Skill Demonstrations 0 - 0%
None
Exams: All forms of formal testing, other than skill performance exams.		Exams 10 - 20%
Reading quizzes, essay exams
Other: Includes any assessment tools that do not logically fit into the above categories.		Other Category 0 - 10%
Participation, alternative assignment such as presentation, media, or group assignments

Representative Textbooks and Materials:

Fiction

Utopia. More, Thomas. Dover, 1997 (classic).

The New Atlantic. Bacon, Francis. Dover, 2003 (classic).

The City of the Sun. Campanella, Tomasso. Dover, 2003 (classic).

1984. Orwell, George. Mass Market, 2006 (classic).

Brave New World. Huxley, Aldous. Harper, 2006 (classic).

Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury, Ray. Simon & Schuster, 2013 (classic).

The Left Hand of Darkness. Le Guin, Ursula. Ace, 2000 (classic).

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Dick, Philip K. Del Rey, 1996 (classic).

A Clockwork Orange. Burgess, Anthony. Norton, 1986 (classic).

Neuromancer. Gibson, William. Mass Market, 1984 (classic).

The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood, Margaret. Anchor, 1998 (classic).

Parable of the Sower. Butler, Octavia. Grand Central, 2000 (classic).

Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia.  Delany, Samuel. Wesleyan, 1996 (classic).

Snow Crash. Stephenson, Neal. Spectra, 2000 (classic).

Oryx and Crake. Atwood, Margaret. Anchor, 2004 (classic).

The Road. McCarthy, Cormac. Vintage, 2006 (classic).

Into the Forest, Jean Hegland.  Dial, 1998 (classic).

Super Sad True Love Story. Shteyngart, Gary. Random House, 2011 (classic).

Station Eleven. St. John Mandel, Emily. Vintage, 2014 (classic).

The Wasteland. Eliot. T.S. W.W. Norton & Co., 2000 (classic).

"The Second Coming." Yeats, William Butler. Shamrock Eden, 2010 (classic).

"The World is Too Much With Us." Wordsworth, William (classic).

Frankenstein: Norton Critical Edition. Shelly, Mary. W.W. Norton and Co, 2012 (classic).

Endgame. Beckett, Samuel. Grove Press, 2009 (classic).

Upgrade Soul, Collectors Edition, by Ezra Claytan Daniels. Oni Press. 2021

Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine, by Kelly Sue DeConnick. 2015 (classic).

 

Critical Theory

Technoculture. Shaw, Debra Benita. Berg, 2008 (classic).

Civilization and Its Discontents. Freud, Sigmund. Penguin, 2010 (classic).

Power/Knowledge. Foucault, Michel. Vintage, 1980 (classic).

Eros and Civilization. Marcuse, Herbert. Beacon, 1974 (classic).

The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Adorno, Theodor & Max Horkheimer. Stanford UP, 2007 (classic).

Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture. Dery, Mark. Duke UP, 1994 (classic).

How We Became Posthuman. Hayles, Katherine. U of Chicago P, 1999 (classic).

"A Cyborg Manifesto." In Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Haraway, Donna. Routledge, 1990 (classic).

AfroFuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture. Womack, Ytasha. Chicago Review, 2013 (classic).

Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization. Zerzan, John. Feral House, 2002 (classic).

Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections.  Ed. Zerzan, John. Feral House, 2005 (classic).

Twilight of the Machines. Zerzan, John. Feral House, 2008 (classic).

Endgame: The Problem of Civilization. Jenson, Derrick. Seven Stories, 2006 (classic).

Methodology of the Oppressed. Sandoval, Chela.  U of Minnessota P, 2000 (classic).

The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century. Headrick, Daniel. Oxford UP, 1981 (classic).

Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance. Adas, Michael. Cornell UP, 1990 (classic).

The Cyborg Handbook. Hables, Chris Gray. Routledge, 1995 (classic).

Darwin among the Machines. Dyson, George. Basic Books, 1997 (classic).

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. Kurzweil, Ray. Penguin,1999 (classic).

The Enlightenment. Porter, Roy. Palgrave, 2001 (classic).

So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy. Hopkinson, Nalo & Gregory Rudledge. Arsenal, 2004 (classic).

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil, Ray. Penguin, 2006 (classic).

Race Against the Machine. Brynjolfsson, Erik and Andrew McAffee. Digital Frontier, 2012 (classic).

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.  Ford, Martin. Basic, 2015 (classic).

Smarter than Us: The Rise of Machine Intelligence. Armstrong, Stuart.  Machine Intelligence Research Institute, 2014 (classic).

Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era. Barrat, James. St. Martins, 2015 (classic).

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