Kursinformation

Dystopian writing has been one of the most productive genres of literary fiction in the 20^th century and beyond. Speculative narratives about the future of our crisis-ridden planet have shaped our collective literary imagination. Readers take unabating interest in stories that spell out distorted visions of human existence. In this seminar we will read three key novels that will take us from the 1930s to the present day: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and John Lanchester’s The Wall. These texts will guide us through some stock themes of dystopian writing: the sliding into totalitarian structures, surveillance technologies, misogyny and the oppression of women, invasion scares and environmental disasters. We will enrich our discussion of these topics with a discussion of recent publications and developments in this field of cultural production.