College Seminar (105-7-27)

Topic

Dystopian Stories

Instructors

James Richard O'Laughlin
8474918916
1908 Sheridan Rd., Rm. 206
Office Hours: Wednesday, 4-5 p.m. Thursday, 1-2 p.m.

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 213: Mon, Wed, Fri 3:00PM - 3:50PM

Overview of class

Imagining worlds gone wrong, dystopian stories plunge us into places that may seem not only unthinkable but also troublingly familiar. We'll explore a number of questions about these worlds: how do the people in them understand why things are the way they are? What stories about the past do these worlds rely on? What exactly is dystopian about these worlds, as imagined? How do the people in these worlds envision the future? What about their ways of thinking or about their practices challenges the dystopian? How do these dystopian worlds compare with worlds we already know, or with the way things were when these stories were written?

Short stories, novels and films may include (among others) some of the following: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, "Friday Black" or "The Era"; Heather Lindsley, "Just Do It"; Emily St. John Mandel, "Station Eleven"; Ted Chiang, "What's Expected of Us" or "Understand"; Kazuo Ishiguro, "Never Let Me Go"; Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery"; Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"; Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, "The Matrix."

Class Attributes

WCAS College Seminar