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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
COURSE CODE: "EN 310 H"
COURSE NAME: "Selected Topics in World Literature - HONORS (This course carries 4 semester hours of credits. A minimum CUM GPA of 3.5 is required)"
SEMESTER & YEAR:
Spring 2025
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SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR:
Alessandra Grego
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS:
TTH 4:30 PM 5:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS:
45
CREDITS:
3
PREREQUISITES:
Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above.
OFFICE HOURS:
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is an upper-level course designed to provide a thorough investigation of a limited number of texts or of a specific central unifying theme that can be chosen either from Western or non-Western literature. The course invites students to take a closer look both at the text or theme in question and at the world out of which the focal subject developed. Through the comparative analysis of literary texts from diverse cultures, students will come to see how cultural differences can influence such elements as narrative, structure, literary style, plot conventions, point of view, or the construction of character and voice. They will also be able to see how similar literary themes may be handled with different emphases by different cultures, or how cultural biases can result in different or even completely opposite moral conclusions.
This is a reading and writing intensive course. Students in 300-level literature classes are required to produce 5-6,000 words of critical writing.
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SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
The Utopian and Dystopian novel: The term "dystopia" has a new currency and dominates the media. This course investigates the tradition utopia in literature and the rise of the dystopian novel from the beginning of the twentieth century, to investigate the reasons for the genre's new popularity in the twenty-first century. Reading a selection of 20th and 21st century dystopian novels by international authors, students will work on the relationship between literature and historical-political context, and the way in which art sublimates social anxieties, also taking into account trans-medial adaptations and the fortune of certain tropes from dystopian novels such as "Big Brother" or the red dress from the Handmaid's Tale.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will learn how to analyze a literary text critically, how to identify a genre and style of fiction, how to research a topic and write academic papers.
Students will learn how to
- evaluate the relationship between political and social anxieties and cultural products
- identify a literary theme and trace its evolution in time
- effectively compare texts
- consider the influence of literature on other media and the way in which ideas are renegotiated at different periods
- consider the reader-response to dystopian texts
- assess the influence of the publishing industry on the success of a genre
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TEXTBOOK:
| Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments | Format | Local Bookstore | Online Purchase |
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | Penguin Books 2008 | 978-1408274354 | | | | | |
| Blindness | Josè Saramago | Vintage Classics 2013 | 978-0099573586 | | | | | |
| The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood | Vintage Classics 2017 | 978-1784873189 | | | | | |
| The Trial | Franz Kafka | Penguin Classics | 978-0241197790 | | | | | |
| Klara and the Sun | Kazuo Ishiguro | Faber and Faber 2021 | 978-0571374892 | | | | | |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | 978-0307386458 | | | | | |
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REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
| Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments |
| The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature | Claeys, Gregory | Cambridge University Press, 2010. | 978-0521714143 | | Frohring Library |
| Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical Novels | Kinkley, Jeffrey C | Columbia University Press, 2014, | 9780231532297. | | Frohring Library |
| Dystopia(n) Matters : On the Page, on Screen, on Stage | Fátima Vieira | Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013 | 978-1443847438 | | Frohring Library |
| Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase : Contemporary North American Dystopian Literature. | Baxter, Gisèle Marie, et al., editors. | Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2014, | 978-1554589890 | | |
RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
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GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
| Assignment | Guidelines | Weight |
| Three research papers | Two research papers in common with the regular course.
A 3000 word final research paper to be submitted at the end of the course on a text of your own choice that fits in the tradition of dystopian or utopian fiction. Topic to be approved by instructor. | 50% |
| Presentation | Group presentations assessed on individual merit and on the group work | 15% |
| Final Exam | | 20% |
| Class discussion | | 10% |
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-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________
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ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic
dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred.
In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment,
may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student
who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from
the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation
to the President, who will make the final decision.
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STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap.
Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning
of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
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SCHEDULE
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| Session | Session Focus | Reading Assignment | Other Assignment | Meeting Place/Exam Dates |
| week 1 | Introduction to the course. Utopia and Dystopia, literal meanings, connotations and cultural tradition | | | |
| Week 2 | Frank Kafka - The Trial: A dystopian novel? | Read Kafka, The Trial | | |
| Week 3 | Bureaucracy, alienation, resistance.
| Despiniadis, Costas. The Anatomist of Power : Franz Kafka and the Critique of Authority, Black Rose Books, 2019. Chapter One"The Anatomist Of Power. The Faces of Faceless Power: The Trial , The Castle , and Beyond ." | | |
| Week 4 | Capitalism, class and popular culture | Huxley, Brave New World (1932) | | |
| Week 5 | Brave New World continued | Diken, B. (2011). Huxley’s Brave New World — and Ours. Journal for Cultural Research, 15(2), 153–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/14797585.2011.574056 | | |
| Week 6 | Against totalitarianism: Big Brother is watching you | Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) | | |
| Week 7 | Nineteen Eighty-Four continued | Paden, Roger. “Surveillance and Torture: Foucault and Orwell on the Methods of Discipline.” Social Theory and Practice, vol. 10, no. 3, 1984, pp. 261–71. JSTOR, | 1st Home Paper Due | |
| Week 8 | Controlling women's bodies | Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) | | |
| Week 10 | The Handmaid's Tale ctd. | Staels, H. (1995). Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: Resistance through narrating. English Studies, 76(5), 455–467. | Research Biblical references in The Handmaid's Tale and the Reagan Administration | |
| Week 10 | The metaphor of contagion | Saramago, Blindness (1995) | 2nd Home Paper due | |
| Week 11 | Blindness continued | Tiburi, Marcia. "Utopia/Dystopia: José Saramago and the Regency Apocalypse." Baltrusch, Burghard, et al., editors. A Responsibility to the World : Saramago, Politics, Philosophy. Frank & Timme, Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur, 2023,
| Research Foucault: Pestilence and contagion as a source of social control | |
| Week 12 | Blindness continued | | Research Foucault: Pestilence and contagion as a source of social control | |
| Week 13 | Artificial Intelligence and the problem of consciousness | Ihiguro, Klara and the Sun (2021) | | |
| Week 14 | Klara and the sun continued | Mejia, Santiago, and Dominique Nikolaidis. “Through New Eyes: Artificial Intelligence, Technological Unemployment, and Transhumanism in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 178, no. 1, pp. 303–6, | | |
| Week 15 | | | Final Exam | |
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