Instructor: Dr. Gisèle Baxter (gmb@interchange.ubc.ca; put "English 464" in the subject line)
Office: Buchanan Tower 427 (tel. 604 822-4761)
This course will examine mid-to-late 20th century texts representing concerns rooted in significant events and developments of the 20th century: social and political restructuring; war, epidemic and genocide on a previously unimaginable scale; technological revolutions; demographic shifts; environmental exploitation; millennial anxieties. Do these texts actually tend towards the utopian/dystopian impulse, or towards the recapture of something like the Gothic sublime? The core text list is necessarily selective, but a secondary list, involving various genres and media, will be developed and made available, and material will be put on reserve in the library. I hope to be able to screen film excerpts periodically.Any editions of the texts may be used, but editions of A Clockwork Orange must include Chapter 21.
Evaluation will be based on participation (including two Vista exercises; 10%); a group presentation (5%); a 4-6 page midterm essay (20%); an 8-12 page term paper requiring secondary research (40%); and a final examination (25%).
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Copyright Gisèle M. Baxter 2009. All rights reserved.
Last updated 14 May, 2009.