There is a difference, one might suppose at the outset, between merely "reading" literature and "studying" it. When literature is the object at or in hand (in the form, say, of a best-seller, a famous poem, a harlequin romance), the commonplace notion of reading suggests it is primarily for entertainment; or, when things get tough, and the weight of everyday life pressurizes living into burden, reading literature becomes a kind of place—a world into which a reader "escapes," for a time, from the cares and curses of the "real world." What both notions of reading fail to consider are the fundamental processes that actuate and trouble the understanding when one sets out to read. Reading literature is, of course, not mere entertainment, and it can be a strange, uncomfortable destination for an escape.

The idea that unites the course is an implicit argument that reading literature is, in a sense, an exercise in Utopia-building. In other words, the literary imagination is utopian insofar as it is interested in conceiving of places that don’t physically exist, yet have some kind of actual life that influences the "real world" of a reader. In this course, then, we’ll try to experience, observe, and describe the often "invisible" processes that make such utopian reading happen, in an effort to understand how little we understand about what reading is, and, moreover, what it does and does not do. The literary texts we’ll consider span an expansive historical and cultural gap: from 16th century British imperial fantasy to 20th century American science fiction. These texts work in responsive ways to the actual conditions of the world in which they were written and read. But they all attempt in some way to confront and challenge that world by imaginatively "leaving" it in order to imagine something better—and we might see how such a "leaving" is, in the end, hardly an escape. Likewise, by the end of it all you will, hopefully, have begun to reconceptualize your own experience of reading, and, thereby, of imagining the actual world in which we live.
This is a ‘W’ course, so writing requirements will include several shorter reading responses and a longer, final essay (10-15 pages) with feedback and revision. Each student will also be responsible for a small-group presentation and an exam during the quarter. NOTE: As these are dense texts, the reading schedule will be demanding. Be prepared to spend a lot of time reading so that you’re able to contribute significantly to in-class discussions and have enough familiarity with the texts to sustain an extended, thorough argument.

Texts:

• Aristophanes. Birds and Other Plays. [0199555672]
• More. Utopia. [0393961451]
• Swift. Gulliver's Travels. [0393957241]
• Morris. News from Nowhere. [0192801775]
• Le Guin. The Wind's Twelve Quarters. [0060914343]