Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
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Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
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Narrated by:
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Pamela Bedore
About this listen
Can literature change our real world society? At its foundation, utopian and dystopian fiction asks a few seemingly simple questions aimed at doing just that. Who are we as a society? Who do we want to be? Who are we afraid we might become? When these questions are framed in the speculative versions of Heaven and Hell on earth, you won't find easy answers, but you will find tremendously insightful and often entertaining perspectives.
Utopian and dystopian writing sits at the crossroads of literature and other important academic disciplines such as philosophy, history, psychology, politics, and sociology. It serves as a useful tool to discuss our present condition and future prospects - to imagine a better tomorrow and warn of dangerous possibilities. To examine the future of mankind through detailed and fascinating stories that highlight and exploit our anxieties in adventurous, thought-provoking, and engaging ways. From Thomas More's foundational text Utopia published in 1516 to the 21st-century phenomenon of The Hunger Games, dive into stories that seek to find the best - and the worst - in humanity, with the hope of better understanding ourselves and the world. Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature delivers 24 illuminating lectures, led by Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, which plunge you into the history and development of utopian ideas and their dystopian counterparts. You'll encounter some of the most powerful and influential texts in this genre as you travel centuries into the past and thousands of years into the future, through worlds that are beautiful, laughable, terrifying, and always thought-provoking.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great CoursesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- M. Rogers
- 10-07-18
An interesting cruise through the genre's key work
30 minute lectures on either an author or a single book. Interesting insights are provided on the genre, the human condition that leads to the creation of these stories, and the cultural norms that are reflected and questioned by the genre.
A good use of 12 hoirs of my life. Enjoyable and educational.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- A. Mcdermott
- 23-01-19
Fascinating and insightful in equal measure!
I'm seeing novels I've known and loved for many years in a whole new light.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- A. Smith
- 24-01-21
Great!!
Really recommend. This has been my second listen within a year and I feel I need to listen again as there are just so many interesting and thought provoking points being made. If you enjoy this genre of literature I can’t recommend this highly enough. I need to go and read more of the material referenced and then I think I’ll have a third listen. Narration is excellent. Ms Bedore is an excellent raconteur, I imagine her classes are very popular on campus.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Shane
- 13-12-17
My first of the great courses
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with these series of books but found this to be extremely thought provoking and interesting to listen to. Only snag is now I’ve got so many books to look up I’m not sure when I’ll get to them all hahaha
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- John R Hughes
- 29-08-19
Everywhere and Nowhere
The author, Pamela Bedore, reads her work with verve, enthusiasm and contagious insight. As we reach for our possible futures as a species, the game is on to determine whether we are headed for a dystopian or utopian future. This survey of the history and development of utopian fiction is engaging from start to finish. There are templates for many possible alternate societies, some of which seem attractive and many of which we will need to swerve hard to avoid as they seem so prescient.
The great courses have the great benefit of manageable well structured chapters, and the links and development of the ideas works really well. Bravo. Finally, there are many useful summaries of stories I may never read - these are very well done - avoiding plot spoilers while taking the key elements to illustrate the themes at hand.
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5 people found this helpful
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- C. R. Moorhead
- 22-02-21
interesting introduction
Plenty of food for thought and book suggestions for my future reading. Dystopian fiction sits uneasily with me as it often accepts the worst version of humans to be the norm and I worry that there is a lack of separation between fact and fiction in the not so subtle subtexts of dystopian writing. It's a heavily political genre and it would have been interesting to have a lecture commenting on that as a theme to address it as a subject by itself.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- B A G Meenagh
- 23-08-22
Fantastic series of lectures
Opened my eyes to new authors and ways of understanding books I've read. Particularly grateful for discovering Octavia Butler.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 18-10-22
An excellent overview of an important literary strandstrand
This was a good listen that made me look at the topic with new perspectives.
Articulately put and read. Pleased to see Ursula le Guins novel The Dispossed at centre. Pity that the the Matrix films are left out.
But a good analysis of the way dystopia has become such a theme in young Adult novels
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anthony
- 08-02-23
Great course
Covers all the great classics and makes up a very good reading list and companion
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Nick
- 27-06-17
I have been challenged to rethink.
I've had trouble with this book. It has forced me to look again at some of my views & values regarding Gender types, Young adult literature and many of my political views. I have not always liked what I've heard, but isnt that the whole point?
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19 people found this helpful