home

=Honors 390 Announcements=

Final Exam question
(4/29/2011) Our final exam will be Tuesday, 5/3, from 12:00 to 2:00. It will consist of the one essay question below. Please bring paper.

This summer I will be teaching this course over five weeks, so I will have to focus on fewer texts. Recommend **four texts** from our syllabus that I should definitely keep on the syllabus. Justify your selection by explaining what students could learn about utopia from these texts. Also explain why these four texts would work well together, either because they could form a unit or progression, or because of their diversity (or any other reason you have). Choose from the longer works we have considered: //Utopia//, //Looking Backward//, //We//, //The Handmaid's Tale//, //The Dispossessed//, //On the Town//, //Children of Men//, your group's film.
 * Hypothetical Scenario**:

The Dispossessed Questions
(4/28/2011) Questions for the response paper, due by Friday, 5/6.
 * 1) What makes //The Dispossessed// a critical utopia?
 * 2) Is Anarres a feminist utopia? If so, in what way?
 * 3) What is the relationship between revolution and utopia in the novel?
 * 4) Is LeGuin in //The Dispossessed// making a political or social critique of our own society?
 * 5) Is Anarres or Urras more utopian? This question might lead you to consider the novel as an ambiguous utopia.

**Definition of critical utopia** (by Tom Moylan, //Demand the Impossible// (Methuen, 1986), pp. 10-11):

A central concern in the critical utopia is the awareness of the limitations of the utopian tradition, so that these texts reject utopia as a blueprint while preserving it as a dream. Furthermore, the novels dwell on the conflict between the originary world and the utopian society opposed to it so that the process of social change is more directly articulated. Finally, the novels focus on the continuing presence of difference and imperfection within the utopian society itself and thus render more recognizable and dynamic alternatives.

Course Evaluation
(4/25/2011) // Don't forget to complete a **[|course evaluation] .** I want your feedback. //

The Dispossessed Resources
(4/13/2011)
 * [|The Dispossessed Study Guide] by Paul Brians of Washington State University
 * [|Anarchism] (Wikipedia)
 * Ursula LeGuin interview on [|anarchism and writing]
 * [|Another interview] (find out what LeGuin thinks of Harry Potter)
 * [|Ursula LeGuin official website]

Readings for Monday
(4/8/2011)
 * [|Children of Differing Visions (NYTimes)]
 * [|Interview with Alfonso Cuaron]

Children of Men Powerpoint
(4/8/2011) media type="custom" key="9020038"

More Handmaid's Tale Resources
(3/30/2011)
 * [|"'Just a Backlash': Margaret Atwood and Feminism" article]
 * [|BBC: "Saudi police stopped fire rescue"] (2002)

Handmaid's Tale Resources
(3/25/2011)
 * [|Study Guide] by Paul Brians of Washington State University
 * [|Reader's Companion] (Random House) with short interview with Margaret Atwood
 * [|Take Back the Night] history
 * Who are [|Mary Webster] and [|Perry Miller]?

Zamyatin
(3/18/2010)

media type="custom" key="8751940"

**Third Response Essay** (3/16/2011) I've written the questions for the response essay on //We//. I've included an option to write your own question. The essay will be due on Friday, 3/25.

Movie choices
(3/7/3011)
 * Drew, Michael B., and Jessie - [|Aeon Flux]
 * Diana, Corrinne, and Craig - [|"Gattaca"]
 * Samantha, Elena, and Laura -[| Journey to the Center of the Earth]
 * Alyson, Justin, and Michael K. - [|"Equilibrium"]
 * Kelly, David, and Matt -[| "The Truman Show"]

Midterm
(3/1/2011) Please bring paper to the midterm! The exam will be closed-book and closed-note. See you Wednesday or Friday!

Groups
(3/1/2011) On the Student Wiki Pages page, I've created a list of the groups with links. I haven't created the pages, so the links don't go anywhere yet. Some time this week, please create a page for your group and tell us the name of your group's movie. You can add a link to the [|IMDB] or Wikipedia description of the movie.

Walden Two
(2/17/2011)
 * FYI: [|Walden Two summary on Wikipedia]
 * FYI: [|B.F. Skinner on Wikipedia]

William Morris Art
(2/13/2011) [|Image gallery of William Morris's art]

Looking Backward Discussion slides
(2/9/2011) media type="custom" key="8308898"

Fourier
(2/3/2011)

Paradigm
(1/21/2011) From the ending of //The Republic//. media type="custom" key="8115862"

The Gernsback Continuum
(1/14/2011) media type="custom" key="8051960"

Join the class wiki
(1/10/2011) You will need to join the wiki so that you are able to create pages and edit content. To do that, you must do two things: create a wikispaces account and request to join the class wiki. Once you have done those two things, I will approve your request and you'll be a full-fledged member.
 * 1) Go to wikispaces.com and create an account. You will be asked if you want to create a wiki. You do not need to do this. In fact, you will never need to create your own wiki for this class.
 * 2) On this page, click "Join this Wiki." The icon is at the top of the menu on the left.
 * 3) That's it. Now you wait for me to approve your request.

What is a wiki?
(1/10/2011)

media type="custom" key="8002842"