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Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature  By  cover art

Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature

By: Pamela Bedore,The Great Courses
Narrated by: Pamela Bedore
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Publisher's summary

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 Courses

What listeners say about Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature

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  • NH
  • 04-06-17

A very enjoyable and educational audiobook

I won a free Audible credit from the Audiobook Addicts facebook group. I chose The Great Courses title Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. I have enjoyed many of the Great Courses before and the topic really appealed to me. Professor Bedore does a fantastic job of presenting the material while keeping it very interesting for the listener. The course has twenty-four lessons totaling over twelve hours.

The course begins with a discussion of what Utopian and Dystopian mean. The next lesson starts the discussion of the first Utopian work by Thomas More. There are several lessons covering the other Utopian writers such as Swift and H. G. Wells. The course then moves on to the Dystopias. It covers much more than Orwell's 1984. The breadth of the course is really amazing. It covers The Hunger Games and the Apocalyptic works of this century. The final lesson is on the future of the two genres.

The accompanied course guide, in Adobe pdf format, is amazing. It is over two hundred and forty pages of information. Each lesson has an outline of what is covered and a Suggested Reading section as well as Questions to consider. The Bibliography at the end is incredible. It is going to populate my to-read list for years to come.

Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature was a very enjoyable and educational audiobook. I would recommend it for anyone who reads Utopian or Dystopian genres.

#non-fiction #thegreatcourses #educational #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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81 people found this helpful

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Great promise but limited scope -- undue bias alert

I approached this class with anticipation. There's much to be learned from the varied utopian and dystopian literature across history. The lecturer rightly notes the inherently philosophical nature of this literature. Unfortunately, she is trapped in her own biases. If you're longing to hear s body of literature support the instructor's enthusiasm for Marxist theory and third-wave feminism, then this is the class for you. If you're looking for a broader treatment, then you'll be disappointed. Worse, the lecturers gushing over her favorite Marxist and Feminist theorists and/or writers becomes tiresome. This even leads to a two chapter discussion of one of her favorite authors who isn't even writing in this genre. The justification given for this is the author in question has "the spirit" of Utopianism. Argh!

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65 people found this helpful

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Wandering course...

Utopian or just science fiction, professor seems uncertain...

If you want ethical analysis take a different course. Utopian feminism and LGBTQ literature is emphasized.

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28 people found this helpful

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Misleading title but interesting course

The title of the course was a little misleading. "A postmodern critic of Utopian and Dystopian Literature" would have been a better name. There is a slight political bias present but that was probably unavoidable due to the subject matter. I enjoyed the course and it helped me to see the genre differently.

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25 people found this helpful

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Fascinating series

I listened to this alongside another Great Courses lecture series, How Great Science Fiction Works, and they are both excellent and informative, well worth the credit; they sometimes cover the same writers but it's interesting to hear both viewpoints. I noticed that some reviewers have marked Professor Bedore down for including feminist and gender-related utopian and dystopian fiction. But this is just what made this series especially interesting for me. Her discussion of Octavia Butler really stands out as a highlight, although every lecture is packed with information and delivered with enthusiasm. Overall it's clear that people who have traditionally been regarded as second class citizens for long periods of history have a completely different take on surviving a society that doesn't value them, and in turn they give us a whole new take on the meaning of utoptia or dystopia. And this is ultimately what makes science fiction stand out from other genres - new ideas, new ways of looking at ourselves. After listening to this series, I have added a lot of books to my "to read" list, and I will definitely be listening to this one again.

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21 people found this helpful

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Bridging fears and ideals

This was my first time listening to a Great Courses lecture series, and I'm so glad I did!

Bedore does an outstanding job bridging the connections between Utopia and Dystopia in Science Fiction and showing how this bridge shrinks over time as our societal views of the two begin to merge together.
This course is really nice if you've already been exposed to some of the pieces mentioned (the more popular ones being Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, 1985, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner, The Time Machine, Minority Report, Candide, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, I Am Legend, The Giver, Snowpiercer, The Hunger Games series, The Walking Dead, and Black Mirror), but it's not required.
There were actually some lectures I was tempted to skip since I had never read (or even heard) of the pieces/authors she would be discussing, but Bedore gives such easy to understand summaries of these novels (without spoiling the endings!) that it made these lectures not only completely understandable to an outsider, but very entertaining.

A lot of reviews on here mentioned not enjoying this series because of a "political bias" present in the lectures. In my opinion, this is an unfair judgement. Bedore says upfront that part of these lectures would be discussing how Utopias and Dystopias evolved throughout history. The specific lectures most reviewers are referring to, lectures 8 & 15-19, simply work to discuss how this branch of Science Fiction made such a large jump from being mostly written by and for white males to evolving to meet a larger demographic's ideas of Utopia/Dystopia.
If it really bothers you that (less than) 20% of this amazing lecture series talks exclusively about female & minority authors and their works, then I suggest you might consider reading some of the works Bedore lists in these sections. They might help open you mind to new horizons.

Honestly, the only downside to this series was that it made my "Books I Need to Read" list twice as long! I only wish I could've attended these lectures in real life.


P.S.
There were so many great pieces discussed in this series, but I really wish there had been mentions of
Battle Royale (Japanese dystopian battle film eerily similar to yet pre-dating The Hunger Games),
The Last of Us (Dystopian survivalist Video Game),
Akira (Cyberpunk action anime film),
and Metropolis (both the silent German utopia/dystopia film and the anime cyberpunk-revolution film).

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20 people found this helpful

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A marvelous introduction to a new genre for me

Would you listen to Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature again? Why?

I would certainly listen to Prof Bedore's intelligently scripted, passionately delivered lectures again. It has hooked me and I am now watching the TV series The Handmaids Tale, something I may not have chosen before. I will also dust off my Clockwork Orange DVD and Brave New World now features on my audible wish list.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The obvious delight that the lecturer takes in delivering her subject. I need this kind of passionate delivery, I am not a great reader or an intellectual - seeming to fall more for conceptual, perhaps visual ideas, I was driving in my car in traffic ridden Johannesburg when the Prof delivered her take on Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange and I was instantly drawn into the spectacle of the Kubrick Masterpiece and resolve now to visit A Brave New World

Which scene was your favorite?

Many scenes captivated me. I had seen 1984 years ago and the film left me with a bleak, morose impression. I had not thought much about Utopian or Distopian narratives in intervening years up to now, but Prof Bedore's presentations has changed that. I am also intrigued by works of apocalyptic visions like Cormic McCarthy's the Road. Which I will now seek out, and the movie too.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The best and the worst of all possible worlds

Any additional comments?

I am not sure if there is more of Professor Bedore's work available on audio on this topic, if not, there should be

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Great subject, not so great instructor

Her ostentatious pronunciation of French names ranks among history's most awful crimes, and it seems strange that an expert in genre fiction would not know how to pronounce Dashiell Hammett's name. There is a possibility that you may hear about some books you haven't read before, but not if you're a fan of the genre already, and it's an awkward, irritating slog for a few nuggets of insight. I returned this course half way through.

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Critical Literary Analysis

I did not like this course. I would have rated it lower but if (see following information) it is what you like it is good and deserves more than a 3 thus my compromise rating.

I was expecting a discussion of the stories and what the majority turned out to be was a deconstruction/analysis with an exploration of power dynamics, gender roles and the like, especially as they reflect on society today. It was more a a literary analysis course in which the subject matter was of minor import. The method and final result seemed to be the focus.

I did like parts. The intro to the concept of Utopian/Dystopian, literature, it evolution possible future trends. Discovering how most utopias have dystopian elements and vice versa. Got some good ideas for books to read and authors to check.

Other specific points I did not like.
The Professor kept slipping into hero worship of the authors she selected. I want to know the author's name, is the body of work worth exploring or was this a one time only story. I don't care about their lives, loves, history, or philosophy. If the story needs that information then the story needs serious work.

Starting many stories with "I'm not going to give the ending..." Why? Is the ending unimportant to understanding the story? Is so then why not tell us? Is the story so weak it will not suffer more than one reading? Then why is it in something entitled "Great Works"? Was also annoying.

There is some more but you get the idea. The course and I were a serious mismatch. Hopefully for others this is not the case.


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    3 out of 5 stars

Engaging lecturer, but sometimes over the top

Professor Bedore clearly loves her area of study and her enthusiasm is obvious. This is very much an undergraduate course, with some depth and thought-provoking sections, but a certain amount of forced approachability. Bedore often feels too scripted, too much like she is trying to be excessively likable and funny. In a few instances, her summaries of the plots of certain books were partially incorrect (I Am Legend, The Day of the Triffids), and most glaringly in her final lecture she makes general statements about the TV series Black Mirror, which is made up of stand alone episodes, but bases her analysis on the assumption that all episodes or one reality. I did not feel like my time was wasted, but was frustrated that she was not more rigorous in her preparation and analysis.

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