CLS4220

The utopian tradition in European literature

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Walter Veit

12 points
* 3 hours per week
* Clayton

Objectives On successful completion of the subject, students should have read a number of texts from classical, medieval and modern European literature, and have learnt to critically assess the powerful tradition of utopia and its re-emergence in modern social and political thought.

Synopsis The main objective of the subject is an understanding of the relationship between continuity and change in literature. Using as its material utopian texts, it is proposed to study in depth the tradition and function of rhetoric, topics and poetics in European literature within the frame of an argumentative theory of literature. Students will be encouraged to concentrate on aspects particularly important to their individual disciplines.

Assessment Written (9000 words): 100%

Prescribed texts

Cohn N The pursuit of the millennium Paladin
Curtius E R European literature and the Latin Middle Ages Princeton U P
Hesiod Works and days Penguin
More T Utopia Penguin
Plato Timaeus and Critias Penguin
A dossier of shorter texts will be prepared by the centre.