{"id":19174,"date":"2012-09-05T11:35:57","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T10:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/?p=19174"},"modified":"2025-10-04T14:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:19:04","slug":"alternative-worlds-in-contemporary-british-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/?p=19174&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Worlds in Contemporary British Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Course title: <\/strong>Alternative Worlds in Contemporary British Fiction<\/span>
\nInstructor: <\/strong>Assoc. Prof. Iva Polak<\/span>
\nECTS credits: <\/strong>6<\/span>
\nLanguage: <\/strong>English
\nDuration: <\/strong>Semester 3 or 5<\/span>
\nStatus: <\/strong>elective<\/span>
\nEnrolment requirements: <\/strong>completed Introduction to English Lit\/Introduction to English Lit 1 and 2<\/em><\/span>
\nCourse description:<\/strong> The course focuses on the establishment of a different literary canon following WW2 in the UK, which is embedded in various genres of the fantastic. Ranging from primarily male dystopian SF fiction, feminist SF fiction to fantasy and magical realism coming from former colonial subjects and new regional voices in the UK, selected texts raise the issue of the construction of new contemporary identities and realities of the UK through the vehicle of fantasy. The aim is to cover a whole spectrum of gendered, transcultural and regional voices present in the last 60 years in British fiction. The course also includes discussions on a range of cinematic adaptations accompanying selected texts.<\/span>
\nObjectives: <\/strong>Widening awareness of some of the most recent trends in British fiction and learning the basic postulates of literary fantasy.<\/span>
\nCourse requirements: <\/strong>The final grade is based on continuous assessment<\/span> which includes regular attendance (max. 4 unattended classes), preparation for and participation in class, writing small assignments, timely submission of the final paper, and obligatory sitting for midterm and endterm exam. The paper is worth 35%, midterm and endterm exams are worth 50% and other elements of continuous assessment are worth 15% of the final grade. Students must meet all<\/span> requirements of continuous assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weekly schedule
\nWEEK 1
\n<\/strong><\/span>Historical development of literary utopia\/dystopia (Republic; Utopia; New Atlantis; Gulliver’s Travels); <\/em>utopian\/dystopian SF novel (Brave New World; We<\/em>)<\/span>
\n Michel Foucault. “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”
\nPeter Fitting. “A Short History of Utopian Studies<\/span>
\nWEEK 2
\n<\/strong><\/span>Intro into post-WW2 Britan and Orwell<\/span>
\n WEEK 3
\n<\/strong>George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em> (1949) (dystopia; mind-control)
\n<\/span>Adam Roberts. Science Fiction<\/em>: Chapter 1: “Defining science fiction”
\nDarko Suvin. “On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre”<\/span>
\n WEEK 4<\/strong><\/span>
\n Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em> cont.<\/span>
\n WEEK 5
\n<\/strong>Nineteen Eighty-Four.<\/em> (1984) dir. Michael Radford, and Brazil<\/em> (1985) dir. Terry Gilliam<\/span>
\n Adam Roberts. Science Fiction<\/em>: Chapter 5: “Technology and Metaphor”<\/span>
\n WEEK 6
\n<\/strong>Intro into 1960s Britain and Burgess.
\nAnthony Burgess. A Clockwork Orange (1962); <\/em>(dystopia; violence)<\/span>
\n WEEK 7
\n<\/strong>A Clockwork Orange <\/em>(1971) dir. Stanley Kubrick
\n<\/strong>Guidelines for writing research paper
\n<\/strong>WEEK 8 – 45min midterm exam; no classes
\n<\/strong>WEEK 9
\n<\/strong>Jeanette Winterson. The.PowerBook <\/em>(2000): metafiction; gendered narrator<\/span>
\nBrian McHale. Postmodernist Fiction<\/em>: Chap. “Chinese-box worlds”
\n<\/strong>WEEK 10
\n<\/strong>Intro into <\/span>Nights at the Circus<\/em> (1984): postmodernism, metafiction, feminism, Victorian Period and \u201cside-shows” (freak shows); Freaks<\/em> (1932) dir. Ted Browning.<\/span>
\nWEEK 11
\n<\/strong>Angela Carter. Nights at the Circus<\/em> (1984) cont.<\/span>
\n Brian Finney. Ch. 9 “Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus<\/em>” in English Fiction since 1984: Narrating a Nation.<\/em><\/span>
\n WEEK 12
\n<\/strong>Nights at the Circus<\/em> cont.<\/span>
\n WEEK 13
\n<\/strong>The most distinct regional voice: Scottish \u201cNew Wave\u201d (Gray, Kennedy, Kelman…)<\/span>
\n Alasdair Gray. “Wellbeing: A Fiction” in Why Scots Should Rule Scotland <\/em>(1997): postmodernism, fantasy, Scottish identity
\nRichard Bradword. Ch.10 “Scotland” in The Novel Now. Contemporary British Fiction<\/em>.<\/span>
\n WEEK 14 – Endterm exam
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nReading list:<\/strong>
\nNovels<\/strong>
\nGeorge Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em> (1949)
\nAnthony Burgess. A Clockwork Orange<\/em> (1962)<\/span>
\n Jeanette Winterson. The.PowerBook<\/em> (2000)<\/span>
\n Angela Carter. Nights at the Circus<\/em> (1984)<\/span>
\n Alasdair Gray. “Wellbeing: A Fiction” in Why Scots Should Rule Scotland <\/em>(1997)
\n<\/span>
\n Critical editions:
\n<\/strong>– Bowers, Maggie Ann. Magic(al) Realism<\/em>. Routledge: NY. 2004.
\n– Bradford, Richard. The Novel Now. Contemporary British Fiction<\/em>. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford, 2007: Ch. 10.
\n– Faris, Wendy B. “Scheherezade’s Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction.” Magical Realism Theory, History, Community, <\/em>Lois Parkinson Zamora i Wendy B. Faris (eds). Duke University Press: Durham & London. 2005 (1995): 163-190.
\n– Finney Brian. English Fiction Since 1984: Narrating a Nation.<\/em> Palgrave: NY, 2006: Ch. 9.
\n– Fitting, Peter. “A Short History of Utopian Studies”. Science Fiction Studies<\/em>, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2009: 121-131.
\n– McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction<\/em>, Routledge: London\/NY, 2004 (1987): Chap. 8.
\n– Foucault, Michel. “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”, 1967.
\n– Parrinder, Patrick. Nation & Novel.<\/em> Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006 (selection on Orwell)
\n– Roberts, Adam. Science Fiction<\/em>. 2nd ed, Routledge: London\/New York, 2006: Ch. 1 and 3
\n– Suvin, Darko. “On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre.” College English<\/em>, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1972: 372-382.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

All textual and audiovisual materials are provided in electronic format.<\/strong> <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Course title: Alternative Worlds in Contemporary British Fiction Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Iva Polak ECTS credits: 6 Language: English Duration: Semester 3 or 5 Status: elective Enrolment requirements: completed Introduction to English Lit\/Introduction to English Lit 1 and 2 Course description: The course focuses on the establishment of a different literary canon following WW2 in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knjizevni-seminari-4-ili-6-semestar-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19174"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48274,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19174\/revisions\/48274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}