Utopia/Dystopia

Modernism/Postmodernism

Friday, September 20, 13

 Fredric Jameson on utopias
• The “traces of the Utopian impulse
[are] everywhere” (10).

• This impulse is “rooted in human

nature...[an] amateur activity in
which...the mind takes its satisfaction
in the sheer operations of putting
together new models of this or that
perfect society” (10).

Friday, September 20, 13

 Utopia has Greek roots, originally a combination of ou (not) and tóp (place),
effectively meaning “no place” or “not a place.”

This properly reflects the idealistic and impossible nature of such a world.

1651: publication of Leviathan

(Thomas Hobbes)
1681: posthumous publication of Behemoth
(Thomas Hobbes)
1684: popular translation of Utopia
(Thomas More)

Friday, September 20, 13

 More and Hobbes

Friday, September 20, 13

 Modernism
Start: Mid to late 19th century
End: WWII to the 60s

Some famous authors and artists include:

T. S. Eliot Ernest Hemingway Franz Kafka

James Joyce Virginia Woolf Gertrude Stein
Pablo Picasso Salvador Dalí Piet Mondrian

Friday, September 20, 13

 Many (but not all)
Modernists…
…explore the roles of religion and scientific
advancement
…take advantage of international communication
…search for answers in a new and chaotic postwar world
…experiment with bizarre forms of written expression
…explore urban environments with awe and fascination
…develop an interest in the subconscious
…describe the culture of alcohol
…reflect on history while also trying to break free from it
…comment on new class structure/decline of aristocracy

Friday, September 20, 13

 Daniel Maclise

1806-1870

Friday, September 20, 13

Friday, September 20, 13
Friday, September 20, 13
Friday, September 20, 13
 Piet Mondrian

1872-1944

Friday, September 20, 13

Friday, September 20, 13
Friday, September 20, 13
Friday, September 20, 13
 Many (but not all)
Postmodernists…
…reject religious principles as truth
…reject scientific principles as truth
…decide that there are no definite answers
…find more meaning in style than substance
…look to the future
…describe the culture of drug use/alternate
realities
…focus on mankind's extreme possibilities
…suggest that language may be meaningless
…suggest that no one owns anything
(sampling)

Friday, September 20, 13

 What is a dystopia?
What is Postmodernism?

Friday, September 20, 13

 Dystopia

Friday, September 20, 13