NEW WORLDS

Sept. 8

Lecture Topic
The Two Eyes: Imagining and Investigating

Readings
Introduction to course and its web site

Discussion Topics and Questions
  1. The two primary activities of this course are imagining, ie. the activity of the inner eye, and investigating, ie. the activity of the outer eye, since exploring new worlds always constitutes a dialectic between the subject and object--between the self and other.
  2. What is a utopia?
  3. What is your ideal utopia?

Sept. 10

Lecture Topic
Before Utopia: Book I

Readings
Utopia "Book One"

Discussion Topics and Questions
  1. "Book One" has a complicated narrative structure. Who are all the narrators and how do the narratives relate to one another?
  2. If "Book Two" is a fantasy world, then "Book One" describes the difficulties of living in a real world. How does "Book One" introduce the problems that "Book Two" appears to solve?
  3. What is the structural purpose of the dialogues within the dialogue?

Sept. 15

Lecture Topic
New World Narratives and Images

Readings
Utopia "Book Two" and selection from Vespucci's The First Voyage

Discussion Topics and Questions
  1. How does Vespucci construct the encounter between the European self and its other?
  2. How does Utopia operate as a New World narrative? How is Utopia comparable to Vespucci's The First Voyage?
  3. Describe the ways in which Hythloday is an explorer figure.
  4. Compare the woodcut image of Utopia with the woodcuts of Columbus sailing to and landing in the New World.

    See New Worlds Links for the woodcuts.

Sept. 17

Lecture Topic
Dystopia: Utopia as a Nightmarish Space

Readings
Utopia "Book Two"

Discussion Topics and Questions
  1. What is a dystopia?
  2. Where in the text do we have any indications that Utopia is a dystopia?
  3. Who do you think really controls this commonwealth?
  4. How does an interpretation that sees this commonwealth as a dystopia change one's interpretation of "Book One"?

Sept. 22

Lecture Topic
The Public and Private Spheres: Rhetoric vs. Philosophy

Readings
Utopia "Book One and "Book Two"

Discussion Topics and Questions
  1. How does "Book Two"'s narrative differ from "Book One"'s? Please be prepared to discuss the possible meanings of these differences.
  2. Explain the tension between the persona of More and the character of Hythloday. What broader issues might each character represent?