CWL 119

Fall 2015

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Literature of Fantasy
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Credit: 3 hours.

Same as ENGL 119. See ENGL 119.

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CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
41872
Lecture-Discussion
C
10:00AM -10:50AM
MWF
150 English Building
Underwood, W
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/24/15-12/09/15
Section Info:
?Fantasy? is both a section in contemporary bookstores and a longer literary tradition with many roots and branches. This course will focus on the twentieth-century genre that extends from J.R.R. Tolkien?s The Hobbit (1937) through Ursula LeGuin?s Wizard of Earthsea (1968) to Susanna Clarke?s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004). But we?ll also spend some time exploring the edges of this genre, reading works like Jack Vance?s The Dying Earth (1950) that blur boundaries between fantasy and science fiction, as well as some, like Hoffman?s ?Sandman? (1816) or Jeff VanderMeer?s Annihilation (2014), that border on uncanny horror. All literary genres have clich�s, but writers of fantasy have been especially playful and self-conscious about theirs?which makes a course on fantasy a good opportunity to reflect on the pleasures of genre itself. Assignments will include short essays and two exams.
65041
Lecture-Discussion
S
2:00PM -3:15PM
TR
127 English Building
Baron, I
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/24/15-12/09/15
Section Info:
Harry Potter: More or Less: When Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone was published in June of 1997, it was largely regarded as a piece of children?s fiction about a ten-year-old orphan boy who discovers he has supernatural powers and goes off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It seemed nothing more than a charming piece of fantasy lit destined for the shelves of the young adult sections of bookstores and libraries. What then made the Harry Potter novels suddenly transform into a cultural phenomenon that captured the imaginations of both children and adults? Why have these novels become the backbone of a global literary empire? What is the magic behind Harry Potter? In this course, we?ll explore the mythos of the Harry Potter novels and how they?re steeped in a rich tradition of both canonical and noncanonical British literature. We?ll focus on the sociopolitical forces that led to the formation of fantasy literature as a separate genre in the UK and what makes British fantasy novels unique. Our excursion into fantasy literature will reveal how these seemingly innocent children?s tales became a covert way to explore the inequalities that the Industrial Revolution ignited; a rising entrepreneurial middle class and a permanent urban underclass held in place by rigid policies guided by genetics. We?ll examine fantasy novels as discrete organic political entities that grew into a vast literary network of interlinking commentaries on British social issues such as class, education, social welfare, disability and gender rights, and racial equality. We?ll begin with the advent of Social Darwinism in the early 20th century and how it was undermined by socialist ideologies as portrayed in P.L. Travers beloved Mary Poppins. Next we?ll look at the midcentury modernist period in which The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe featured Britain under the threat of the Nazi war machine and totalitarianism. And finally we?ll turn to the postmodernist period in which the rise of white supremacist groups such as the British National Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party attempt to subvert democracy and diversity in the UK and spur governmental surveillance, as seen through the dystopic Britain of the Harry Potter septology. Students should plan to attend class regularly and to participate actively in class discussions. There will be three short papers and a final exam. Novels may include: Mary Poppins, The Lord of the Rings, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
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