ENGL 4790: Utopia and Genre Criticism Essay

 Marks: 20% of the final grade: 10—content (insight, observations, connections); 10—organization (paragraph, essay) and style (word choice, sentence structure, format)

Due Date: November 16

Length: 2,000 words

Format: Argumentative/Persuasive Essay; MLA Style guidelines. See the previous essay handout for the format of the manuscript.

Description:

This assignment is an exercise in genre criticism and cultural studies. You will show how The Dispossessed or News From Nowhere reflects, inscribes, or registers the cultural context of the writer by comparing/contrasting one aspect of the genre with the same aspect in the other work. Limited research is expected, but no more than two sources should be used. It is better to engage one source thoroughly, either for or against your thesis, rather than to gloss over several, but the essay, in any case, should not be a patchwork of Professor X’s ideas. Your ideas should be developed throughout the paper.

Topic

1. There is really only one topic as outlined in the Description above. It will be individualized by you through the aspects of the genre of utopian writing that you choose to discuss.

Examples

You could choose gender relations (male and/or female) in utopian fiction. You could compare and contrast how Le Guin and Morris present this topic in order to illuminate what Le Guin or Morris contributes to the genre and how this reflects his or her cultural context.

You could choose the relationship between fiction and reality in utopian writing. You could compare and contrast how Le Guin and Morris explore this theme in order to illuminate what Morris or Le Guin contributes to the genre and how this reflects his or her cultural context.

You could choose egalitarianism. You could compare and contrast how Le Guin and Morris present this topic in order to illuminate what Morris or Le Guin contributes to the genre and how this reflects his or her cultural context.

You could choose the problem of dissent in utopia or any other recurrent feature of utopian writing (the contrast between rest/stasis and change/dynamism, the use of frame narratives, the conflict between individual freedom and group responsibility. You could compare and contrast Le Guin and Morris to illuminate what Morris or Le Guin contributes to the genre and how this reflects his or her cultural context.

And so on.