A Perfect World? Utopian Satire in Early Modernity

"Utopia," a word coined by Thomas More in his 1516 book of the same name, can be taken to mean "the good place" or "no place." Since the sixteenth century, "Utopia" as a concept retains this double sense. On the one hand, it is the earnest imagination of better society; on the other, it is an ironic attack leveled at the failings of all societies, past, present, and future. In this course we will examine five works of what might be called "utopian satire" in the early modern period, circa 1500-1700: More's Utopia, François Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, Fernao Mendes Pinto's Peregrinaçao, Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. As we explore the alternative worlds imagined by these authors, we will combine close reading of primary texts with consideration of historical contexts and a selection of influential works of literary criticism from formalist, Marxist, postcolonial, and feminist perspectives. What does each utopia reveal about the dreams and nightmares of a generation? How might utopian satire - the endlessly, and often comically, imperfect search for a perfect world - work as an instrument of social critique and perhaps even social change? (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)