Political Issues in Literature

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of international relations and world events. Good command of English language.

Teaching Methods

The classes will be tough in a hybrid regime, in one hand the conceptual content will be exposed by the professor, followed in the other hand by the framing of the literary works in the bibliography linking them to those concepts.

Learning Outcomes

This seminar will analyse literary texts with key political themes to the understanding of concepts in the fields of IR and Political Science. The main objectives are (a) framing historically political concepts; (b) identifying within the texts important elements of the current IR political context; (c) contributing to an enriched comprehension of political phenomena through literature; (d) allowing through fiction the experimentation of political concepts; (e) identifying ideological debates existing in the literary world.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Concepts and contemporary political issues in literature

State of Nature, Anarchy and Social Contract.

Violence as a Dyatic for Peace

Colonialism and Imperialism

The paroxysm of power and rule of Totalitarianism

Biopolitical Models of Power

Identity(es) in contemporary world

Contemporary political issues

- Cyberspace and Information Age

- Terrorism: Old Myths, New Fantasies and Enduring Realities.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Periodic or by final exam as given in the course information: 100.0%

Bibliography

Burgess, Anthony (1984) A Clockwork Orange. London: Penguin Books.

Gibson, William (1984) Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books.

Krol, Torston (2009) Callisto. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Orwell, George [1949](2013) Nineteen eighty-four. London: Penguin Books.

Ribeiro, João Ubaldo (1989) An Invincible Memory. New York: Harpercollins.

Sartrapi, Marjane (2004) Persepolis. London: Pantheon.

Vonnegut, Kurt (1994) Slaughterhouse five or the children´s crusade: a duty-dance with death. New York: Delacorte Press/Seymour Laurence.