By its very nature, utopianism is aggressively interdisciplinary: the search for a perfect world has resulted in a prose genre that straddles the boundary between fiction and philosophy, while the potential applications of utopian theory to political practice is the stuff of sociology, political theory, and experiments in ãintentional communities.ä Utopianism rather quickly spawned its skeptical counterpart, anti-utopianism (an argument with utopia), as well as a specific anti-utopian genre that has become a cliche of science fiction and film: dystopia (utopia gone wrong).

In this course, we will examine the development of the utopian tradition, primarily (though not exclusively) as a literary genre and philosophical thought experiment. Though defining the features of the genre will be an important component of our task, we will also examine the larger questions raised by utopian fiction: what is the impulse behind utopian literature? What is the relationship between utopia and the novel? How does time pass in utopias? How do we get from ãhereä (the imperfect world) to ãthereä (the perfect one), and how is this journey enacted in fiction? Why are the family, sexuality, and the role of women so central to the utopian tradition? How does utopian fiction at times inspire the reader to action, resulting in attempts to put fictional/philosophical models to the test (in communes, intentional communities, etc.)? What is the utopian conception of pleasure? Is there any place for the frivolous or the playful?

As we trace the development of utopian thought, we will find that it quickly became wedded to a teleological or eschatological view of history: utopia is seen as the culmination of historical progress, the goal toward which humanity has been striving. In Christian Europe, utopia becomes conflated with the kingdom of heaven to be established after the end of the world. Later utopian (and anti-utopian) fictions often place their ãperfectä societies in a post-apocalyptic framework. The apocalypse adds particular moral and temporal dimensions to utopia: not only does utopia become the endpoint of history, a realm that exists almost outside of time, but the perfection of the coming world can be invoked to justify the cataclysm that precedes it.

This wedding of utopianism and apocalypticism can be seen in millenarian movements throughout history, from medieval sectarian revolts to such contemporary "cults" as Heavenâs Gate (America), Aum Shinri Kyo (Japan), or the Great White Brotherhood (Russia). Yet millenarian and apocalyptic thought are not the exclusive property of religious believers; as we saw quite recently, people throughout the world awaited the year 2000 with both trepidation (the ãmillennium bugä) and anticipation (the expectation of a ãNew Ageä).

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