This lecture is part of a course from The Great Courses called Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature taught by Professor Pamela Bedore, Ph.D.. This course and over 300 other courses can be accessed with a subscription to Wondrium.
The final decades of the 19th century saw the birth and development of science fiction as a new literary genre, with the concept of utopia in particular being a favorite subject of early writers. In this free Great Course lecture, Literature Professor Pamela Bedore focuses on two books by science fiction forefather H.G. Wells that ask the question: is imagining a utopia inherently a part of science fiction? Using both Wells’ classic The Time Machine and a lesser known work called A Modern Utopia as her texts, Professor Bedore demonstrates how science fiction can be utilized to explore how current societies might evolve if certain trends predominate, leading to interesting utopian futures that sometimes look positive on the surface, but often come with hidden costs.