Università Roma Tre

Utpia, dystopia and Intermediality: from A (Apocalypse) to Z (Zombies)
«Utopia is an idyllic world described by the hero and considered perfect, in contrast to the world he has left. The dystopia paints a nightmare world, apprehended as such in opposition to a better world known to the hero thanks to his personal experience, thanks to the memories of a bygone age, or thanks to the reading of forbidden books dedicated to a distant past» (Hélène Greven-Borde, Formes modernes du roman utopique en Grande Bretagne (1918- 1960), in «Etudes Anglaises», 1, 1977: 20). The course starts by tracing a genealogy of dystopia in literature and culture, and then looks at theories of adaptation examining a wide variety of examples drawn from the radio, opera, cinema, and television.
Starting with an introduction to "utopia" (Thomas More e Tommaso Campanella), the core syllabus consists of twelve dystopian texts, in the broader meaning: we will read and discuss, among the others, Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, José Saramago’s Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and their adaptations for different media: film, television, opera, radio. We will approach the notions of intertexuality thanks to Alan Moore’s graphic novel V. for Vendetta, and of intermediality through Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds and Simon Armitage’s radio drama The Raft of Medusa.
In analysing the texts, a variety of critical approaches will be considered, including theory of adaptation, media studies, intermedial studies, and genre theory. The course will also take into consideration the significance of dystopia in relation to social transformations, technological change, totalitarianism, and capitalist modernity.

The Raft of Medusa, written by Simon Armitage, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 18th April 2015

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale [1985], London, Vintage Classics 2017 (trad. it. C Pennati, Il racconto dell'ancella, Milano, Mondadori 1988) Series: The Handmaid’s Tale, created by Bruce Miller, Hulu and MGM, USA-Canada 2017–

P.D. James, Children of Men, London, Faber and Faber, 1992 (I figli degli uomini, trad. it. di A, Biavasco e V. Guani, Milano, Mondadori, 1993) Film: Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, UK-USA 2006

Stanisław Lem, Solaris (1961), trad. it. di V. Verdiani, Palermo, Sellerio, 2013 Film: Solaris, directed by Andrej Tarkovskij, USSR, 1972.

Jack London, The Scarlet Plague [1912], (trad it. di O. Fatica, La peste scarlatta, Milano, Adelpho, 2009) Radio, The Scarlet Plague, CBS 1954

Cormac McCarthy, The Road, New York, Alfred A. Knopf 2006 (trad. it. di M. Testa, Torino, Einaudi, 2007) Film: The Road, directed by John Hillcoat, USA 2009

Alan Moore and David Lloyd, V. for Vendetta [1982-1989], any available edition (trad. it. V per Vendetta, Milano, Rizzoli 2006) Film: V. for Vendetta, directed by James McTeigue, UK-USA, 2005

Héctor Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, El Eternauta, Hora Cero, 1957-1959.
Radio teatro: El Eternauta. Vestigios del Futuro, 21 chapters Radio Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2010

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four [1948], any available edition (trad. it. ogni traduzione accreditata) trasposizioni: [Film] Nineteen Eighty-Four, directed by film Michael Radford, UK 1984 [Opera] Nineteen Eighty-Four, composed and directed by Lorin Maazel, libretto by J. D. McClatchy and Thomas Meehan, premiered in London, May 3 2005, Royal Opera House; [Radio Drama] Nineteen Eighty-Four, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, directed by Jeremy Mortimer, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 10th and 17th February 2013

José Saramago, Ensaio sobre a Cegueira, 1995 (trad. it. R. Desti, Torino, Einaudi, 1996) Film: Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles, USA 2008

H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds [1898], any available edition (trad. it. ogni traduzione accreditata) Radio: The War of the Worlds, directed by Orson Welles, CBS, USA 1938

Evgenij Ivanovič Zamjatin, Noi (1919), ogni traduzione accreditata; Radio: We, directed by Jim Poyser on BBC Radio 4, april 2004