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| ==Utopian Novels - Anti-Utopias - Science Fiction==
| | '''Songlines''' (deutsch:{{wpd|Traumpfade}}) ist der Titel eines [[Roman]]s von {{wpd|Bruce Chatwin}} von 1987. Er bezieht sich auf die in Lieder gefassten Nachschöpfungen der Natur (Landschaftsbeschreibungen) der {{wpde|Aborigine|Aborigines}}. (Diese nennen ihre Beschreibungen {{wpde|Songlines|"Fußspuren der Ahnen"}} oder "Weg des Gesetzes".) 1989 wurde ein Film nach diesem Roman gedreht. |
| <pre>
| |
| ===Utopia===
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| 1. The word >utopia< is derived from the Greek and means >no place< or >nowhere<
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|
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| It was the title of a book written by THOMAS MORE (~1515),
| | Das Wandern auf diesen Songlines, der {{wpd|Walkabout}}, war das Vorbild für den gleichnamigen {{wp|wikipedia:en:Walkabout (novel) Roman}} von {{wpd|Donald G. Payne}} (1959) und den 1971 danach gedrehten {{wpde|Walkabout (Film)|Film}}. Beide Romane bzw. Filme lassen sich im Kontext behandeln. |
| who later became Lord High Chancellor under Henry VIII (1529).
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| Later he was accused of high treason and decapitated in 1535.
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|
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| The subject of all Utopias is society, and it contains two
| | Neben der Kodierung der äußeren Natur im Lied steht für die Aborigines, die Ureinwohner [[Australien]]s, die Verkörperung der Seelen der Ahnen in {{wp|wikipedia:en:Tjurunga|Tjurungas}} oder Tschuringas, die in Höhlen aufbewahrt werden. |
| elements: the criticism of an actually existing society and
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| a model of a new and better one.
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|
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| Because Utopia is >nowhere< to be found, the authors of Utopias
| | Bei seinen Reflexionen über das Nomadentum, das er als die einzig authentische Form des Menschseins darstellt, verweist Bruce Chatwin auf viele mythologische Zusammenhänge, u.a. darauf, dass {{wpd|Kain}}, der Ackerbauer, zum Mörder an Abel, dem Hirten, wurde und Gott von ihm als Sühne verlangte, dass er seinerseits zum Umherziehenden werde im Lande {{wpd|Nod}}, dem Bereich des Umherwanderns, der Wildnis oder Wüste. Damit wäre vom Gott des Alten Testaments das Umherziehen als ''die'' menschliche Existenzform bestimmt (vgl. das wandernde Gottesvolk). |
| had to think of some tricks to deal with this paradox: Before
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| the 19th century all Utopian societies were situated on far away
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| islands which had not been discovered yet and whose position was
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| kept a secret by those who had returned (to tell us about these
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| fortunate but secret places). Later they were found on the moon
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| or on other - hitherto untrodden - planets. These utopian
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| societies were no future societies, they were described as
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| already existing societies - but unfortunately situated in
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| >nowhere-land<.
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|
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|
| Famous utopian novels:
| | == Unterrichtshilfen == |
| | [http://www.penguinreaders.com/downloads/9780582419797.pdf Teacher's notes zum Roman "Walkabout"] |
| | [http://www.malvern.k12.ia.us/Projects/Walkabout/lespl.htm Unterrichtsplanung zu Walkabout] |
| | [http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/gregory/302/novel-main.htm Unterrichtsplanung für jüngere Schüler] |
|
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|
| Thomas Morus: Utopia (1515)
| | == Siehe auch == |
| Thomas Campanella: Civitas solis (1623)
| | * [[Film]] |
| Francis Bacon: Nova Atlantis (1638)
| | * [[Landschaftsbeschreibung in der Literatur]] |
| | | [[Kategorie:Werk (Englisch)|Songlines]] |
| Jonathan Swift`s: Gulliver`s Travels (1726) is a mixture of
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| social satire and utopian novel: In the parts 1 to 3 societies
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| of dwarfs, giants or crazy scientists are described, they are
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| at war with other countries which makes Gulliver escape from
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| their countries. Only the society of the Houyhnhnms /winimz/
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| can be called utopian.
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| It is noteworthy that these authors were no writers but
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| high-ranking politicians (More) or clergymen (Campanella, Swift)
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| or scientists (Bacon). There is no private property in these ideal
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| societies, therefore no greed and no crime etc.- but there may
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| still be slaves (as in More`s >Utopia<) or some inferior
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| creatures such as the `Yahoos` in Swift`s society of the noble
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| horses. These Yahoos are human beings, but morally and
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| physically they are more like monkeys and therefore inferior
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| from a biological point of view, too (satire again!)
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| Not to forget a German author:
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| Johannes Gottfried Schnabel: Die Insel Felsenburg (1731 - 43)
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| William Morris: News from Nowhere (1891)
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| | |
| ===Anti-Utopian Novels===
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| In the 20th century a number of novels have been written
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| describing societies which claim to be perfect. Because there
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| aren`t any unknown islands left and the moon definitely
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| uninhabited - these societies have to be situated not in space
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| but in time: Either in the future (>1984<) or way back in the
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| past (e.g. H.G.Well`s: Time Machine 1895). But these societies
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| can hardly be called utopian, and these novels have therefore
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| been classified as �-1Anti-Utopian Novels�-0. Their aims are
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| to criticize existing societies by
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| imagining what they will turn into
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| if things continue as they are!
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| Famous (or interesting) novels of this kind:
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| Jack London: The Iron Heel (~1905)
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| Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (1920)
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| Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)
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| George Orwell: Animal Farm (1944)
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| " : 1984 (1948)
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| Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles (1946)
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| " : Fahrenheit 451 (1951)
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| In these novels the future societies have more or less locigally
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| developed out of present societies. Certain aspects and
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| tendencies of comtemporary society are >extrapolated< and
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| transferred to the new society; but now they have become the
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| dominant factors! Which elements of modern society are
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| considered responsible for the disaster?
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| - men`s desire to possess and knowledge and power, which leads
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| to some kind of dictatorship!
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| - men`s unrestrained ambitions and lack of self-control
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| - the simple-mindedness of the majority, their desire for
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| being manipulated and tranquilized
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| - the availability of scientific and technological means for all
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| purposes - good and bad!
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| - the complexity of technology and the difficulties of keeping it
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| under control
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| ===Science Fiction===
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| Here we have arrived at what is called >Science Fiction<. In
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| the whole genre of Science Fiction we come across science and
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| technology. Good SF - as I understand it - is an intellectual
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| experiment dealing with the question >What would happen, if...<.
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| And this is no doubt a question worth contemplating. But unlike
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| in Utopian or Anti-Utopian novels the SF-author`s ambition is
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| not to device new societies, but to question man`s attitude
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| towards the machines he has invented. Furthermore the aims of
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| these inventions and the blessings of science in general are
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| questioned. And eventually the limitations of man`s power are
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| exposed.
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| To give an example: In Mary Shelley`s >Frankenstein or the
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| Modern Prometheus< (1818) an ambitious and gifted scientist,
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| Dr.Frankenstein, is building and animating a human being, which
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| is meant to be a perfect creature. But unfortunately the result
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| is not perfect at all and instead of being loved it is loathed
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| by everybody. Thus the end of the experiment is disastrous.
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| The "modern Prometheus" may technically be able to create human
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| beings, but he lacks the intellectual and moral greatness for
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| such skills. Therefore he will necessarily become victim to
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| these ambitions.... or - as it is the case in other SF-novels -
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| accept the limitations of his knowledge. This I think is the
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| basic idea in Stanislaw Lem`s novels (e.g.>Solaris<). Or take
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| Arthur C. Clarke`s >Space Odyssee 2001<, where the most advanced
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| computer starts to develop his own ideas on what the spaceship`s
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| mission is about. And the one surviving astronaut is reduced to
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| a newborn child floating through the incomprehensible universe.
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| To me SF is good and worth while reading as long as its aim is
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| to help us understand the dangers and risks of a society which
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| is - more than ever - characterized by scienctific and
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| technological processes and mass movements. Thus the scholars
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| of the 16th century could device utopian societies - no
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| property, no religion, no kings - but they could not write SF!
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| And the authors of the 19th century could write enthusiastic
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| adventure stories on moon-rockets, submarines and speed - like
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| Jules Verne - but they could not write SF either!
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| So to conclude, SF does not necessarily mean fantastic
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| spaceships, ugly creatures from other planets or crazy
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| scientists!
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| </pre>
| |
| ==Fahrenheit 451 (1953)==
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| <pre>
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| Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander
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| 5. "It was a pleasure to burn ..."
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| 6 Guy Montag, the main character, is on his way home, meets a girl, his new neighbour, she`s 17 and a bit strange.
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| She has such funny ideas about life. We learn about Montag, his strange profession and the world he lives in.
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| 12 M. enters his house, still puzzled by the girl
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| 13 he finds his wife unconscious: she took an overdose of sleeping
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| pills and M. has to call
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| 15 two men to reanimate her by applying two machines - they do it
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| in a business-like manner, they are use to these >suicides<
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| Mildred is saved but still the old person
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| 19 Mildred doesn`t remember at all what had happened to her: she is
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| kind of addicted to her three-wall-TV (`the parlor`), from which
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| people (`relatives`) talk to her and give her instructions etc.
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| 22 another meeting with the mad girl Clarissa McLellan: she is a
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| complete outsider in this society, regularly visiting a
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| psychologist and irritating her teachers. Montag is irritated
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| too: Who is this `uncle` of hers? How do they live? How do they
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| spend their evenings?
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| 25 Back at work M. is worried by the behaviour of the >mechanical
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| hound<, a dog-like machine which can be programmed on the >amino
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| acids< of every living being. The machine is acting hostile and
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| M. wonders if anyone had done anything to its programme.
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| 29 He meets the girl again and the irritations continue
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| 32 The girl doesn't turn up again and M. is worried. He misses her
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| and his "routine has been disturbed"(33)
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| +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| | THE SETTING: |
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| | ------------ |
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| |WHEN? In the 23rd century |
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| |WHERE? In a future society |
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| |WHO? Montag - a fireman (30) whose job it is to burn books |
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| | Beatty - the captain of the fire brigade |
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| | Clarissa Mclellan - an excentric young girl (romantic & unsocial)|
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| | Mildred - Montag`s wife: addicted to three-dimensional TV |
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| | having just tried to commit suicide |
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| | The Mechanial Hound - a dog-shaped killing machine able to trace |
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| | its victims by sensing their biogenetic code |
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| |ATMOSPHERE? |
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| +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| 36 Alarm at the firehouse and the brigade is in action: In some of
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| these old houses books are suspected and they are off to burn
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| them: But something`s different today - the owner of the house,
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| an old lady is still there, she has not been transported by the
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| police in order to be out of the way when the firemen come. Her
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| presence confuses the firemen: She is not willing to leave the
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| place and eventually sets fire to the house, the books and
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| herself.The firemen are depressed, most of all M.
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| 41 He comes home - a book hidden under his overall. He contemplates
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| his relationsship towards his wife, their unability to
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| communicate, Mildred`s empty life etc. He`s married to a
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| stranger.
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| 48 Chills and fever in the morning, he doesn`t go to work.
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| His wife doesn`t understand the horror of yesterday`s
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| experience, the burning woman, the fascination of books
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| 52 Captain Beatty is visiting him: He has an understanding for the
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| crisis his man is in and he gives him a `lecture` on the history
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| and the importance of the firemen. It is also a history of
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| mankind`s intellectual decay - people want to gain their peace
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| of mind and don`t want to be troubled and bothered with the
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| manifold and conflicting opinions of all those who believe they
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| know better. All these minorities, all these quarrels, all these
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| uncertainties - they cause unrest and hostilities, but people
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| want to be entertained and not worried. Thus, burn the books!
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| But Montag has a book hidden under his pillow and while Beatty
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| is talking, his wife finds it - stunned with surprise and
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| horror. When Beatty is gone, Montag reveals his secret: He has
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| gathered about 20 books and is now going to read them to found
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| out about that. The first sentence that reads is from Swift`s
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| Guliver.
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| '''SHORT CULTURAL HISTORY OF MANKIND �- according ot Captain Beatty
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| 19 th century: culture (=books) for only few people who could
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| afford to be different
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| "the world was roomy", everything was "slow motion"
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| 20 th century: "Things (= TV, radio, movies) began to have mass"
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| "The world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths"
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| "Speed up the cameras"
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| 21 th century:
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| etc 1. books cut shorter, classics reduced to the
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| punch line
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| 2. school is shortened (no philosophy, no histories
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| no languages)
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| 3. skills (=pressing a button) instead of knowledge
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| Knowhow instead of know why
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| 4. entertainment instead of information (sports etc)
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| 5. uniformity instead of diversity (people dislike
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| everything unfamiliar or intellectual)
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| 6. Keep the minorities down
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| Therefore: BURN THE BOOKS! HAIL TO THE FIREMAN -
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| "the custodian of our peace of mind"(p58)
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| Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand
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| --------
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| 68 Montag starts reading like in a fever (outside the house he
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| senses the sniff of an electric dog) - here are the books, but
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| where to find a teacher?
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| 72 Montag remembers an old man he met a year ago, a former English
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| professor who was memorizing poetry, his name was FABER. He has
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| kept his address and drives to his house, reading the bible in
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| the subway.
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| 78 This is Faber`s message: Books aren`t the most important things
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| in life but they contain three things which can enhance life:
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| 1. Quality: Books show the pores in the face of life, not the
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| poreless wax faces. 2. Leisure: you can shut a book and
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| contemplate its contents, you can criticize and object to it.
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| 3. Action: the right to act according to what you have
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| gained.
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| Montag has an `insidious` plan: plant books in the firehouses
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| and have them burnt one by one. But to Faber that would just be
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| `nibbling the edges`. He recommends patience, the system will
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| destroy itself, it will be a victim of his wars. Faber has
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| deviced a little instrument which to put into one`s ear: Thus
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| you can monitor and communicate ate the same time, with Faber
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| being the head quarter (The Queen Bee and the drones). This
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| will help M. when he has to face the Captain.
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| 89 The war is getting ready that night - propaganda everywhere -
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| while M. is on his way home. Faber is reading the Book of Job.
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| 91 Eating supper at home M. switches the parlor off and initiates a
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| conversation with Mildreds friends: About the war ("always
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| someone else`s husband dies"), about having or not having any
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| children, about the last election - it infuriates M. so much
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| that he frightens them out of their wits by showing a book of
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| poetry. But that was a stupid thing to do (Faber!), so he has
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| to turn it into a joke (once a year a fireman is allowed to ...)
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| and starts reciting >Dover Beach< which moves one of the ladies
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| to tears. Nevertheless - he has made a fool of himself.
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| 100 On his way to the Captain M. and F. talk things over.
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| 102 He hands the book over to Beatty and is welcomed back ("the
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| sheep returns to the fold")- but B. is trying to provoke and
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| confuse M. while Faber is working hard to keep Montag from
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| reacting - eventually the alarm bell rings, they drive off
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| until they stop in front of Montag`s house.
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| Part Three: Burning Bright
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| ----------
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| 108 Montag sees his wife leaving the house in haste carrying her
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| belongings in suitcase. She doesn`t respond to him. Beatty`s
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| dark sarcasm is spilling over and M. hears Faber`s voice in his
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| ear.
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| M. is given the flame-thrower to do the job himself, and he
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| destroys his house - the parlor - with some satisfaction.
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| 112 But then he loses his earphone and Beatty opicks it up. Montag
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| seems lost now, but he`s acting quickly: With the flame-thrower
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| he burns the captain to char-coal and the Mechanical Hound,
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| too. But his leg is stung by the dog. He stumbles along the
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| alley .
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| 116 He limps back to the burned ruins to rescue a few books and on
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| again with this aching leg. He suddenly realizes that Beatty
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| must have wanted to die. In his pocket he finds the
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| seashell-radio and hears the police warnings. He is heading
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| towards Faber`s house, two dozens of helicopters swarming like
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| butterflies in the air.
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| 119 "War has been declared..."He has to cross a street and is almost
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| run over by one of these beetle-cars, which drive at 150 mph
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| 123 He plants his books in the house of his coleague-fireman Black
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| and informs the fire brigade
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| 124 He arrives at Faber`s house: Faber advises him to look for one
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| of the still existing hobo camps beyond the rusting railway
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| tracks.
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| On TV they watch the hunt as it is broadcast in full length. A
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| new Mechanical Hound is sent on M.s trails. Wouldn`t he make a
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| good TV appearance?
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| 130They say good-bye and he`s on the run again. It`s a race against
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| the Hound, the TV and the million of watchers who are told now
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| to watch out for him. But he reaches the river, changes his
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| clothes for Faber`s and starts swimming.
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| 133 As the Hound and the helicopters arrive they have lost the
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| track.
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| Montag floats upon the river into another world, meditating the
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| new experience. He steps into the vast darkness, sensing a pair
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| of eyes which disappear again - the Hound?
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| 139 He walks on until he sees the fire ahead with five old men
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| sitting by and talking - they welcome him and know his name.
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| They watch the chase on a portable TV, it is still on, and they
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| see an innocent person caught and killed - the show is perfect,
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| suspense, long shot, the camera falling on the victim, shouting,
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| snap-ending, blackout - silence.
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| The old men are "old Harvard degrees" who all represent the book
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| they know by heart - the classics of world literature. They too
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| are living without books, they are the books. They are parts of
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| a loose organisation - a quiet conspiracy - waiting for the end
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| of the war and for the times their knowledge will be needed
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| again.
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| 151 The next morning the war starts and is over in a few seconds.
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| The city is destroyed by bombers. They lie on the ground, covered with
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| dust and earth - and after a while they recover and start their daily
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| routine of making fire and getting food ready. The symbol of the
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| Phoenix is conjured up - and as they walk towards the destroyed city,
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| Montag remembers the Book of Revelation.
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| </pre>
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. (Diese nennen ihre Beschreibungen "Fußspuren der Ahnen"
