Crash Course: Literature 4

In which John Green returns for a dystopian new season of Crash Course Literature! We're starting with George Orwell's classic look at the totalitarian state that could be in post-war England. Winston Smith is under the eye of Big Brother and making us think about surveillance.

In which John Green continues discussing George Orwell's 1984. Today we're talking about what the novel 1984 has to say about what some have called today's surveillance society. We'll also look at the idea that language can be used as a means to control people's thoughts.

In which John Green teaches you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale. John looks at some of the themes in this classic dystopian novel, many of which are kind of a downer.

This week, John Green continues to teach you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale. In this installment, we're looking at Atwood's desire to tell a story from a female point of view, and what exactly it means to tell a story in that way.

John Green teaches you about Voltaire's hugely important Enlightenment novel, Candide. Candide tells a pretty wild story, but for the most part, it's about the best of all possible worlds. Which, spoiler alert, doesn't seem to be the best of all possible worlds.

This week, John is teaching you about the near-future dystopia in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. The parable of the Sower tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina, and her life growing up in a post-climate change, semi-lawless America.