FALL TERM

 

Sept. 5           1.  Introduction: What is Science Fiction?

                                    Tutorial:  Introductions & Questions of Genre

 

Sept. 12         2.   The Frankenstein Syndrome: Pre- to Post-Enlightenment Science and Science Fiction

                                     Reading:  Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1831 ed.)

                                    Tutorial:  Effective Note-taking

 

Sept. 19         3.   The Shadow of Reason: Gothic, Romanticism, and the Mad Scientist

                                    Reading:   Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1831 ed.)

                                    Tutorial:  Approaches to Comparative Essays

 

Sept. 26         4.  The Romance of Science: SF and the Industrial Revolution

                                    Reading: Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon (1865)

                                    Tutorial:  How to Support a Thesis

 

Oct. 3             5. Utopian Visions

                                    Reading: Selections from More, Bellamy, and Morris

                                    Tutorial:   Creating an Essay Outline

 

Oct. 10           6. Degeneration and Devolution: Fin de Siècle Visions of Nature, Science, and Society

                                     Reading: H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895)

                                    Tutorial:   Grammar Basics

 

Oct. 17           Fall Reading Week: No Classes

 

Oct. 24           7.  Dystopian Visions

                                     Reading:  E.M. Forster, “The Machine Stops” (1909)

                                    Tutorial:  Syntax and Punctuation

                             First Term Essay Draft DUE (Value: 10%)

 

Oct. 31           8.  Utopian and/or Dystopian Visions

                                     Reading:  Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)

                                    Tutorial:  Revising the Draft

 

Nov. 7            9.   The Pulp Era: The Golden Age of SF

                                     Readings:  Stanley G. Weinbaum, "A Martian Odyssey" (1934)

                                                Tom Godwin, "The Cold Equations" (1954)

                                    Tutorial:   Verb Forms

Nov. 14          10.  Robots, Androids, and Artificial People

                                     Readings:  Lester del Rey, "Helen O'Loy" (1938)

                                                          Isaac Asimov, "Robbie" (1940)

                                    Tutorial:   Verbs

 

Nov. 21          11.  The Atomic Age I

                                    Screening: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

                                    Tutorial:   Nouns and Pronouns

           

Nov. 28          12. The Atomic Age II

                                     Reading:  Judith Merril, "That Only a Mother" (1948) 

                                    Tutorial:   Sentence Logic

                              First Term Essay DUE (value: 20%)

 

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WINTER TERM

 

Jan. 9             1.   Armageddon Now: Apocalypse and Eschatology in SF

                                    Tutorial:  Scholarly Sources: What Are They and What Are They For?

                                     Reading:  Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

 

Jan. 16           2.   The Ghost in the Machine: Computers and AIs

                                    Viewing:   2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – view prior to lecture

                                    Tutorial:  Finding Scholarly Sources

                                                        Group Presentation

 

Jan. 23           3.   Hard Science, Soft People I

                                     Reading:  Daniel M. Keyes, “Flowers for Algernon” (1959)

                                    Tutorial:  How to Read Scholarly Sources

                                                        Group Presentation

 

Jan. 30           4. Hard Science, Soft People II

                                    Screening:   Gattaca (1997)

                                    Tutorial:  Group Presentation

 

Feb. 6             5. Other Worlds, Other Gods: SF and Religion

Reading:  Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow (1996)

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

 

Feb. 13          6.   Aliens and Alienation in Science Fiction

                                    Reading:   Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow (1996)

                                     Tutorial:  Group Presentation

 

Feb. 20          Winter Reading Week: No Classes

 

 

 

Feb. 27.         7. Frankenstein's Daughters: Feminist Science Fiction

                                     Reading:  Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

                            Submission of Scholarly Source for Approval DUE (value: 5%)

 

March 5         8.   Cyberpunk and the Post-Human I

                                    Screening:   Blade Runner (The Final Cut, 1982)

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

 

March 12       9.   Cyberpunk and the Post-Human II

                                    Readings:   William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic” (1981)

                                                          Neal Stephenson, “Spew” (1993)

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

 

March 19       10.   Pale Blue Dot: Ecological Ethics and the Fiction of Scientific Redemption

Readings:   Gregory Benford, “A Desperate Calculus” (1995)

         Celu Amberstone, “Refugees” (2004)

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

 

March 26       11.   Relativity and Conflict through Time and Space: Einsteinian

                                                Physics and War in Science Fiction

                                    Reading:   Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (1974)

                                    Tutorial:   How to Prepare for and Write an Exam

                                                         Group Presentation

 

April 2            12.   Final Exam

                                    Tutorial:   Group Presentation

                                                       Review

                               Second Term Research Essay DUE (value: 20%)