English 257: Science Fiction and Fantasy

http://www.as.wvu.edu:8000/clc/Members/sbaldwin/courses/old/engl257f04
Professor Sandy Baldwin
charles.baldwin at mail.wvu.edu
293-3107x452
Office Hours: T,R 1030-1125, ARM 203, and by appointment
   

"...monopole magnet mining operations in the outer asteriod belt of Delta Cygni..." Samuel Delany's example of science fiction "language"

"The last man on earth sat in his room. There was a knock at the door." The shortest science fiction story?

"Once, the philosopher Chuang Tzu dreamed he was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. Suddenly he awoke. He did not know whether it was Tzu dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tzu." The oldest fantasy story? (ca. 300 BC)

Description

ENGL 257 is an exploration of the diverse realms of Science Fiction and Fantasy. The fall 2004 course draws a distinction between speculation / fantasy and “hard” science fiction. In a way, speculation or fantasy would be the definition of all fiction. The speculative / fantastic fiction that interests us here often borrows familiar features of science fiction but turns away from techno-scientific explanations, refusing a grounding in historical plausibility and extrapolation, and boldly going where no one has gone before. The class format combines lecture, discussion, and small group work.

Course Goals

• To read fun and interesting speculative / fantastic science fiction and fantasy. We will be reading a lot!

• To examine and define major genres - hard sf, speculative fiction, science fantasy, heroic fantasy, swords and sorcery, dark fantasy, horror, etc.
• To read exemplary and problematic works within and against these genres.
• To locate the cultural contexts and ideologies of these genres - e.g. melodrama, men in tights, violence, gender formation, nostalgia, nationalism, conservatism, eco-techno critique, etc.
• To evaluate science fiction & fantasy as popular forms and utopic social re-vision.
• To search out the radical function of speculation / fantasy - overreaching the limits of historicism, identity, and language, positing genuine encounters with possible futures, with otherness …

Required Texts Available at the WVU Bookstore

• Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle

• Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea
• China Miéville, Perdido Street Station
• The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy [PHA], Ed. Garyn G. Roberts
• H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds

Recommended Text at WVU Bookstore

• Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

Film Viewing (at WVU Library)

• Metropolis

Requirements

• 7 short responses out of 8 possible. R=response date. Posted to group blogs 7x5=35%

• Two shorts essays (3 pages each), due Oct 5 and Dec 14 via email 2x20=40%

  Essay 1: Choose one of assigned stories that you have not responded to on the blog. Write a three page essay that reads the story according to one of the following approaches: 1) analyze the language use of the story as unique to the "protocols" of science fiction, with attention to how readers make sense of the story; 2) analyze the story as "cognitive estrangment" (possibly with reference to the “7 Beauties”) and discuss the cultural issue modeled (e.g. feminism, ecology, individualism, the limits of science, etc.); 3) analyze the story as a "popular" work, looking at how it fits the emerging genre of science fiction, including discussion of the subgenre and magazine market it fits into. Your essay will be graded on its use of evidence from the story, (follow MLA format), and its ability to make a compelling argument. Three pages is defined as 750 words minimum. Email the essay to Sandy by midnight Oct. 5.

  Essay 2: Choose one passage from A and one from B below. For each, write a minimum of a page, discussing the passage using the terms, concepts, and approaches developed in the course. Do not simply summarize the plot. You will be graded on your ability to apply the knowledge developed in the course in a specific way to the passage. Feel free to focus on a specific point or idea in the passage, rather than try to account for everything. Again: a minimum of a page on each passage, where a page is defined as at least 250 words. The essay should also include basic information: your name, date, indication of which passage you’ve chosen, Works Cited, as well as MLA citation; none of which is part of the word count. The essay must be emailed to Sandy by midnight Dec. 14, in either .rtf or Word format. A. Wizard of Earthsea (page numbers refer to the Bantam paperback): 1-7, 40-44, 69-74, 162-164, 178-181. B. Perdido Street Station (page numbers refer to the small Del Ray paperback): 139-148 (Chap 14 from the entry of Yag to the end), 181-189 (Chap 18 from Lin's thought of Ma Francine to the end), 189-204 (Chap 19), 236-246 (Chap 24), 284-291 (Chap 28), 396-403 (Chap 39 up to the handlingers). Keywords (themes, concepts, approaches): cognitive estrangement, the seven beauties, protocols of science fiction, language and reality, authenticity/historicity/simulation, spaces (networks, utopias, heterotopias, outer space), self and other, human and inhuman, artificial intelligence, the fantastic, shudder, the city, stereotyping/race, authority and freedom, the limits of reason/science/description, science and magic, the "popular" and popular genres (pulp, space opera, hard sf, cyberpunk, etc.), the evolution and definition of science fiction, the hero, nature vs. culture, history as Darwinian or optimistic?, cultural purity vs. dirt, the "value" of science fiction and fantasy, naturalization, realism/readability, the archaic/premodern in the modern.

• Group Project: class presentation + collaborative web site on speculative / fantasy fiction 25%

  Assignment: Choose one of the stories in the SFF anthology, but not one assigned in the syllabus. Read the story. As a group, create the following: 1) Summary of the story (2 pages min.); 2) Analysis/critique of the story, within the theories and discussions of the course (3 pages min.); 3) Glossary/contextualization of the story, e.g. key terms, concepts, locations, etc. (3 pages min.); 4) History/background of the story, i.e. where it appeared, what others have said about it (3 pages min.); 5) Biography of the author and contextualization of the story within his/her work (3 pages min.); 6) Annotated links to web sites dealing with the story, including about the author, the background, the genre, etc. (10 links min.) 7) All this material will be uploaded, formatted, and linked together on your group folder. Groups will decide how to divide the work. 8) The web site is intended both as a reflection of your class work but also as a contribution to the distribution and creation of web-based knowledge on science fiction and fantasy. Deadlines: Nov. 9 Handouts on grading criteria and technical information for setting up the web site. Nov. 11 By the end of class, groups must decide which story to focus on. Nov. 16 and 18 In-class work on project. Dec. 7 and 9 Group presentations. Dec. 14 All aspects of project complete by midnight.

• Participation and attendance are assumed. Failure to fulfill this requirement can lower your grade substantially.

Schedule

Aug 24

Introduction and Definitions

Aug 26

Blaylock "Thirteen Phantasms" PHA
Moskowitz "How Science Fiction Got Its Name" PHA
Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. "The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction"
Neyir Cenk Gökçe Definitions of Science Fiction
Recommended: Hugo Gernsback's Forcast

Aug 31

Wells, War of the Worlds [Book 1 + Appendix A, E, I]
Recommended: NASA Design a Martian, The Mars Room
R

Sep 2

Wells, War of the Worlds

Sep 7

Burroughs, "A Princess of Mars" PHA
R

Sep 9

Bradbury, "There Will Come Soft Rains" PHA
Weinbaum, "A Martian Odyssey" PHA
Clarke, "Sentinal" PHA

Sep 14

van Vogt, "The Weapons Shop" PHA
Brown, "Arena" PHA
Sturgeon, "Thunder and Roses" PHA
Martin, "The Plague Star" PHA
R

Sept 16

Smith, "Robot Nemesis" PHA
Asimov, "Robbie" PHA
Bester, "Fondly Fahrenheit" PHA

Sep 21

Stone, "The Conquest of Gola" PHA
Farmer, "The Lovers" PHA
Russ, "When it Changed" PHA
R

Sep 23

Heinlein, "The Long Watch" PHA
Vonnegut, "Harrison Bergeron" PHA
S. Robinson, "Melancholy Elephants" PHA

Sep 28

Butler, "Bloodchild" PHA
Bear, "Blood Music" PHA
Blog posting towards essay 1

Sep 30

Gibson, "Burning Chrome" PHA
Card, "Ender's Game" PHA

Oct 5

Dick, Man in the High Castle [Chap 1-9]
Recommended: Philip K. Dick Web Site
Essay 1 due by 12 midnight

Oct 7

Dick, Man in the High Castle

Oct 12

Metropolis movie at WVU library
Recommended: SF movies at the WVU Library
R

Oct 14

Class cancelled.

Oct 19

Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" PHA
Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown" PHA
Dickens, "No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman" PHA
Stoker, "Dracula's Guest" PHA
R

Oct 21

Lovecraft, "The Colour out of Space" PHA

Oct 26

Jackson, "The Lottery" PHA
Knight, "To Serve Man" PHA
Beaumont, "The Howling Man" PHA
R

Oct 28

Matheson, "Duel" PHA
King, "The Raft" PHA
PHA

Nov 2

Class Cancelled for Election Day
Recommended: MacDonald, "The Gray Wolf" and Merritt, "People of the Pit" PHA
R

Nov 4

Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant" PHA
Tolkein, "Riddles in the Dark" PHA

Nov 9

Ballard, "The Drowned Giant" PHA
Lee, "Red as Blood" PHA
Yolen, "The Malaysian Mer" PHA
Gaiman, "Troll Bridge" PHA

Nov 11

LeGuin, Wizard of Earthsea
Recommended: SciFi Earthsea miniseries

Nov 16

LeGuin, Wizard of Earthsea

Nov 18

LeGuin, Wizard of Earthsea

Nov 23

Thanksgiving

Nov 25

Thanksgiving

Nov 30

Miéville, Perdido Street Station

Dec 2

Miéville, Perdido Street Station

Dec 7

Miéville, Perdido Street Station
Blog posting towards essay 2

Dec 9

Workshop and Conclusions

Dec 14

Essay 2 due by 12 midnight