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%)