- Autumn 2018
Syllabus Description:
Schedule of readings:
All stories and essays not included in the books ordered for the class are available on the Canvas site for the course, in the form of pdf files. Suggested readings are not required; I will not assume you have read the suggested materials, but will refer to them in class. They are included primarily for students who are especially interested in the topic of the day’s class.
Week 1.
September 27: Introduction to the course
Week 2.
October 2: Theorizing the genre
Darko Suvin, chapters 1 and 4, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
Fredric Brown, “Preposterous”
Arthur C. Clarke, “Reunion”
Suggested: Samuel R. Delany, “About 5750 Words”
October 4: Pulp adventure: Speculative fiction, travel writing, and colonialism
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars
Gwyneth Jones, “Metempsychosis of the Machine”
Week 3.
October 9: Burroughs, A Princess of Mars
John Rieder, chapter 1 from Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction
Nalo Hopkinson, “Report from Planet Midnight,” in Hopkinson, Report
from Planet Midnight
Robert Sheckley, “The Native Problem”
Suggested only: Ray Bradbury, “Way Up in the Middle of the Air”
October 11: Hard SF (1940s)
David Hartwell, “Hard Science Fiction”
Hal Clement, “Proof”
Robert A. Heinlein, “Columbus Was a Dope”
Isaac Asimov, “Evidence”
Arthur C. Clarke, “The Sentinel”
Week 4.
October 16: Tom Godwin, “The Cold Equations”
James Blish, “Watershed”
Clifford Simak, “Desertion”
October 18: Alternate traditions: Literary SF (1950s)
Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human
Week 5.
October 23: Sturgeon, More Than Human
October 25: Alternate traditions: Feminist SF
C.L. Moore, “No Woman Born”
Judith Merril, “That Only a Mother”
James M. Tiptree (Alice Sheldon), “The Women Men Don’t See”
Sarah Lefanu, “Authority and Sentiment: Is There a Women’s Science Fiction?”
Suggested only: Octavia Butler, “Amnesty”
First papers due by Monday, October 29, by 1 p.m.; email to tfoster@u.washington.edu
Week 6. New Wave SF (1960s and 70s)
October 30: Samuel R. Delany, Babel-17
Suggested only: Joanna Russ, “When It Changed”
November 1: Delany, Babel-17
Suggested only: Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Direction of the Road”
Week 7. Cyberpunk (1980s and after)
November 6: Bruce Sterling, “Preface” to Mirrorshades
James M. Tiptree (Alice Sheldon), “The Girl Who Was Plugged In”
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”
Bruce Sterling, “Maneki Neko”
Suggested only: Pat Cadigan, “Pretty Boy Crossover”
Suggested only: Greg Egan, “Learning to Be Me”
Suggested only: Benjamin Rosenbaum, “The Guy Who Worked for Money,” available online at http://www.shareable.net/blog/the-guy-who-worked-for-money
Suggested only: Eugie Foster, “Whatever Skin You Wear”
November 8: Ethnicity, Race, Science Fiction, and Fantasy
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Week 8.
November 13: Butler, Dawn
November 15: Nisi Shawl, Everfair
Suggested only: Alondra Nelson, “Introduction: Future Texts” (on afrofuturism); available online at: http://socialtext.dukejournals.org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/content/20/2_71/1
Week 9:
November 20: Shawl, Everfair
November 22: No class; Thanksgiving holiday
Week 10:
November 27: Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others
November 29: Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others
Week 11:
December 4: Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie
December 6: Liu, The Paper Menagerie
Suggested only: Ken Liu, “Seven Birthdays” (pdf)
Suggested only: Aliette de Bodard, “Immersion,” available online at
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debodard_06_12/
Final papers due on Wednesday, December 12, by 5 p.m.; email to tfoster@uw.edu