ENGL 349 A: Science Fiction and Fantasy

Spring 2022
Meeting:
TTh 11:30am - 1:20pm / LOW 106
SLN:
14187
Section Type:
Lecture
Instructor:
ADD CODES FROM INSTRUCTOR PD 3
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

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, or available online at the links given in the schedule below.  Any title listed below that is not one of the five books I ordered or that does not have a link attached can be found on the “Files” page of the Canvas site, where the pdf files are listed alphabetically under the author’s last name (for example, Arthur C. Clarke’s story “Reunion” is listed under the file name “Clarke.reunion.pdf”).    

 

Important: Some of the readings below are labeled as “suggested only.”  Suggested readings are not required; I will not assume you have read the suggested materials.  I am likely to refer to them in class, but they are included primarily for students who are especially interested in the topic of the day’s class.

 

Week 1.

March 29: Introduction to the course

 

March 31: Theorizing the genre

      Darko Suvin, chapters 1 and 4, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction              

      Fredric Brown, “Preposterous”

      Arthur C. Clarke, “Reunion”

Suggested only: Samuel R. Delany, “About 5750 Words”

 

 

Week 2. Pulp adventure: Speculative fiction, travel writing, and colonialism

April 5: Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars                       

             Gwyneth Jones, “Metempsychosis of the Machine”

 

April 7: Burroughs, A Princess of Mars

              Robert Sheckley, “The Native Problem”

Suggested only: John Rieder, chapter 1 from Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

Suggested only: Nalo Hopkinson, “Report from Planet Midnight,” in Hopkinson, Report from Planet Midnight       

Suggested only: Ray Bradbury, “Way Up in the Middle of the Air”

 

 

Week 3. Hard SF (starting in the 1940s)

April 12: David Hartwell, “Hard Science Fiction”

                Hal Clement, “Proof”

                Robert A. Heinlein, “Columbus Was a Dope”

                Isaac Asimov, “Evidence”

                Arthur C. Clarke, “The Sentinel”

 

April 14: Tom Godwin, “The Cold Equations”

                James Blish, “Watershed”

                Clifford Simak, “Desertion” 

 

      

Week 4. Alternate traditions: Literary SF (1950s)

April 19: Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human

 

April 21: Sturgeon, More Than Human       

       

 

Week 5. New Wave SF (1960s and 70s)

April 26: Ursula K. LeGuin, The Lathe of Heaven

                     

April 28: LeGuin, The Lathe of Heaven

Suggested only: Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

 

 

First papers due by Friday, April 29,  by 5 p.m.; email to tfoster@uw.edu

 

 

Week 6. Alternate traditions: Feminist SF

May 3: Sarah Lefanu, “Authority and Sentiment: Is There a Women’s Science Fiction?”

             C.L. Moore, “No Woman Born”

             Judith Merril, “That Only a Mother”    

             Joanna Russ, “When It Changed”

                   

 

May 5: James M. Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon), “The Women Men Don’t See”

            Octavia Butler, “Amnesty”

            Sofia Samatar, “The Red Thread”

                   

 

Week 7. Cyberpunk (1980s and 90s)

May 10: Bruce Sterling, “Preface” to Mirrorshades              

               James M. Tiptree (Alice Sheldon), “The Girl Who Was Plugged In”

                William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”

               Pat Cadigan, “Pretty Boy Crossover”

               Greg Egan, “Learning to Be Me”

 

May 12: Bruce Sterling, “Maneki Neko”  

               Benjamin Rosenbaum, “The Guy Who Worked for Money,” available online at

https://www.shareable.net/the-guy-who-worked-for-money/                

               Eugie Foster, “Whatever Skin You Wear”

 

                      

Week 8. Ethnicity, Race, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

May 17: Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others

         

May 19: Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others

               Ken Liu, “Ghost Days,” available online at http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/ghost-days/

               Aliette de Bodard, “Immersion,” available online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debodard_06_12/

                     

 

Week 9:

May 24: Nisi Shawl, Everfair

 

May 26: Shawl, Everfair

Suggested only: Kodwo Eshun, “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism”;                                                         available online at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/48294 (requires UW login)

 

 

Week 10:

May 31: Shawl, Everfair

 

June 2: Shawl, Everfair

 

 

Final papers due, Wednesday, June 8, by 5 p.m., by email to tfoster@uw.edu

Catalog Description:
Study of historical developments and debates within the genres of fantasy and/or science fiction, with attention to the ideological implications of these genres' characteristic techniques for constructing alternatives to existing social norms and realisms. Course overlaps with: T LIT 391. Offered: AWSp.
GE Requirements Met:
Arts and Humanities (A&H)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
November 8, 2024 - 1:37 am