- Spring 2022
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, 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