Science Fiction and Fantasy

Transcription

1 EngLt 392 Fall 2015 Science Fiction and Fantasy Instructor: Bob Lyman Office: LL 22 Phone: Office Hours: MW 2:30 to 4:00; TTh 9:30 to 10:10 Class Web: and the D2L class site English Literature 392 is a survey course that explores the rich and varied worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Over the course of the semester, we will explore characteristic features from fairy tales, old Gothic, and Romantic literatures and see how those same features are used in some recent Cyberpunk and Anime. We will discuss the Gothic and mythic structure of these literatures and investigate their possible psychological, social and political meanings. Although you will undoubtedly be familiar with some of the texts and movies we will discuss (some of which we have all read and re-read countless times), we will play with new ways of seeing these stories. Of course I hope you will also find new stories that surprise and delight you as well. Required Texts: Dick, Phillip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Del Rey, Gibson, William. Idoru. Berkley, Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. Tor, Miller, Frank. The Dark Knight Returns. DC Comics, Scifi and Fantasy 1

2 Attendance and Class Etiquette: I expect you to attend class. More than three unexcused absences will likely result in you being dropped from the class; if the accumulated absences total more than three after the drop deadline, your course grade will, at the very least, be lowered by one full letter grade more if the absences are excessive. Absences may only be excused according to school policy; if you anticipate missing class, please speak to me in advance to make arrangements for any assignments due that day. I also expect you to show up on time for class; coming to class late is both rude and disruptive. I take roll at the beginning of each class; if you are not present in the classroom when I take roll, I will mark you absent. If you miss a class, you are responsible for homework due on that day and for material covered in class not I. Class assignments must be turned in the day they are due or before; late homework assignments will not be accepted! I expect students to behave appropriately in a college classroom. This means that we must at all times show respect for everyone in the class. Any disruptive behavior in the classroom may result in suspension and the possibility of being dropped from the course. For specific information refer to the official Student Rights and Responsibilities as established by the college. Course Grade: Your grade in the course will be determined by a combination of six postings and two essays. The breakdown of the course grade is as follows: Points Postings 600 Correlated with assigned texts and posted on D2L Papers 200 Midterm Paper 200 Final Paper Independent Read 1000 Total Help! Finally, I would like to offer a short word of advice. You sacrifice a great deal to attend school time, effort and money; make the most of what you invest and USE the time I have scheduled for office hours. If the times I have listed at the top of this syllabus are not convenient for you, please talk to me or me about making an appointment. And don t wait to the end of the semester if you are having difficulties; a little time spent early in the semester may prevent a great many frustrations. Although I do check my voice mail, I am ALWAYS available by . So if you are just too busy to come to office hours, you can me with questions. Scifi and Fantasy 2

3 English 392 Assignment Schedule Week Monday Wednesday Introduction to the course Roots: Myth, Fairy Tales and the Gothic; Definition Science Fiction vs Fantasy 8-31 Characteristics of Gothic Literature Botting Gothic Excess and Transgression Apply to Shelley and Gibson POSTING DUE: 9/5 9-7 No Classes 9-14 Terror and Horror: Matheson Prey Bradbury The Veldt 9-21 Lang Metropolis 9-28 Howard The Tower of the Elephant McCloud The Vocabulary of Comics Gore The Wood 10-5 The Dark Knight Returns POSTING DUE: 10/ Liminality and the he fantastic: Iron Hans, MacDonald The Gray Wolf, and Charnas Boobs 9-2 Poe House of Usher Antieau Sanctuary Todorov notes from The Fantastic 9-9 The Uncanny: Freud from The Uncanny Tatar A Definition of the Uncanny 9-16 The Hero s Journey Watch and discuss f8 Russ When It Changed Butler Speech Sounds POSTING DUE: 9/ Lang Metropolis, cont. Superman s Metropolis (D2L) 9-30 Miller The Dark Knight Returns 10-7 The Other: Le Guin American SF and the Other Discuss midterm papers mapping possible approaches Midterm paper due Matheson I Am Legend POSTING DUE: 10/ Dick Androids (6-12) 11-9 Dick Androids (18-22) POSTING DUE: 11/ Manga & Anime Katsuhiro Akira, Chapter 1 (D2L) Ito The Enigma (D2L) Shirow Appleseed, Book One (D2L) Robots and Japan Shintō and kami Cyberpunk Gibson Idoru (20-24) 12-7 Postcolonial SciFi: Okorafor-Mbachu When Scarabs Multiply major Trade Winds Finals Creature Features: Butler Bloodchild and Bradley Elbow Room Matheson I Am Legend Dick Androids (1-5) 11-4 Dick Androids (13-17) No Classes Anime Blood: The Last Vampire Gibson Idoru (1-19) 12-2 Gibson Idoru (25-46) POSTING DUE: 12/ Discuss final papers mapping possible approaches Course final 10:15 to 12:15 p.m. Final paper due. Scifi and Fantasy 3

4 Midterm Paper Texts: Antieau, Kim. Sanctuary. Bradbury, Ray. The Veldt. Butler, Octavia. Speech Sounds. Charnas, Suzy McKee. Boobs. MacDonald, George. The Gray Wolf. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher. Russ, Joanna. When It Changed. Essay Assignment: For this essay, you will focus on the characteristics of the Gothic story to demonstrate the characteristics you see in one of the stories above. You should not try to demonstrate all of the Gothic characteristics, however; instead, find a single focus. You can, for instance, explore: the features of the architecture or landscape or both and their significance liminality, and thus the blurring between reality and dreams or the distinction between the inner and outer worlds or the development of the Other the barrier of unspeakableness the failure of language the ambivalent features that lead to an emotional excess, a distortion of the sublime, and the development of the uncanny abyssal images and their psychological or social significance You are free to include details from additional texts, but you must reference, develop and focus upon one of the texts from the list. Your paper must also make use of and give reference to the texts by Botting, Todorov, Tatar, and or the liminality handout; these sources will help you to develop the central focus of your paper and I would strongly encourage additional research. The paper should be formatted following normal MLA conventions; we will discuss MLA conventions, but having completed English 300, you should be familiar with these. And in answer to the first question that always gets asked with the assignment of an essay How long does this paper have to be? at least four pages (1000 words) and no longer than six (1500 words), NOT including the works cited page. Please begin early and use me to help you set the paper up and develop it. Scifi and Fantasy 4

5 Options for Independent Reading Assignment Texts: Abe, Kobo. The Face of Another. Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid s Tale. Bacigalupi, Paulo. The Windup Girl. Butler, Octavia E. The Fledgling. Carey, M. R. The Girl with All the Gifts. Haldeman, Joe. The Forever War. Lindqvist, John Ajvide. Let the Right One In. Miller, Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Moon, Elizabeth. The Speed of Dark. Okorafor, Nnedi. Who Fears Death. Powers, Tim. The Stress of Her Regard. Sturgeon, Theodore. More than Human. Tanzer, Molly. Vermilion. Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids. Final Essay Assignment: For this second critical analysis paper, you can choose any title from the list above, but you will read this text independently and then compose an analytical response to the text. You can use any of the topics of our discussions to find a controlling focus, so you can, for example, choose to do a psychoanalytical read of the protagonist, a mythical read of the plot, or an exploration of major themes. The approach you take is really up to you; all I insist upon is that you analyze your response: explain how you see, why you see, and in what specific way you see your insights revealed in the novel. Make sure you anchor your paper to the concepts we have discussed in the course, which means you will want to reference one or more of the background texts: Botting, Tatar, Todorov, Freud, Jung. Additionally, your paper must include at least two researched references to other authors perhaps critics who have written about your author or novel, perhaps research on a key element or theme of your paper. You cannot use the internet for these references since the internet does not normally provide good sources for this kind of paper. I would suggest using the literary databases available at the library you could even ask a librarian for some help with this. The paper should be formatted following normal MLA conventions. We will discuss both the library databases and MLA format in class. Again in answer to the How long does this paper have to be? question at least five pages (1250 words) and no longer than seven (1750 words), NOT including the works cited page. The paper is not due until the day of the final, so you can (and should) be working on during the semester. Please begin early and use me to help you set the paper up and develop it. Scifi and Fantasy 5