Gwybodaeth Modiwlau
Module Identifier
EN37220
Module Title
SCIENCE FICTION - FRANKENSTEIN TO CYBERPUNK
Academic Year
2011/2012
Co-ordinator
Semester
Intended for use in future years
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Seminars / Tutorials | 20 Hours. Seminar. (10 x 2 hour seminar workshops) |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. Where this involves re-submission of work, a new topic must be selected. |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students should typically be able to:
1. demonstrate an ability to define 'science fiction' and its related genres, and to use the terminology used in this field of literary studies;
2. demonstrate basic knowledge of major social, political, and cultural issues that have motivated science fiction writing;
3. demonstrate an ability to write competently about the texts with reference to their cultural and historical contexts;
4. produce organised, coherently argued and critically informed written work;
5. engage in a coherent oral discussion of the texts.
Aims
This module aims:
1. to provide an overview of science fiction writing from 1800 to the present;
2. to develop working definitions of 'science' fiction, its related genres, and the terminology used in this field of literary studies;
3. to guide and encourage the practical application of critical / cultural theory to the interpretation and analysis of texts;
4. to familiarise students with major social, political, and cultural issues that have motivated science fiction writing over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
1. to provide an overview of science fiction writing from 1800 to the present;
2. to develop working definitions of 'science' fiction, its related genres, and the terminology used in this field of literary studies;
3. to guide and encourage the practical application of critical / cultural theory to the interpretation and analysis of texts;
4. to familiarise students with major social, political, and cultural issues that have motivated science fiction writing over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Brief description
Why is science fiction such an integral part of popular culture today? What can its extrapolations tell us about Western culture's deepest fears and anxieties? With these questions in mind, this module explores the fantastical and imaginative world of science fiction writing from the early nineteenth century through to the late twentieth. Along the way, we will examine the emergence of science fiction in the late Romantic period, trace its development through the Victorian period where it becomes an established mode of writing, and then follow some of the directions that the genre takes over the course of the twentieth century, concluding with contemporary cyberpunk.
Throughout we will look closely at science fiction's tangled relationship with other popular genres such as Gothic and Utopian fiction. And we will analyse its treatment of recurring themes like the 'mad' scientist, intelligent machines, 'monsters' of technology/biology, and travel through time and space. Some theoretical ideas by thinkers such as Darwin, Freud, Marx, and Baudrillard will be used to frame and inform our analysis of the texts.
Throughout we will look closely at science fiction's tangled relationship with other popular genres such as Gothic and Utopian fiction. And we will analyse its treatment of recurring themes like the 'mad' scientist, intelligent machines, 'monsters' of technology/biology, and travel through time and space. Some theoretical ideas by thinkers such as Darwin, Freud, Marx, and Baudrillard will be used to frame and inform our analysis of the texts.
Content
_SEMINAR PROGRAMME
_Seminar 1: Introduction: Why Science Fiction?
_Seminar 2: The Artificial Human
_Seminar 1: Introduction: Why Science Fiction?
_Seminar 2: The Artificial Human
- Text: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
- Theory: Freud & 'The Uncanny'
- Text: Edgar Allan Poe, Selected Short Stories (1845)
- Theory: Freud & 'The Uncanny'
- Text: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Coming Race (1871)
- Theory: Darwin & Evolution
- Text: H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895)
- Theory: Darwin & Evolution
- Text: Fritz Lang, Metropolis (1926)
- Theory: Freud & 'The Uncanny'; Baudrillard & Simulation
- Text: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
- Theory: Marxism & Ideology
- Text: Philip K Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
- Theory: Baudrillard & Simulation
- Text: William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)
- Theory: Baudrillard & Simulation; Marxism & Ideology
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6