Module Identifier EN37220  
Module Title SCIENCE FICTION - FRANKENSTEIN TO CYBERPUNK  
Academic Year 2004/2005  
Co-ordinator Dr Christoph P Lindner  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   20 Hours Seminar. (10 x 2 hour seminar workshops)  

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.

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.

Content

SEMINAR PROGRAMME

Seminar 1: Introduction: Why Science Fiction?

Seminar 2: The Artificial Human

Seminar 3: Weird Science

Seminar 4: Utopia/Dystopia

Seminar 5: Time Travel

Seminar 6: S-F Debut in Film

Seminar 7: Social Engineering

Seminar 8: Androids

Seminars 9 & 10: Cyberpunk

Reading Lists

Books
** Should Be Purchased
Edgar Allan Poe (ed. David van Leer) (1998) Selected Tales Oxford World's Classics
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (2002) The Coming Race Broadview Press
H.G. Wells (2002) The Time Machine Phoenix
Aldous Huxley (2004) Brave New World Vintage
Mary Shelley (1998) Frankenstein: 1818 Text Oxford World's Classics
Philip K. Dick (1999) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Millenium SF Masterworks
William Gibson (1995) Neuromancer Voyager
** Recommended Background
John Clute and Peter Nicholls (eds.) (1999) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Orbit
Anthony Croghan (1981) Science Fiction and the Universe of Knowledge Coburgh
Charles Darwin (ed. Gillian Beer) (1996) The Origin of Species Oxford University Press
Jane Donawerth & Carol Kolmertern (eds.) (1994) Utopian and Science Fiction by Women Liverpool University Press
Sigmund Freud, ''The Uncanny'', in (1955) Complete Psychological Works, Vol. 17 Hogarth Press
Patrick Parrinder (ed.) (1979) Science Fiction: A Critical Guide Liverpool University Press
George Slusser & Tom Shippey (eds.) (1992) Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk & The Future of Narrative Georgia University Press

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6