Survey of Science Fiction S05

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Interdisciplinary Studies SINT 34601: "Survey of Science Fiction." (SCP credit/Writing Intensive WI/Gen Ed: Values, Ethics category)

From "proto-science fiction writers" of the renaissance and 18th century through the evolution of science fiction in the 19th century with Shelley, Poe, Cridge, Verne, Wells, etc. to the development of science fiction as a popular genre for readers and for writers in the early decades of the twentieth century to the explosion of science fiction from the 1950's to the present -- the course will examine science fiction writers' world views and critiques of human nature and society and their use of such scientific and pseudoscientific concepts as entropy, social Darwinism, quantum mechanics, genetic engineering, relativity, etc. Use will be made of novels, short stories from around the world, films, radio drama, and related materials. The course will be concerned with a series of recurrent themes: Future Visions (Utopias/Dystopias/Heterotopias); Creation/Transformation/Sentience; Time; Space; Social Issues: Gender/Race/Age/Disability/Species; Ocean; and Math/Dimensions/Computers/Cyberspace.

Prentice Garyn Roberts, ed. Prentice Hall Anthology of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein, 1818 (Note be careful not to be fooled by the recent novelization of the movie called Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which is not, in fact, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley!)
H. G. Wells. The Time Machine, 1895.
Isaac Asimov. Naked Sun, 1957;
Ursula K. LeGuin. Left Hand of Darkness 1969
Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama , 1972.
Marge Piercy. He, She, and It 1993.

This course is a 300 level course. It will require a considerable amount of reading: 6 novels and a number of shorter science fiction pieces from one of the two texts for the class (James Gunn, ed. Road to Science Fiction, Vol. 6: Around the World and Garyn Roberts, ed. Prentice Hall Anthology of Fantasy and Science Fiction) Additional readings are posted to the WebCT for your use. Click here for a list of Required texts on WebCT . Most are also available on reserve at Potter Library. All the works are fun to read, challenging to think about, and exciting to engage with. Still -- they must be read and they do take time. If you are not willing to read, this is not the appropriate course to take! It is essential to keep ahead of the assigned readings. BE FOREWARNED! WHEN THEY'RE DUE, THEY'RE DUE. Note: I will, every week, suggest additional readings as optional for those who want to delve even further either now or later.

You will be submitting a reading log (see response journal below) each class and be expected to participate in class discussion fully. The collective reading log entries(16 in all) will be worth 45% of the course grade and failure to submit the reading log on time each week will damage that grade. You are allowed one missing log gratis in recognition of human emergencies.

Because science fiction has been intimately tied to the visual and media almost from its first appearance, we will also be viewing three full-length films in class ( Gattaca, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Handmaid's Tale) We will also be viewing a number of short clips from films and television science fiction pieces; click here for a list of those clips. Don't miss class! You will be viewing the full-length film, Blade Runner, on your own outside of class. The movie is available in Ramapo's library and also readily available for rental at most video stores.

To help you engage closely with the texts and to be prepared for lively discussions in class, I will be quizzing regularly. The quizzes will not be difficult if you have done the assigned reading. Your quiz grades collectively will be worth 10% of the semester's grades.

More than two absences may result in a lowered grade for the course. On the other hand, anyone who misses no more than one class will earn an extra A.

Leaving early, coming late, or leaving class and returning, damage your learning and cause distractions to other students who are trying to learn. You will be marked 1/2 absence for tardiness over ten minutes or leaving before the class is over. If you are late even by a few minutes you are to take your seat quietly near the door in order to minimize disruption.

Don't! Plagiarism and cheating are the theft of another's words or ideas and can result in penalties as serious as expulsion from the college. See the Student Handbook for guidelines on plagiarism and cheating. If you have any doubts about how to present material from other sources, please come see me for help. If I find a paper which I believe has been plagiarized I will forward it to the Vice President's Office for action. Don't do this to me or to yourself!

The following is an All College Statement: Academic Integrity (College Guidelines):

All students at Ramapo College are expected to maintain academic integrity. There are four broad forms of academic dishonesty.
1. Cheating: An act of deception by which a student misrepresents his or her mastery of material on a test or other academic exercise.
2. Plagiarism (including internet) Representing someone else's words, ideas, phrases, sentences, or data as one's own work without citing the source.
3. Academic misconduct: Alteration of grades, involvement in the acquisition or distributions of unadministered tests and the unauthorized submission of student work in more than one class.
4. Fabrication: The deliberate use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive.Violation of any of these may result in an "F", and students may be subjected to disciplinary proceedings.

Because of the heavy reading load, I am not asking you to also do a traditional research paper for this class. However this is a writing intensive course (which satisfies one of the Writing Across the Curriculum requirements) so I am requiring you to respond on a regular basis to the readings we are doing and to the films we are viewing in class. The response journal, which will be worth collectively 45% of the course grade (almost half!) should be taken seriously as a way of exploring the works, addressing questions raised by the works, and of preparing for the exams. They are not to be simple emotional reactions: "I really liked this book. This story was confusing and boring. I didn't understand it. It was too long." Nor are they to be just plot summaries. They should be analytical, thoughtful, and insightful -- considering the themes raised by the work, scientific concepts (or anti-scientific, pseudo-scientific) embedded in the text, the style in which the work is presented, the questions sparked by the approach of the author, etc.

I will collect the journals each week (please label them with your name, the date, the entry number and the work and question you are responding to), and I will call on you frequently in class to share your journal entry as a way of facilitating discussion. If you must be absent from class you must have the journal entry in the box outside my office (E-222) by Thursday of that week in order to get full credit for that week's reading log. Sometimes the entry will be a response to a question which I have posed to you about the text -- or to one of two questions from a list of reading questions on the text available on my website. If no specific question is posed you are to write your own response, analysis, and questions to the text. There will usually be an entry each session. Hence, you will have generated about 20-30 pages of journaling by the end of the semester. Make notes at the end of the entry on vocabulary, concepts, or quotes that struck you or that you have questions about. I encourage you to explicate scientific concepts that you see as relevant to the text under discussion. The response journal will be worth 45% of your overall class grade. Since you may refer to your response journal entries for the exams it particularly behooves you to be thorough and thoughtful.

I will return the log entries probably in clusters of 3 or 5 rather than 1 at a time. Keep a copy for yourself of every entry you submit. This not only gives you a back-up in case something goes astray, it allows you to continue your review and studying on your own and to refer back to earlier entries as you think about new ones.

5) Midterm and Final: The midterm exam will be a take-home essay (you will have a choice of two topics) covering all the readings up to the date of the midterm. The response should be approximately 5 typed pages in length and should not exceed 10. Each will be worth 15% of the course grade.

Note on Collaborative Learning : I encourage you to work together in study groups to enhance your engagement with these materials. This course should be collaborative rather than competitive. Student Presentations and writings should, of course, be your individual product but understanding should be our collective achievement.

Note for Honors Students : If you wish to take this class as an Honors option, you must notify me right away. We will develop together a plan of additional readings and assignments.

Note for Students with Special Needs: Please let me know as soon as possible if you will have special needs or challenges in taking this course. If you are a student with a documented disability seeking academic accomodations that are disability related, you need to be registered with the Office of Specialized Services (OSS). This is a college policy. After you have registered with OSS, please make an appointment with me during the first three weeks of the semester to discuss any requests or accomodations that you may need. See the Office of Specialized Services website at: http://www.ramapo.edu/studentlife/studentServices/oss/home.html

Quizzes (unannounced, numerous) 10% of the course grade
Midterm Examination 15% of the course grade
Response Journal collectively -- 45% of the course grade; Entries due weekly!
Final Examination 15% of the course grade
Class Participation 15% of the course grade

Mon. Jan. 31: Introduction, Definitions, Categories, Genres, and Subgenres, sf/SF/sci fi and "the syllabus"

Response Journal 1 Due : Entry 1: Introduce yourself briefly -- name, major, school, interests. Do you consider yourself a science fiction buff, a science fiction dabbler, a science fiction novice, a science fiction phobic? Describe the kind of science fiction you have read or been exposed to in film, television or other media. When did you first encounter science fiction? What concepts/themes do you think of as science fiction? Where have they crossed over into science? (Written in class)

Mon. Feb. 7: Proto Science Fiction (pre-19th century) Imaginary Landscapes. Utopias/Dystopias. Alien visitors/observers

Read for class today:
Greece: Lucian of Samosata. From “A True Story” (ca, AD 165) on WebCT Everyone read pp. 15-17 and 24-27.    Group A Read full selection and be ready to report
Germany: Johannes Kepler, from “Somnium, or Lunar Astronomy” (ca. 1610) Everyone read pp. 84-85 and 98-103 on WebCT   Group B Read full selection and be ready to report
England:   Johnathon Swift. “from ‘A Voyage to Laputa’” (from Gulliver’s Travels,) (1726) Everyone read pp. 112-115 and 139-145 on WebCT Group C Read all and be ready to report
England: Francis Bacon from The New Atlantis (1627) Everyone read pp. 60-61 and 80-83 on WebCT Group D Read full selection and be ready to report
England: Margaret Cavendish from A New World Called the Blazing World (1666) Everyone read pp. 123-129; 184-189 and 224-5 on WebCT   Group E Read full selection and be ready to report
PLUS For Everyone:
Denmark: Ludvig Holberg. From “The Journey of Neil Klims to the World Underground” (1741) WebCT Everyone read full selection
France: Voltaire, Micromegas: A Comic Romance (1752) Everyone read full selection
France: Voltaire, "Plato's Dream" (1756): http://wondersmith.com/scifi/plato.htm Everyone read full selection

Response Journal 2 Due: Make a list of the science fiction themes or questions raised by Gattaca. Have any of these themes passed over into science proper or been "exploded" by science proper since this film was made in 1997.
Response Journal 3 Due: Discuss the reading that you were assigned to read for your group (i.e. Group C will write about the Swift selection, etc.). What themes emerge from this piece? To whom does it seem to be addressed (i.e. who does the author imagine is reading the text)? What does the author appear to want to persuade hir readers to think, believe, feel or do? Give specific evidence with direct quotes from the text for the conclusions you are drawing. What are the scientific (or pseudoscientific) principles or theories that are explored here either positively or parodically? What cultural values and beliefs inform this text? How relevant is the reading to today's circumstances? (See guidelines for response journal .)

Mon. Feb. 14: Early Nineteenth Century Science Fiction. The Golem, The Creature, the "resisting monster," the "Mad Scientist," feminist sf, arctic landscapes, doppelgangers, mesmerism, immortality and other themes.

Response Journal 4 Due: Answer two reading questions from the list of questions on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Mon. Feb. 21: Nineteenth Century Science Fiction: Jules Verne and H. G. Wells: Invention, science, "mad scientists," curiosity, underearth worlds, magnetism, prehistoric survivors, time travel, earth's future, end of the world, entropy, defiance of mortality/aging, undersea worlds, misleading paradises, feminist of, jungle landscapes, desert landscapes, futuristic visions, scientist as savior and other themes.

Read for class today:
*England: H. G. Wells The Time Machine. 1895.
France: Jules Verne: "An Express of the Future." (1895) Prentice 370-373. Note: Other sources indicated this story is by Michel Verne.
France: Jules Verne: "from Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864) available on WebCT .
France : Albert Robida: Illustrations from The War of the Twentieth Century (1882) on WebCT

Mon. Feb. 28: 1900-1929. End of the world, invasion of other worlds, paleontology, super powers, bug eyed monsters (BEM), monstrous bugs, telepathy, conflict of technology/nature/mind, feminist science fiction, extraordinary medical intervention and its ethical implications, alien possession of human bodies, the robot is born, space opera and other themes...

Read for class today:
U. S. Harriet Elizabeth Prescott "The Ray of Displacement" (1903) Prentice 380-389
U.S.:Hugo Gernsback, "from Ralph 124C41+" (1925) and "The Prophets of Doom" (1952) on WebCT
India: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. "Sultana's Dream" (1905) from Sultana's Dream & Sel.from the Secluded Ones. available on WebCT .
U. S.: Edgar Rice Burroughs, from The Princess of Mars (1912): Chaps. XIII, XIX, and XX Prentice 431-435; 457-465.
Czechoslovokia: Karel Capek, Epilogue from R. U. R. ((Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921) on WebCT

Discussion/exhibit of early science fiction magazines: including Weird Tales (founded 1923); Amazing Stories (founded 1926): Wonder Stories (1930); Analog (1930); Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (founded 1949); Galaxy (1950).

Response Journal 6 Due: React to either Gernsback or Burroughs. What elements in their writing would have contributed to their enormous popularity? Do these texts hold up today? Note the Hugo Award is named after Gernsback and -- while Burroughs is better known now for Tarzan than he is for the Mars books -- both his series have been recently reissued.

Mon. Mar. 7:1930s. End of the world (it remains an ever popular theme!), invasion of other worlds, paleontology, super powers, bug eyed monsters (BEM), monstrous bugs, telepathy, conflict of technology/nature/mind, feminist science fiction, alien possession of human bodies, more robots, space opera and other themes...

Read for class today:
England: Arthur Conan Doyle. "The Disintegration Machine." (1920) available on WebCT .
U. S.: Lester Stone, "The Conquest of Gola" (1931) Prentice 515-424
U. S.: C. L. Moore: "Shambleau" (1933) Prentice 525-543
U. S.: E. E. "Doc" Smith: "Robot Nemesis" (1934) Prentice 544-556
U. S.: George S. Schuyler from Black No More (1930) available on WebCT
England: Aldous Huxley. Chapter 1 from Brave New World. (1932) in Treasury of Science Fiction Classics, ed. Harold W. Kuebler, Hanover House, 1954. 368-377.

Discussion of early science fiction comic strips including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, (1929+); Brick Bradford (1933); Flash Gordon (1934); Speed Spaulding (1939); Connie (1927-1944); Action Comics (1938+) Superman, et. al. (1939)+ Wonder Woman (1950+).

Response Journal 7 Due: React to C. L. Moore or Lester Stone. How does alien conflict reflect on human character and behavior in their work? Are they successful in hiding that they are women writers? Explain with evidence from the text Or compare the attitude to science, technology, and weapons visible in Doyle's story with the story by E. E. "Doc" Smith.

Mon . Mar. 14: 1940s. Robots, nuclear hazard, war, Earth's future, religion, longevity, curiosity, feminist sf, etc.

Read for class today:
Canada: Judith Merrill "That Only a Mother" (1948) Prentice 660-666
U. S.: Leigh Brackett "The Enchantress of Venus" (1949): Sections 1, 2, 6, 7 Prentice 667-674 and 685-692
U. S.: Robert Heinlein "The Long Watch" (1949) Prentice 709-718
U. S.: Clifford Simak "Desertion" (1944) available on WebCT .
U. S.: Harry Bates' "Farewell to the Master" (1940) available on WebCT .
England: George Orwell. "Chapter X from 1984" (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. Signet Classic, 1981.

Film (in-class): The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) based on Harry Bates' "Farewell to the Master" (1940).

Response Journal 8 Due: Respond to Heinlein or Merrill in terms of what attitudes to war does each reflect? What questions do they raise for us now?
NOTE: Take Home Midterm Distributed today. Due Back Mar. 28. Please set yourself a time of no more than four hours (excluding typing) to complete this exam. You are responsible for all the texts read up to and including through 1949 -- i.e. the readings for Mar. 14.

Mon. Mar. 21: No Class Spring Recess. Enjoy!

Mon. Mar. 28: 1950s. Space exploration, alien worlds, colonization, alien invasion, "mad scientists," genetic engineering, androids, robots, psychodrama, cultural conflict, alternative energy sources, feminist science fiction, alien possession of human bodies, interplanetary communication, etc.
Read for class today:
U.S.: Isaac Asimov. Naked Sun (1957)
U. S.: Andre Norton, "Mousetrap," (1954) in Prentice 816-820

Response Journal 9 Due: Discuss the interpretation of Bates' "Farewell to the Master" in the 1951 film: The Day the Earth Stood Still. What significance do you attach to divergences from the text? Bates wrote in 1940 during WWII; in 1951 when the film was made the war was over. Is this context difference apparent in the two works?
Submit Take home Midterm today.

Watch on your own before next class the film, Blade Runner (1972) based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). Can be rented readily or watched in Ramapo's library.

Mon. Apr. 4: Science Fiction of the Sixties. Language, multiple species, apocalyptic science fiction, cold wars and hot wars, entropy, feminist science fiction, cultural conflict, gender benders, federated planets, exploration/colonization, near futures, far futures, intelligent apes, sentient planets, sentient ships, anti-intellectual humans, comic gods, robots, androids, intergalactic communication, exploration/colonization, winter landscape and other themes.

Read for class today :
U. S. Ursula LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
U. S.: Samuel Delany, "Driftglass" (1967) in Prentice 894-906
Japan: Sakyo Komatsu “Take Your Choice” (1967) available on WebCT .

Response Journal 10 Due: Give an analysis of the themes Dick explores in Blade Runner.
Response Journal 11 Due: Answer two of the reading questions on Left Hand of Darkness Leguin Reading Questions .

Mon. Apr. 11: Science fiction of the seventies. Feminist science fiction, hard sf, future worlds, class/cultural conflict, disease, healing, overpopulation, alien invasion, misleading paradises, androids, mutations, alternative families, technological warfare, and other themes. Discussion on readings.

Response Journal 12 Due: Clarke prides himself on his careful attention to possible, probable, and plausible scientific imagining. Analyze an aspect of Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and comment on how successfully he achieves his goal.

Mon. Apr. 18. Science fiction of the seventies. Feminist science fiction, hard sf, future worlds, class/cultural conflict, disease, healing, overpopulation, alien invasion, misleading paradises, androids, mutations, alternative families, technological warfare, and other themes. Discussion on readings.

Read for class today:
U.S. Joanna Russ "When it Changed" (1972) in Prentice 946-951
U. S.: Suzy McKee Charnas, "Prologue" to Walk to the End of the World (1974) available on WebCT .
Spain: Teresa Ingles, "The Alabaster Garden," (1977) available on WebCT .
Vietnam/China: Zheng Wenguang, "The Mirror Image of Earth" (1980) available on WebCT .

Mon. Apr. 25: Science fiction of the eighties: Alien species (friendly and otherwise), earth's future, dystopias, disease, doppelgangers, androids, arctic landscapes, feminist sf, spatial anomalies, time anomalies, longevity, genetic engineering, cultural conflict, cyberpunk, gritty, violent worlds, technological warfare, sentient ships, telepathic powers, rape, and other themes.

Read for class today:
U. S.: Greg Bear "Blood Music" (1983) in Prentice 1019-1035
U. S.: Simon Ortiz. "Men on the Moon" (1983) available on WebCT .
India: Laxman Londhe, "Einstein the Second," (1989) available on WebCT .
U. S. Octavia Butler "Bloodchild" (1984) in Prentice 1035-1048
U. S.: Nancy Kress. “The Price of Oranges.” (1989) available on WebCT .

Film in class: The Handmaid's Tale based on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Response Journal 14 Due: What kind of themes are visible in Butler's "Bloodchild?" Be detailed and specific in your analysis offering direct quotes from the text to illustrate your point.

Mon. May 2: Science Fiction of the nineties. Cyborgs, android, time travel, time quakes, probability, megalopolis, the supercorporation, cyberpunk, radical Jewish feminist critique, Native American, Asian American, writers, space explorations, dystopic near futures, disease, terrorism, genetic engineering, et. al. -- and a dash of humor ... Plus -- back to cozy catastrophes!

Marge Piercy. He, She, and It (1993). See Piercy Notes for some assistance with this large and complex novel.

Response Journal 15 due: Respond to two reading questions on Piercy He, She and It Reading Questions .

Read for class today:
U. S.: Douglas Adams, Chap. 6 and Chap. 10 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 1979, Chap. 5 of Life, The Universe and Everything (1982), and Chap. 17 of Mostly Harmless (1992) available on WebCT .
U. S.: Ellen Klages. “Time Gypsy.” (1998) available on WebCT .
U.S.: James Van Pelt. "The Long Way Home." (2003)available on WebCT

Response Journal 16 Due: Write an extra "chapter" for The Hitchhiker's Guide parodying one of the texts we have read this semester. For example, the chapter could be a send-up of Greg Bear's "Blood Music" or of Wells' The Time Machine. Have fun with this and be prepared to read your production in class and make the class laugh. Indicate on the paper which text you are satirizing but do not say it aloud when you read. Let the class guess to which text the parody applies.