jeanne.hamming
english.dept.
centenary.college
jhamming@centenary.edu
313.JAC
318.869.5082
v.card

english.201a: science fiction
MWF|1-1:50|Smith 202
office.hours: MWF 12-12:50, TTH 11:30-12:30
(and by appointment)

schedule (click here to view)

course.description

Surprisingly, science fiction has a lengthy past, and is, in fact, a genre of literature (and later film) that is both historically contingent and politically charged. Often divided into "hard" and "soft" SF, the genre tackles themes and issues such as technology and capitalism, overpopulation and resource scarcity, pollution and ecocide, war and violence, sex, gender, race, and even history. Often relying on the device of "technological extrapolation," this robust corpus of texts has overcome its pulp status to be recognized among scholars as truly deserving the title of "literature." This course focuses on (mostly) American novels and short fiction written during or after the "Golden Age of SciFi" (1950sish). We will read classic works by authors such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Heinlein, but we will also engage with more contemporary authors suchh as Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Margaret Atwood, all of whom challenge the genre's prior preoccupation with white, male, authors.

course.goals

• to develop strategies for careful reading of literary texts.

• to develop strategies for analyzing, in writing, specific aspects or attributes of literary texts.

• to gain a clear understanding of and appreciation for the unique contribution of SF as a literary genre and a mode of cultural critique

• to understand the complex relationship between American SF literature and its culture.

• to enjoy what we read.

grade.breakdown

5 short response papers (2 pp or 500 words) 10% ea, 50% total
Essay (4-6 pp or 1000-1500 words) 20%
Final Exam 30%

Note: Course preparation and participation (in class and out of class) is crucial to our having a fun, engaging, and enlightening experience. Figured into students' overall grades are attendance, attentiveness to assignments, and attitude. Please keep this in mind.

response.papers

On five occasions during the semester, students will be asked to examine carefully one narrow aspect of a text we have been reading and discussing. The purpose of these focused and precise essays, no more than 2 pages in length, is to hone students' abilities to grapple with one limited topic of interest, whether that topic be a rhetorical strategy, a narrative trope, a single image or set of images (motif), a sustained theme, or a formal element. Students will be asked to write thesis-driven, focused, and controlled papers.

Essay

Towards the end of the semester students will be asked to write a longer essay with research. Students may develop a response paper into a longer essay or may begin with a fresh topic. The assignment will require that students write about one or more of the course readings in a close, careful, and critical way.

Please note the English Department Policy on Attendance: to be eligible to pass an English course, a student may miss no more than three times the weekly number of class meeting, regardless of the reason for these absences. This means that for classes like this one that meet three times a week, students who have in excess of nine absences cannot pass the course. Frequent absences, even when they fall short of this absolute limit, will adversely affect your grade.

"get out of jail free" card

To promote an atmosphere of personal responsibility and fairness, each student will receive one "get out of jail free" card at the beginning of the semester. In other words, the goal here is to encourage students to be conscientious about completing assignments, done right the first time, by their due dates. Students may use your card one time (I will keep a record of who uses his/her card and when) to:

"buy" a 24-hour extension on an out-of-class assignment
"buy" an opportunity to revise an essay for a better grade
create a "crib sheet" for the final exam on one side of the card

Students may not use their card to get out of an exam or assignment, to excuse an absence, or to retake a quiz or exam. They may not trade or sell cards to any other student.

texts

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale.
Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles.
Butler, Octavia. Dawn.
Card, Orson Scott. Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century.
Dick, Philip K. the Man in the High Castle.
Selected Handouts

schedule (click here to view)