Science Fiction (Themes in Literature)
English 222 (TTh)
Instructor: Joshua Matthews
Email: joshua.matthews@dordt.edu
Office:
FO 2226
Office
Hours:
Office
Phone:
Required Texts
Ursula
Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
Stanislaw Lem, Solaris
Isaac Asimov, I, Robot
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep?
Walter Miller, A Canticle for
Leibowitz
A. and B. Strugatsky, Roadside
Picnic
Frank Miller, The Dark Knight
Returns
Films:
The Day the Earth Stood
Still (1951)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
12 Monkeys (1995)
The Matrix (1999)
Course Description
Zombies!
Time travel! Evil aliens from the other side of the galaxy! This course
introduces you to the major scenarios, plots, characters, and themes of science
fiction (sf). We’ll read and watch several sf works closely, striving to
illuminate the worldview(s) of each work, while comparing everything we read
and watch. We’ll also emphasize the
importance of literary historicism and cultural contexts in interpreting sf
texts. As well, we’ll analyze the
cultural uses of sf in our society. Why do people create stories about the
future, stories about the trajectory and impact of technology in our lives? Why
do modern consumers demand these stories in all
forms of media? And just what do
alien invasion stories, apocalypse stories, and stories about galactic
colonization have to do with the “real world,” with political, cultural, and
religious issues?
Course Goals:
1) To learn to be more active, more critical readers and movie-watchers,
able to capably and accurately interpret sf texts.
2) To better understand the role and impact of science and the philosophy
of science in cultural productions, productions including books, movies, and TV
shows. And, conversely, to understand the ways in which sf has impacted science
and culture.
3) To notice and analyze the underlying presuppositions of sf texts,
presuppositions regarding the question of evolutionary development (past and
future), human and artificial intelligence, xenophobia and xenophilia, the idea
of the progress of civilization, the uses and limitations of science, human
nature (its capabilities and limits), the fate of the universe, and the
existence and nature of God.
4) To apply techniques of literary analysis to any sf text, capably
understanding and critiquing each text in terms of an orthodox Christian
worldview.
5) To write and speak about sf in a sophisticated, academic manner (e.g.,
coherently, objectively, in great detail, with relevant details, etc.)
Grading
Participation: 10%
Responses: 24%
Take-Home
Exam: 20%
Student
Presentation: 24%
Final Exam: 22%
Assignments
Participation: Participation
and class discussion are vital to this course.
I define “participation” as 1) active listening, 2) being prepared to
answer questions when called upon, 3) offering ideas voluntarily, and 4)
showing up to class on time and having your textbooks with you. If you do these consistently, you will receive
a 100% for your participation grade.
Please note that I do not weigh all of these considerations equally; the
last two are the more important items to me in the above list. (Implicit in the above description is that
you will come to class having read the assigned readings.)
Responses: Each of you will be
assigned to a reading group, either group A or B. You are responsible ONLY for the responses
for your particular group. You’ll write
eight reading responses throughout the semester. These responses must make a reply (at least
250 words, or about one double-spaced page) to one of the following prompts:
·
Find a strange or unusual moment/paragraph/sentence in the text.
Why is this moment strange or unusual to you? How is it significant for your
reading of the text and/or in terms of the texts we’ve read so far?
·
Which character is your favorite? Why? What political/social/moral/spiritual
issues does the character represent? What political/social/moral/spiritual issues
does the character confront? Be sure to
quote from the text.
·
What real-world issue, event, or ideology is this book wrestling
with? Find a passage that demonstrates
your answer, and show how this passage demonstrates your answer.
All responses must be posted in our online
class forum ONE HOUR BEFORE the class in which they are due. They will be a substantial part of our class
discussion, so please be well prepared before class.
To write a good response, you can do a number
of different things. One is to come up
with a thesis about a text—about its plot, a character, or anything else—and
then argue for that thesis. Another kind
of good response might begin by asking a question or two, pose answers to those
questions, and then end with more questions based on those answers. You are free in these responses to be insistent,
argumentative, inquisitive, curious, or even uncertain. But be sure to offer
substantial content. Feel free in these
responses to make connections between the text and other texts from outside of
class, or between the text and historical events. All good responses will quote
from the text.
Take-Home
Exam: An exam that may contain a number of short
answer questions and short essays. While
this exam is open-book, you must
present original answers, uniquely and originally phrased. All essays on the exam must contain a
substantial thesis, firmly supported by ample evidence, coherently argued. The final exam might also be a take-home exam;
whether it is will be determined during the semester.
Student
Presentations: All students will give a
lengthy (~25-30 minute) presentation on a topic closely related to our course
texts and discussions. Your presentation may be made alone or in groups,
depending on class size. Please use
handouts, visual aids, Youtube clips, and any other presentation aid to help
yourself and your audience. You are required to visit with me in my
office at least once and at least two
weeks before you give your presentation; we’ll discuss what you’re
doing, and the office visit is part of your presentation grade.
The presentations will be mostly informative,
since your audience (the class) probably will not have read/seen the text
you’re presenting on. So you’ll want to
talk about the text’s influence and reputation, author/creator/director
biography, and the major plot/character/theme highlights of the text you’re
analyzing. Sounds like a straight-up
book report, right? Except you’ll also
need to deeply analyze the
text for us, and contextualize its worldviews and messages within our ongoing
class discussions. For example, you can
compare the work you’re presenting on with a text we’ve all already read and
discussed in class. Be sure to show us specific scenes and quotes from your
text, lead a discussion amongst the whole class, ask us questions, show a clip
or two from a movie, smile, gesture, speak loudly, make eye contact, and have
loads of fun!
Grading
Scale:
A+ 99-100
A 94-98
A- 93-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-73
C- 72-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-63
D- 62-60
F 59-0
Late
Papers and Missed Work
You
alone are responsible for all classes and in-class work that you miss. You must prepare for all contingencies,
especially computer crashes. I do not
accept late work or give makeup exams for any reason, with one exception. That exception is: you must bring me a signed
doctor’s note or a signed statement from a university official, with a contact
phone number for the signatory, which excuses and verifies your absence.
Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism
Dordt
College is committed to developing a community of Christian scholars where all
members accept the responsibility of practicing personal and academic integrity
in obedience to biblical teaching. For
students, this means not lying, cheating, or stealing others’ work to gain
academic advantage; it also means opposing academic dishonesty. Students found to be academically dishonest
will receive academic sanctions from their professor (from a failing grade on
the particular academic task to a failing grade in the course) and will be
reported to the Student Life Committee for possible institutional sanctions
(from a warning to dismissal from the college).
Appeals in such matters will be handled by the student disciplinary
process. For more information, see the
Student Handbook at: www.dordt.edu/campus_life/student_handbook/
Students’
Rights to Accommodations
Students who need access to accommodations based
on the impact of a documented disability should contact the Coordinator of
Services for Students with Disabilities (CSSD): Marliss Van Der Zwaag, ASK
Center (Library Basement), (712) 722-6490, mmvdzwaag@dordt.edu.
On
Proper Interpretation
Some
students mistakenly believe that the act of interpretation is a subjective
free-for-all. They ask: “What right do you the teacher have to give me a bad
grade on an essay? After all, I interpret the text differently from you. You gave me a bad grade just because you
don’t like or agree with my interpretation.” Or they say: “This is an English
class. Any interpretation is right!”
Yet
these students forget that not all interpretations are valid
interpretations. In fact, almost all
possible interpretations are either wrong or irrelevant. Believe it or not, the Harry Potter books are
not about your grandmother’s cat. Nor
are they about the biography of Abraham Lincoln. The former example demonstrates that while
interpretations may be personal—I may like a work because it has some important
meaning for my life, a meaning only I
and my grandmother really understand—they are irrelevant as public arguments,
since few share your unique life experiences.
Interpretation
is, therefore, a social act. Arguments
for an interpretation must be relevant, useful, and applicable to other people,
especially to the intended audience of your argument. They also must take into account all available textual evidence. 1984 cannot
be interpreted as a book that promotes a totalitarian state, or as a book that
promotes torture as a political tactic, or the use of lying in politics. Such interpretations fail to account for
textual evidence, the author’s biography, and the book’s historical and
cultural contexts—all of which are crucial to sound interpretation. Be aware
that if your interpretation would seem novel or crazy to most people, then its
arguments and evidence must be rock solid.
Course
Calendar
Note: this is a
tentative calendar. Readings and assignment dates may change at
my discretion, depending on special circumstances (e.g., bad weather, sickness,
alien invasion, supervolcano explosion).
Date
|
Readings/In Class Activity
|
Assignment
|
Aug. 28:
|
Introduction to Class
|
|
Aug 30:
|
Brooks Landon, “The Culture of Science
Fiction—Rationalizing Genre”; Ursula Le Guin, Preface to The Left Hand of Darkness
|
FIRST
CONTACT STORIES, or “Take Me To Your Leader”
|
||
Sept. 4:
|
Star
Trek: The Next Generation,
“Darmok”
|
|
Sept. 6:
|
The
Day the Earth Stood Still (1951
film)
|
|
Sept. 11:
|
Ursula Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (1-103)
|
Group
A
|
Sept. 13:
|
Ursula Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (103-end)
|
B
|
Sept. 18:
|
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (1-160)
|
B
|
Sept. 20:
|
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (160-end)
|
A
|
Sept. 25:
|
Stanislaw Lem, Solaris (1-105)
|
B
|
Sept. 27:
|
Stanislaw Lem, Solaris (105-end)
|
A
|
Oct. 2:
|
Twilight
Zone, “The Monsters Are
Due on Maple Street”
Twilight
Zone, “To Serve Man”
|
|
Oct. 4:
|
NO CLASS – Readings Days
|
|
Oct. 9:
|
Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic (1-104)
|
A
|
Oct. 11:
|
Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic (105-157)
Student
Presentation: War of the Worlds
|
B
|
Oct. 16
|
Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic (158-end)
Student
Presentation: Starship Troopers
|
B
|
Recommended: Stanislaw Lem, His Masters Voice and Fiasco
Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
2001:
A Space Odyssey (1969
Stanley Kubrick film)
Karen Joy Fowler, Sarah Canary
The
Iron Giant (1999 movie)
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE STORIES, or “I Can’t Let You Do That, Dave”
|
||
Oct. 18:
|
Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (1-68)
|
A
|
Oct. 23
|
Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (112-170)
Student
Presentation: Star Wars (1977)
|
|
Oct. 25:
|
2001:
A Space Odyssey (Part
3 of 1969 movie)
|
Take-Home
Exam Due
|
Oct. 30:
|
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1-82)
|
B
|
Nov. 1:
|
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (83-144)
Student
Presentation: Forbidden Planet (1956)
|
A
|
Nov. 6:
|
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (144-end)
Student
Presentation: A.I. Artificial Intel. (2001)
|
A
|
Nov. 8
|
The
X-Files, “Kill
Switch”
|
|
Recommended: Stanislaw
Lem, The Cyberiad
Battlestar
Galactica (2004 TV
Series)
Wall-E (2008 movie)
Portal 2 (video game)
APOCALYPSE
STORIES, or “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
|
||
Nov. 13:
|
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (Part
I)
Student
Presentation: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1958)
|
|
Nov. 15:
|
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (Part II)
Student
Presentation: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
|
|
Nov. 20:
|
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (Part III)
|
A
and B
|
Nov. 22:
|
THANKSGIVING BREAK – No Class
|
|
Nov. 27:
|
Planet
of the Apes
Student
Presentation: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2010)
|
|
Nov. 29:
|
The
Dark Knight Returns,
Books I and II
|
B
|
Dec. 4
|
The
Dark Knight Returns,
Books III and IV
|
A
|
Dec. 6
|
12
Monkeys
|
|
Dec. 11
|
The
Matrix
|
|
Dec. 13
|
Final Exam Review & Course Wrap-up
|
Final
Exam
|
Recommended:
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
Russell
Hoban, Riddley Walker
Mad
Max Trilogy (movies)
Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas (video games)
NOTE: I do not necessarily support any of the ideas or worldviews
in any of our course texts or recommended texts. These recommendations are
merely a guide, one that points you towards professional acquaintance with major
writers and works in the sf tradition.
Interesting
and Fun:
·
Gene
Wolfe, Book of the New Sun (arguably
the best SF novel yet written), plus the Long Sun series and the Short Sun
series and Fifth Head of Cerberus. Enjoy!
·
Robert
Heinlein, Starship Troopers is a
must-read. Also The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress and Stranger in a Strange
Land are highly influential. I am partial to The Door into Summer. Tunnel in the Sky is much like, but
better than, The Hunger Games.
·
H.G.
Wells, The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds are
must-reads. All of his other sf novels
are pretty interesting.
·
Connie
Willis, The Doomsday Book and her
other stuff.
·
Dan
Simmons, Hyperion. This one’s got a great audiobook version.
·
Lost (TV series)
·
X-Files (TV series)
·
The Prisoner (TV series)
·
Dark City (1998 movie by Alex Proyas)
Famous
Dystopias: Yevgeny Zamatyin, We
Metropolis
(1927 Fritz Lang movie)
Aldous
Huxley, A Brave New World
George Orwell, Animal Farm and 1984
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale
SF Humor: Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy and its sequels
Terry
Pratchett’s Discworld novels – these are must-reads!
Galaxy Quest (1999 movie)
Terry
Gilliam’s movies (Time Bandits, Brazil, etc.)
Doctor
Who (BBC series)
Futurama (TV series)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV series
featuring really bad sf movies)
Challenging: Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination
Philip K.
Dick, novels and short stories, especially Ubik
William
Gibson, Neuromancer and his other
novels
Alphaville
(1965 movie by Jean-Luc
Godard)
Stalker (1979 movie by Andrei Tarkovsky)
Primer (2004 movie by Shane Carruth)
Please
see Brooks Landon’s Science Fiction After
1900 for a much longer list of sf recommendations. Also check out the winners of the Hugo Awards
and Nebula Awards, which are the top sf prizes for authors.
