English 173 - Winter, 2016

Science Fiction

Class Information

Instructor: Shershow, Scott
CRN: 22762
Time: TR 9:00-10:20
Location: 6 Olson

Description

In this seminar, we will not try to reconstruct the history of science fiction.
Rather, we will structure our approach to science fiction in terms of a four
sided diagram intended to denote the quadruple boundaries of human being. This
diagram thus takes the shape of a kind of “compass rose,” whose poles broadly
correspond to what Martin Heidegger famously calls “the fourfold.” To dwell on
the earth, Heidegger suggests, is always also to be “under the sky;” and for
human beings to “initiate their own essential being” as mortals capable of
death, is always also to “await the divinities” as “beckoning messengers” of an
unforeseeable future.

We will use this diagram to map the relation of four of the most common themes
of science fiction: understanding “sky” as the realm of the extraterrestrial and
the space alien, “earth” as the realm of the animal, “mortality” as our
inescapable relation to the dead and the past, and “divinities” as the infinite
possibilities of what might be called, for lack of a more specific name, the
future, the utopian or the “post-human”. When one draws this as a compass rose,
one finds the space alien is above us, the animal below, the dead behind, and
the post-human before or beyond.

In the class, we will read a wide assortment of science fiction texts ranging
from H. G. Wells in the early 20th century to the present day. In order to put
as many things before us as possible, we will read only a few full-length novels
and otherwise concentrate on short stories and novellas.

Grading

Short paper 20%, Midterm 20%, Longer Paper 25%, Final exam 25%, participation 10%.

Texts

Ubik , Phillip K. Dick
Dawn, Octavia Butler
The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells
Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein
And other texts on electronic reserve