English 173 - Spring, 2017

Science Fiction (Cross-listed w/ STS)

Class Information

Instructor: Clover, Joshua
CRN: 91273
Time: TR 4:40-6:00
Location: 206 Olson

Description

SF Red, SF Green: Collective Ecologies

SF, among its powers, is able to imagine the trajectories and possible overcoming of seemingly irrevocable crises. This course will consider books that confront, in various ways, the planetary crises of capitalism and climate collapse, under the overlapping headings of eco-SF and communist imaginaries. We will be particularly interested in approaches that do not assume these are simply technical problems, and take the opportunities of science fiction to test out the puzzles of relation to natural resources and collective life. We will keep one eye on the present while we do our reading.

Grading

A mix of participation, reading responses, final essay, and final exam.

Texts

The Dispossessed, Ursula K. LeGuin
Red Plenty, Francis Spufford
The Wind-Up Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi
Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin