Course Description

All s/f involves a form of “world-building.” The module provides an introduction to the systematic study of "world-building" in the partially overlapping fields of fantasy, speculative fiction, and science fiction.  It examines the relation between the conventions of narrative technique, narrative realism and the alternative possibilities developed by s/f, sampled through a study of seven modern fictional texts chosen to represent the widest possible range of generic and thematic possibilities.  It addresses such fundamental questions as: What is the nature of imaginative fantasy? How does it differ from and relate to science fiction? What is the appeal of fantasy in relation to speculative, scientific, and quasi-scientific fiction? How does the notion of s/f unite and bifurcate the drives underlying allegory, fable, faery tale, myth, legend, parable, romance, supernatural or horror fiction, magic realism, and “hard” science fiction? What is the relevance of s/f in the world of today, and in relation to what the world might become in the future? How does s/f relate to religion, history, and science? All these questions are subsumed in the interests of examining the appeal of s/f as a serious fictional engagement with reality, and with imagined extrapolations from reality as commonly perceived.

Primary Texts  

  J.R.R. Tolkien                      Lord of the Rings (Part 1, The Fellowship of the Ring 1954)

  Stanislaw Lem                     Solaris (1961, tr. J. Kilmartin & S. Cox, 1970)

  Frank Herbert                       Dune (1965)

  Roger Zelazny                      Lord of Light (1967)

  Joanna Russ                        The Female Man (1975)

  Orson Scott Card                 Ender’s Game (1986)

  Octavia Butler                      Parable of the Sower (1993)

Continuous Assessment

 Each student is expected to do two oral class-presentations, and write one long essay of approx. 2,000 words on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the lecture, which will address an issue, topic, or theme covered in the lectures, and combining references to at least 2 texts (of which one can be an sf text from outside the syllabus).

Written assignment due by Monday 11 June.

Recommended  Secondary  Reading

Anthologies

  James Gunn (ed)                 The Road to Science Fiction, 6 vols. (1977-98)

  Eric Rabkin (ed)                   Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology (1983)

  Pamela Sargent &c. (ed)      Women of Wonder: The Classic Years (1995)

  Pamela Sargent &c. (ed)      Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years (1995)

 Reference Works

  James Gunn (ed)                   The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1988)

  J. Clute & P. Nicholls (ed)      The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993)

  Edward James                      Science Fiction in the 20^th Century (1994)

  David Pringle                         The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1990, 2^nd edn. 1995)

  J. Clute & J. Grant (ed)          The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)

  Critical Works

  Tzvetan Todorov                 The Fantastic, tr. R. Howard (1970/1975)

  Samuel Delaney                 The Jewel-Hinged Jaw:  Notes on the Language of Science Fiction (1977)

  Gary K. Wolfe                    The Known and the Unknown: The Iconography of Science Fiction (1979)

  G. E. Slusser &c (ed)          Bridges to Fantasy (1982)

  Stanislaw Lem                    Microworlds, ed. Franz Rottensteiner (1985)

  B. Aldiss & D.Wingrove       Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1986)

  Neil Barron                         Anatomy of Wonder (3^rd edn., 1987)

  John J. Pierce                    Great Themes of Science Fiction (1987)

  Charlotte Spivack                Merlin’s Daughters: Contemporary Women Writers of Fantasy (1987)

  Carl D. Malmgren                Worlds Apart: Narratology of Science Fiction (1991)

  Marleen S. Barr                  Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond (1993)      

  Jane Donawerth                  Frankenstein’s Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (1997)

Web  Links

GENERAL

SF Research Bibliography:

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/sfresearch.html

   ISF Database: http://www.sfsite.com/home.htm 

  SF Bibliographies: http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/bibliographies/authorlists/

  The SF Site: http://www.sfsite.com/depts/sites01.htm

  VOS S/F Page:  http://vos.ucsb.edu/shuttle/science.html#sci-fi  

  P. Brians Site: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/Science_Fiction_Guides.html 

  HUGO awards page:  http://www.jade-mtn.com/AWR/Hugos.html 

  SF Links: http://www.suite101.com/links.cfm/fantasy_and_science_fiction 

 Feminist S/f Site: http://www.wenet.net/~lquilter/femsf/  

TOLKIEN, LORD OF THE RING

 One Ring Tolkien Page:  http://onering.virbius.com/

 Tolkien Resource Page:  http://tolkien.cro.net/   

Tolkien Time Line: http://gollum.usask.ca/tolkien/ 

Top 25 Tolkien sites list:  http://members.listsitepro.com/25hobbits/index.shtml 

Tolkien Online: http://www.tolkienonline.com/index.cfm 

The Barrow Downs: http://www.barrowdowns.com/HI_index.asp

 Tolkien Languages Archive: ftp://ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk/pub/TolkLang/ 

LofR Trailer:  http://rpghost.com/tolkien/trailer.html 

LofR Movie Site:   http://www.tolkien-movies.com/

Gandalf photos (courtesy Mark): 

http://www.mckellen.com/events/vf/index.htm

  Stanislaw Lem Site: http://world.std.com/%7Emmcirvin/vitrifax.html

  Solaris Page:   http://skywalking.com/tarkovsky/sol.html  

  Lem interview: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2594/lem.html

  Lem site:  http://www.rpi.edu/~sofkam/lem/

 Lem/Huxley: http://www.rpi.edu/~sofkam/lem/thesis.htm

SOLARIS Study Guide:  http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/solaris.html

Scriptorium Page on Lem: http://themodernword.com/scriptorium/lem.html

LECTURE  RESOURCES

Issues of Genre -  Working Definitions

Lecture Outlines

Tolkien

The Other

Herbert:  Dune

Zelazny:  Lord of Light

Russ:  The Female Man

Card  Ender's Game

Butler:  Parable of the Sower

Assignment Topics

Last  Updated  20 September 2002