English 314: Studies in Popular Genres Science Fiction Queens College, CUNY / Fall 2010 / Prof

English 314: Studies in Popular Genres Science Fiction Queens College, CUNY / Fall 2010 / Prof. Seo-Young Chu

+ CLASS MEETING TIME: Monday 6:30 - 9:20 PM

+ CLASS MEETING LOCATION: RA/102

+ COURSE DESCRIPTION: We will explore some of the ways in which works of science fiction (SF) have dealt with topics such as gender, war, ethnicity, and the near future. We will also explore the many identities of science fiction itself – as a genre, a subculture, a marketing tag, as a state of mind, a set of reading protocols, as the opposite of realism, as a type of realism, and as a growing presence in everyday reality. Weekly units are arranged by topic. Texts encompass film (Blade Runner, Aliens, The Matrix), prose fiction long and short (authors include Asimov, Atwood, Butler, Gibson, and Yamashita), poetry (Dickinson and Yeats, among others), and music (from Ligeti to Radiohead).

+ LEARNING GOALS: - To learn how to think creatively, analytically, and experimentally about texts that challenge conventional reading protocols. - To become acquainted with a range of influential works of science fiction diverse in medium, authorship, and subject matter. - To continue developing proficiency in the arts of oral and written communication through a variety of informal and formal assignments.

+ BOOKS FOR THE COURSE (available at the QC Bookstore): - Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus (Oxford) by Mary Shelley - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Del Rey) by Philip K. Dick - Robot Visions (Roc) by Isaac Asimov - Babel-17/Empire Star (Vintage) by Samuel R. Delany - Lilith’s Brood (Grand Central Publishing) by Octavia E. Butler - The Handmaid’s Tale (Anchor) by Margaret Atwood - Slaughterhouse-Five (Dell) by Kurt Vonnegut - Ender’s Game (Tor) by Orson Scott Card - Neuromancer (Ace) by William Gibson - Tropic of Orange (Coffee House Press) by Karen Tei Yamashita

+ REQUIREMENTS - Class participation (regular attendance; active, informed, thoughtful contributions to dialogue; respectful engagement with colleagues): 25%. - Blackboard discussion board activity (one post per week in response to the readings plus at least two comments per week in response to other posts; you are welcome to use the discussion board forums and threads as frequently as you like): 25%. - Prospectus (500-1000 words) for your final paper: 5%. - Close reading/textual analysis (1000 words, approx. 1.5 pages single-spaced) in connection to your final paper: 5%. - Annotated bibliography for your final paper: 5%.

1 - Final paper (4000 words, approx. 12 pages double-spaced) due to me via e-mail by 11 PM on Saturday 12/11/10: 20%. - A ten-minute oral presentation on your final paper, to be delivered before a conference of your colleagues at the end of the semester: 5%. - Final take-home essay exam: 10%.

+ MY OFFICE HOURS (Klapper 642): Monday 5PM-6PM; Wednesday 5PM-6PM; by appointment + MY OFFICE PHONE NUMBER: (718) 997-4685 + MY EMAIL: [email protected]

Defining “Science F i c t i o n ”

[ Week 1: Monday 8/30/2010]

AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Introduction to course. Requirements, goals, expectations, grading policy, etc. + Writing guidelines and tips. + Handout: various definitions and accounts of “science fiction.” What do you notice about these accounts? How are they different from one another? How are they alike? Is anything missing from them? What is the significance of the word’s origins (Gernsback) and etymology? + Visual images: concept art, book covers. Audio clips: 2001: A Space Odyssey; Radiohead. Poetry: “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain”; “Pyramid Song.” Are these texts science-fictional? If so, what exactly makes them science-fictional?

[ Week 2: Monday 9/13]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. + Your colleagues’ discussion forum entries (see below for more details). + Resources and databases on science fiction (see Blackboard) to get a sense of keywords, themes, authors, potential topics for your final essay. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Choose a sentence or paragraph in Frankenstein that you find especially “science-fictional.” Write an entry (length is up to you) addressing the following points. (1) Type up and identify the passage you selected (chapter, page number). Explain how and why the passage exemplifies what you have in mind by “science- fictional.” Be sure to define what you mean by “science-fictional.” (2) Rewrite the passage to make it even more science-fictional. This might mean deleting certain details, adding certain details, reconfiguring certain details – or something else altogether. (3) Explain how exactly your revisions make the text more science-fictional than it was before. Please post your entry to the Blackboard discussion forum by 11 PM on Thursday 9/9. Read your colleagues’ entries, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ entries (as well as your own) in class. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Frankenstein: context; reception and afterlife of text; status as “first SF novel”; the gothic in relationship to SF; etc. + Class discussion of BB discussion forum entries. Did you notice any recurrent themes? Did any of your colleagues’ essays surprise you? + Broader discussion of Frankenstein. Possible topics: science-fictional emotions; technology vs.

2 magic; images of scientists; gender; reproduction; literary form (epistles, narrative frames, etc); names.

Artificial Humans

[ Week 3: Monday 9/20]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Robot Visions by Isaac Asimov. Read the entire collection, with particular attention to: “Introduction”; “Robot Visions”; “Too Bad!”; “The Bicentennial Man”; “Segregationist”; “Galley Slave”; “The Friends We Make”; “The Laws of Robotics”; “Cybernetic Organism”; “Robots in Combination.” Pay attention to the visual illustrations as well. + Articles on robot rights and the uncanny valley (online – I will provide links). + Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” (online). + Your colleagues’ BB entries. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Post your reaction to any aspect of the reading for this week. Length and form are up to you. Remember to post your entry on Blackboard by Thursday 11 PM at the latest. Read your colleagues’ entries, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ entries (as well as your own) in class. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. The term “robot”; the term “android”; the term “cyborg”; robot as human-made object possessing the attributes of human subject; the uncanny (Jentsch: intellectual uncertainty – animate vs. inanimate); the uncanny valley (Mori, graphs, Japanese robots, examples in film); creature in Frankenstein as humanoid artifact and victim of uncanny valley. + Other possible topics: robot ethics; gender; illustrations of robots in Robot Visions; whether Asimov’s robots are uncanny; the cyborg as category of lived existence today (“born” and “constructed” on a continuum: pacemakers, etc); SF short stories vs. SF novels; specific passages that you might wish to examine in detail with the rest of the class; responses to BB discussion board entries.

[ Week 4: Monday 9/27]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick. + “Her Lips Are Copper Wire” by Jean Toomer. + Your colleagues’ BB entries. VIEWING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Blade Runner (1982), dir. Ridley Scott. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Discuss Asimov’s laws of robotics in relation to a scenario from one of the texts that we have read so far (e.g., Frankenstein, any of Asimov’s stories, Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Possible questions to consider: Are Asimov’s laws of robotics commensurate with the ethics of android behavior in Blade Runner? Do Asimov’s laws break down under certain circumstances? Are the laws of robotics fair to robots? Are they fair to humans? Are they relevant today? Choose one angle, develop a coherent argument, and use textual evidence to support your claims. Length of entry is up to you. Remember to post your entry on BB by Thursday 11 PM at the latest. Read your colleagues’ entries, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ entries (as well as your own) in class. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Possible topics: your responses to one another’s essays; the applicability of Asimov’s laws of robotics (in SF and in real life); differences and similarities between Do Androids Dream and its film adaptation; empathy for robots; phobia of robots; the

3 uncanny valley; utopian robots vs. dystopian robots; robot subjectivity; the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis; science-fictional cityscapes; specific scenes or passages that you’d like to examine in detail with the rest of the class.

S c i e n c e - Fictional Language ( s )

[ Week 5: Monday 10/4]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Babel-17 (1966) by Samuel Delany. + “The Call of Cthulhu” (1928) by H.P. Lovecraft. + Your colleagues’ BB entries. WRITING/THINKING ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK. (1) Post an entry (length, form, topic are up to you) in response to this week’s readings. Please post by the usual deadline. (2) Start brainstorming for your final paper. Of the texts/topics that we’ve covered so far, which have you found especially challenging, rich, provocative? Of the texts/topics that we have yet to discuss (see weeks below), which ones strike you as particularly intriguing? Consult the resources listed on BB. Are there certain headwords, author names, book titles, or tags that seem likely to lead you to areas of interest? Post the results of your brainstorm. Please post by the usual deadline. Read your colleagues’ entries – both assignment (1) and assignment (2) – and post at least two comments. Depending on student interest, we may or may not discuss the brainstorm entries in class. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Lovecraft, Cthulhu mythos, Delany, metafiction, paratexts and intertextuality, publication history of Babel-17, linguistics in SF, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Delany’s essay on SF reading protocols. + Other possible topics: decryption; language as theme in all three texts; the relationship between Babel-17 and Empire Star; the question of whether there is such a thing as a science-fictional prose style; how SF gets marketed and published; specific passages that you might wish to examine in detail; responses to colleagues’ entries.

Science Fiction and Ethnicity

[ Week 6: Monday 10/18]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Dawn (1987) and Adulthood Rites (1988), the first two installments in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy. + Online definitions (including etymologies) of “xenogenesis” and “xenophobia.” + Your colleagues’ discussion board entries. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Post an entry (length/form up to you) on ethnicity and Xenogenesis. Possible topics: names; assimilation; xenophobia; Lilith’s ethnicity (to what extent does it matter in this narrative?); humans and Oankali as separate ethnic groups; colonialism; immigration; generational memory; intergenerational conflict; ambivalent ethnic identification; science-fictional “multiculturalism”; eccentric familial affiliations; Earth as ethnic homeland. As always, remember the deadline, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ essays (and your own) in our next session.

4 THINKING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Continue brainstorming for your final paper. (Your prospectus is due next week.) You are welcome but not obligated to post your thoughts online. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. The term and concept of “ethnicity”: etymology, history, theories. Ethnicity and SF. Robots as ethnicity. Xenogenesis and ethnicity. Postethnic humanity. Posthuman ethnicity. Babel-17 and ethnicity. To what extent does Rydra Wong’s ethnicity matter in this narrative? Can “Babel-17” be understood as an ethnic identity? Is being “tripled” a form of ethnic identification? Xenogenesis and ethnicity. Responses to others’ essays. Specific passages that you wish to examine in detail.

Science Fiction and G e n d e r

[ Week 7: Monday 10/25]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Imago (1989; the third installment of the Xenogenesis Trilogy). + OED definition of “imago.” + Re-read “Cyborg Manifesto” with gender in mind. + Your colleagues’ entries. VIEWING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Aliens (1986), dir. James Cameron. WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK. (1) Post entry (length, form, topic are up to you) in response to this week’s reading/viewing. As always, remember the deadline, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ essays (and your own) in our next session. (2) Write a prospectus (500-1000 words) for your final paper. Topics and texts are yours to choose, as long as they are related to the subject of this course. Your prospectus should (a) identify the specific texts/authors on which your paper will focus; (b) articulate a set of key questions and issues that you intend to examine in your paper; (c) articulate the main goal of your paper; (d) explain precisely how you plan on accomplishing this goal – e.g., indicate in concrete terms the angle from which you will approach your chosen objects of study. Email your prospectus to me by 11 PM on Thursday. You will receive feedback from me by next week. Feel free, but not obligated, to post your prospectus on BB. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Science fiction, gender, and sexuality. Cavendish, Gilman, Woolf, McCaffrey, Russ, Le Guin, Tiptree, Atwood, Tepper, Yolen. Possible topics of discussion: gender in Xenogenesis and Aliens; motherhood(s) in science fiction; alien “genders” such as the ooloi; sexuality; patriarchy and cyborgs; gender and biology; reproduction; gender roles in the xenogenetic family; whether Aliens is a “feminist” movie. Specific passages/scenes that you wish to examine in detail; responses to entries.

[ Week 8: Monday 11/1]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. “Screwfly Solution” (1977) by James Tiptree, Jr./Alice B. Sheldon (text is online). + The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood. + Your colleagues’ BB entries. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Post an entry (length is up to you) on the place of gender in any of the texts read so far this semester. You may focus on a single text, or compare/contrast two texts, or develop an argument about patterns that recur throughout several

5 texts. Possible topics: sexuality; “queer” familial arrangements; science-fictional men; female scientists vs. male scientists; misogyny in science fiction; mothers and fathers (and ooloi!); reproductive systems; genderlessness; gendered robots. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. James Tiptree, Jr./Alice B. Sheldon; Atwood and Handmaid’s Tale (background, critical reception, etc). Other possible topics: your responses to one another’s BB entries; similarities/differences between Handmaid’s Tale and “Screwfly Solution”; differences/similarities between gender in Handmaid’s Tale and gender in Aliens (is The Handmaid’s Tale more “realistic”?); femicide; transgender; intersection of gender and race; “strong female characters” in science fiction; the gender of science fiction; specific passages that you wish to examine in detail. + Near the end of class: a brief discussion of annotated bibliographies. (The annotated bibliography for your final paper is due this coming week.)

Science Fiction and W a r

[ Week 9: Monday 11/8]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut. + “The Show” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. + Your colleagues’ BB entries. WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK. (1) Post a BB entry (length, form, topic are up to you) in response to this week’s reading. As always, remember the deadline, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ essays (and your own) in our next session. (2) Annotated bibliography for your final paper due to me by 11 PM on Thursday (email attachment). AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. War in science fiction (Wells, Stapledon, Heinlein, Haldeman, etc). Handmaid’s Tale in relation to war. Slaughterhouse-Five, World War II, involuntary time travel, trauma. Metafiction, autobiography, paratexts. Involuntary time travel as a “realistic” way of portraying certain psychological states. WWI poetry as science fiction? Specific passages that you wish to examine in detail. Your colleagues’ BB entries.

[ Week 10: Monday 11/15]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Ender’s Game (1977) by Orson Scott Card. + “Creating the Innocent Killer” (2004) by John Kessel (online). + Your colleagues’ BB entries. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Post your response to the reading. For example: Select a passage from Ender’s Game that you found particularly rich/puzzling/troublesome and perform a close reading of the passage. Or construct a counterargument to Kessel’s thesis, using specific details from both texts to support your claims. Or discuss the relevance of Ender’s Game to the nature of warfare today. Those are just suggestions – feel free to pursue a different approach. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Ender’s Game and Kessel’s essay. What exactly is Kessel arguing? Do you agree with his claims? What are your thoughts on one another’s BB entries? Other possible topics: science-fictional children; xenophobia; virtual innocence; virtual heroism; video

6 games; differences and similarities between Ender’s Game and Slaughterhouse-Five; the conscience of science fiction; specific passages that you might wish to examine in detail.

V i r t u a l R e a l i t y

[ Week 11: Monday 11/22]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. (1) Online entry (length, form, topic are up to you) in response to this week’s readings/viewing. As always, remember the deadline, post at least two replies, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ essays (and your own) in our next session. (2) Write an essay (1000 words) in which you perform a close reading/textual analysis in connection to your final paper. Send your essay to me over e-mail by 11 PM on Saturday. I will get back to you soon with feedback. Feel free, but not obligated, to post your essay on the Blackboard discussion forum. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Context and reception of Neuromancer; techno- Orientalism; cyberpunk. Other possible topics: Ender’s Game in relation to virtual reality; virtual architecture; cyberpunk aesthetics; cyberpunk as subculture; techno-Orientalism; images of Asia in science fiction; specific passages/scenes that you might wish to examine in detail.

[ WEEK 12: Monday 11/29]

VIEWING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. The Matrix (1999), dir. Andy and Larry Wachowski. READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. “Sailing to Byzantium” (1927) by Yeats. + Excerpt from Plowing the Dark (2000) by Richard Powers (online). AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Similarities/differences between Neuromancer and The Matrix; poetics of virtual reality in Yeats, Neuromancer, and Plowing the Dark. Scenes from Animatrix (I will bring the DVD to class).

M i x e d R e a l i t y

[ WEEK 13: Monday 12/6]

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. Tropic of Orange (1997) by Karen Tei Yamashita. + “Slipstream” (1989) by Bruce Sterling (online). + “The Slipstream of Mixed Reality” (2004) by Katherine Hayles, Nicholas Gessler (online). + BB essays/stories. WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK. You have THREE options for this week’s BB entry. (A) In what ways is Tropic of Orange a “slipstream” narrative? Discuss. (B) Compose a brief slipstream poem/short story/hypertext/_____. Include a paragraph explaining how your story is “slipstream.” (C) Make a list of at least ten films and/or TV shows that you

7 consider slipstream. Briefly explain how and why each film/show qualifies as slipstream. As always, remember the deadline, post at least two comments, and be prepared to discuss your colleagues’ entries (and your own) in our next session. AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Possible topics: specific passages that you might wish to examine in detail; responses to one another’s slipstream stories/essays; Tropic of Orange in relation to definitions of slipstream by Sterling and Hayles/Gessler; whether slipstream is a form of realism; whether slipstream is a form of SF; whether lived existence itself is becoming slipstream today. How has your definition of SF evolved over the course of this semester?

C o n c l u s i o n

[Week 14: Monday 12/13]

Final paper due to me as e-mail attachment by 11 PM on the Saturday before our session this week (i.e., Saturday 12/11/10). AGENDA FOR CLASS TODAY. Final paper presentations. Each of you will give a 7- minute oral presentation of your final project to the rest of the class. Each presentation will be followed by a 5-minute question-and-answer discussion. + After all of the presentations have been given, there will be a wrap-up discussion of the course. Which weeks worked the best? Which weeks didn’t work so well? Which texts on the syllabus should stay? Which should be removed? How can the course be improved?

[ Week 15]

+++ Final exam, essay format, take-home, deadline TBD. +++