My Spring 2012 Near-Future Science Fiction Course

Here's the reading list for my Near-Future Science Fiction course, organized roughly by when the novels that I'll be teaching next semester are set:


George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go


Ken MacLeod, The Execution Channel
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower


Richard Morgan, Market Forces
Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
David Brin, Earth


William Gibson, Neuromancer
Maureen McHugh, China Mountain Zhang
Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl


I'm so psyched that less than a year after waking up with the germ of this course in my head, I'll actually be teaching it.


In addition, the American Studies Film Series next semester will feature near-future SF films.  More on both when the film series schedule is complete and my syllabus for ENGL 216 is online.

Imagine: A Science Fiction Puppet Fairy Tale

South Park dudes, look out! 'Cause a couple of my students have produced an epic science fiction puppet fairy tale called Imagine on a shoestring budget. Check it out:

Fantasy as Chick Lit?

No, that's not what Alyssa Rosenberg is arguing over at The Atlantic. Just read it for yourself!

Mark Twain's influence on Fantasy Fiction

Fantasy Fiction as a genre has come into its own over the last several decades. Authors like Tolkien and Lewis helped to form the genre, and authors like Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, and Robin Hobb have helped keep it alive; however, there has been a lot of debate on when and with whom the genre originated. While pivotal authors like Tolkien and Lewis are often given credit, other critics and scholars would argue for an origin found in fairy tales, or even earlier. Instead of focusing on one particular author or body of work as the origin of Fantasy Fiction, I would argue that Fantasy Fiction, like all genres, is more dependent on literature as a whole than some would believe. Authors outside of the genre contribute and impact Fantasy Fiction, because the authors of the genre are constantly influenced by work outside of it. Literary icons, like Mark Twain, contribute to Fantasy Fiction by impacting authors and the general public. Authors do not write from an isolated, independent perspective. Authors write from the perspective of a member of society, influenced by literature as a whole, whether that literature is contemporary or ancient. Anything an author has read influences the work of that author, affecting them on conscious and unconscious levels. Readers who closely analyze Fantasy Fiction can see the influence of Mark Twain. Twain’s influence can be seen in a realist writing technique, as well as topics covered in his books and essays. In Fantasy Fiction, readers can see, immersed among the magic and mysticism, discussions on slavery, opposing cultures and societies, realistic descriptions and understanding of fantasy based worlds, and characters based on a real world understanding of people. Twain’s influence can be seen in genres not his own, because as a literary icon, Mark Twain has impacted our society as a whole, affecting people on a level that defines his literature as iconic, something beyond words on a page.

Mark Twain subscribed to a realistic approach in his literature. Readers can view Twain’s disdain for unrealistic literature in his critique of Fennimore Cooper’s writings, particularly Cooper’s The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. Throughout the critique, Twain berates Cooper’s lack of realistic situations and failure to understand or observe real world examples. He mentions examples spanning from an incorrect understanding of artillery to the misunderstanding of how a streambed works. Twain goes on to discuss Cooper’s unrealistic, ridiculous characters and the impossible actions of those characters. Cooper’s characters accomplish feats impossible for any real person, such as shooting the head of a nail at one-hundred yards. In Fantasy Fiction, we can see the impact of Twain’s realistic approach. Authors like Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin are products of realistic writing. Fantasy fiction is a genre based on the impossible, on magic and mysticism, on our imaginations; however, the worlds that authors create are based on our own. How can these worlds not be? Authors of Fantasy Fiction take what they know and stretch it with their imaginations. What authors know is a culmination of their own experiences. In Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, Jordan creates a world both fantastical and realistic. His magic system follows a set of rules explained in the first book. The rules he uses are understandable by readers; they are realistic, because we can understand and apply them. Even though the magic seen in Jordan’s work is impossible, it is still realistic.

The realism found in Fantasy Fiction does not apply only to the impossible, fantastic components of the literature. The realism in Fantasy Fiction also applies to the characters. Twain was a firm believer in realistic accents and modes of thinking. In Twain’s the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck does not talk like an educated thirty-year-old man, because he is not an educated thirty-year-old man. Huck is an uneducated, backwoods, young teenager. As such, he talks like one. Jordan and Martin utilize a realistic approach in their books. Although the characters of their stories live in a fantastical world, those characters are based on real people, so those characters act like real people. Jordan’s attention to realistic characters can be seen constantly throughout his books. In the first book of Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, Jordan creates a scene in which he is able to better define the human qualities of two main characters, forcing actions upon those characters that are believable.

“Be at ease, Lan,” Moiraine said. “Be at ease. Wisdom, you think I can help Master Fitch and the people at the inn? Well, you are right.” Nynaeve started to say something, but Moiraine waved it away and went on. “I can go back by myself and give some help. Not too much, of course. That would draw attention to those I helped, attention they would not thank me for, especially with the Children of the Light in the town. And that would leave only Lan to protect the rest of you. He is very good, but it will take more than him if a Myrddraal and a fist of Trollocs find you. Of course, we could all return, though I doubt I can get all of us back into Baerlon unnoticed. And that would expose all of you to whomever set that fire, not to mention the Whitecloaks. Which alternative would you choose, Wisdom, if you were I?”

-Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World, 257

In this paragraph, readers see Jordan explaining and setting limits on the abilities of his characters. Realistic limits. Despite her ability to utilize the magic of Jordan’s world, the character Moiraine admits she cannot produce an ideal situation that helps Master Fitch with his burning inn and also allows the party of adventurers to escape. Through Moiraine, Jordan also limits the abilities of the warrior Lan, setting a vague limit on the amount of Trollocs and Myrddraal he can kill, even though he is a warrior of phenomenal skill. The reactions of the characters and the decisions each character makes are believable and follow the reader’s understanding of each character.

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, whether he realized it or not, helped to define the impact and role of African American culture on American society. Toni Morrison discusses the role of African Americans as a contrast to white society in her article Jim’s Africanist Presence in Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain’s book seems a story based in constrasts: freedom contrasted by slavery, and white culture contrasted by black culture. Morrison discusses these contrasts in her analysis of Jim’s freedom: “Thus the fatal ending becomes the elaborate deferment of a necessary and necessarily unfree Africanist character’s escape, because freedom has no meaning to Huck or to the text without the specter of enslavement, the anodyne to individualism; the yardstick of absolute power over the life of another; the signed marked, informing, and mutating presence of a black slave” (Morrison, 309). Twain’s utilization of contrasts, especially in racial and social roles, can be seen in several fantasy books. Robin Hobb’s The Soldier Son trilogy utilizes contrasts throughout all three novels. At the onset of the book, the main character, Nevare Burvelle, is exposed to a post-war world where Nevare’s society has recently conquered and subjugated a society known as the “plainspeople”. The plainspeople are treated as second-class citizens, being extorted and controlled by the society that conquered them. Nevare is entrusted to a member of this society, the enemy of his father, so he might learn to survive and rise above the plainspeople his father helped to conquer. The focus of the trilogy is Nevare’s experiences with the plainspeople, followed later by a forest people known as “specks”. Nevare is forced, through magic, to find a balance between these differing societies, eventually losing the distinction that separated him from the plainspeople and specks.

Fantasy Fiction cannot be understood through a specific origin or starting point. Instead readers must understand Fantasy Fiction as a genre that has come into its own, changing and shaping itself based on literature as a whole. Contemporary Fantasy Fiction authors cannot target Tolkien or Lewis as sole influences, because authors are influenced by everything they see, hear, read, and experience, reflecting those experiences in the literature they write. Mark Twain influenced Fantasy Fiction, because Mark Twain was a literary icon. Authors who read Twain are impacted by him, by Twain’s writing style and influences. Twain’s demand for realistic situations and characters can be seen in the work of successful Fantasy Fiction authors, such as Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin, and Robin Hobb. Readers can see Twain’s influence in the characters that seem believable and lifelike, in the systems of magic that can be understood, and in the topics Twain himself covered that have been revisited through a fantasy lens. Although Fantasy Fiction deals in the impossible and the imagined, authors base their worlds on our own, requiring rationalized characters, topics, and situations. As such, literary icons, like Twain, will continue to influence writers and readers, despite the genre.

Bibliography and additional reading:

Hobb, Robin. Shaman's Crossing. New York: EOS, 2005. Print.

Jordan, Robert. Eye of the World. New York: TOR, 1990. Print.

Martin, George R. R. A Game of Thrones. New York: Bantam, 2002. Print.

Morrison, Toni. "Jim's Africanist Presence in Huckleberry Finn." Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: a Case Study in Critical Controversy. By Mark Twain, Gerald Graff, and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1995. 305-10. Print.

Twain, Mark. "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses." University of Virginia Library. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

Sad News, Happy News

Sad news first: we've lost Brian Jacques.

Happy news next: a friend of mine from Japan, Fusami Ogi, is helping to organize a conference in Singapore on Women's Manga Beyond Japan this February 21st through 23rd.

Will This Course Idea Seem So Cool in the Light of Day?

All of a sudden, I've got the urge to teach another version of my Science Fiction course. But this time, instead of trying to sample a small number of novels on a small number of topoi, I've got this idea for teaching near-future sci fi that both gets us thinking globally and reveals something about the preoccupations of the time periods in which they were first written and read. So far, I've come up with works like William Gibson's Neuromancer, Masamune Shirow/Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Maureen McHugh's China Mountain Zhang, Cory Doctorow's For the Win, Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. What am I not thinking of that would fit that kind of reading list? Particularly from pre-cyberpunk sci fi?

Questioning Fantasy: A Guide to My Students' Response Essays from ENGL 299

Here are the questions my Fantasy Fiction class generated at the start of the Fall 2010 semester, along with links to their response essays that addressed specific questions:

BOUNDARIES OF FANTASY

Defining Fantasy

• What is fantasy? Samantha Brethel, Alexe Brode, Steve Grzybowski, Derek Herzog, Christy Hewitt, Luke Hider, George M., Victoria Rader, Casey Takacs, Steph Ward
  
• How ought fantasy to be defined? Steve Grzybowski, Luke Hider, George M., Victoria Rader, Casey Takacs
  
• What characteristics/features must a work have--what conventions must it adhere to or expectations meet--to be considered fantasy? Samantha Brethel, Derek Herzog, Christy Hewitt, Luke Hider, Victoria Rader
  
• What's the "recipe" for fantasy? Victoria Rader
  
• Do the plots make up the genre or is it more on the style of writing chosen that makes a work belong in the fantasy genre? Derek Herzog
  
• Does there have to be some sort of supernatural element for it to be considered fantasy? Samantha Brethel, Steve Grzybowski, Luke Hider, George M., Victoria Rader
  
• How do we define the difference between the ordinary and fantastical? Christy Hewitt, Victoria Rader, Steph Ward
  
• When is something not considered to be fantasy? George M.
  
• How inclusive/exclusive should our definition be and how rigid/flexible should we be in applying it? Steve Grzybowski, Luke Hider, George M., Victoria Rader, Steph Ward
  
• Is the genre of fantasy subjective? Alexe Brode, George M., Casey Takacs, Steph Ward
  

Fantasy's Varieties, Relatives, and Neighbors

• What kinds of fantasy are there (sub-genres)?
  
• How does fantasy relate to science fiction, horror, myth, epic, romance, magical realism, and so on? Samantha Brethel, Alexe Brode, Steve Grzybowski, Christy Hewitt, George M., Victoria Rader, Lizzie Reid, Zain Syed, Steph Ward
  
• What is the line between fantasy fiction and genres like horror and sci-fi? Can this line be blurred? Samantha Brethel, Alexe Brode, Steve Grzybowski, Christy Hewitt, George M., Victoria Rader, Steph Ward
  
• Why do so many border disputes arise and what's at stake in specific ones? Casey Takacs, Steph Ward
  

Origins and Development of Fantasy

• When did fantasy start?
  
• What author embodies the start of the genre fantasy fiction?
  
• What distinguishes fantasy per se from its predecessors, influences, and so on?
  
• How did fantasy develop?
  
• What are the key turning points or transformations in the history of fantasy?
  
• Will fantasy, as a genre, ever die out or become dated?
  
• Do genres have life cycles?
  

VALUE(S) OF FANTASY

Quality of/in Fantasy

• How is quality measured in fantasy books? Gabrielle Fletcher, Kayleigh Witkowski, Erica Yunghans
  
• Who are the best fantasy writers and why?
  
• How do they stack up to the best writers in other genres?
  
• What exactly distinguishes "good fantasy" from "bad fantasy"? Gabrielle Fletcher, Adam Glasier
  
• What attributes make up a great fantasy fiction story?
  
• What medium is fantasy best suited for (if any), and why?
  
• Why is fantasy on the lower/lowest rung of the literature ladder? Matt Pisarski
  
• Who decided that plays written in the Renaissance are much better and for the intellectually elite than a novel about witches and dragons? Is it because the prose used is generally more simple? Is it because the plots are "different"?
  
• How does fantasy stack up against other genres? Brittany, Zain Syed
• What are the stereotypes/preconceived notions pertaining to fantasy fiction? Brittany, Kristian Everett, Derek Herzog, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Zain Syed, Casey Takacs
• Is fantasy necessarily regressive, nostalgic, conservative, reactionary, irrational, escapist...? Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, Kristian Everett, Derek Herzog, Christy Hewitt, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney
  
• How do readers of fantasy get around the stigma that comes with the genre? Brittany, Derek Herzog, Matt Pisarski

Fantasy's Functions, Purposes, Uses

• Why does fantasy fiction exist? Lizzie Reid
  
• What is fantasy good for (if anything)? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, C. Dunn, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Christy Hewitt, Josh Jerome, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Lizzie Reid, Zain Syed, Casey Takacs, Kayleigh Witkowski, Tiffany Wood
  
• What is the purpose or role of fantasy in our culture? anonymous, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Lizzie Reid, Casey Takacs, Tiffany Wood
  
• What functions, uses, stakes might fantasy have for authors, readers, critics, institutions, society at large? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, C. Dunn, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Christy Hewitt, Josh Jerome, Hannah Morris, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Lizzie Reid, Zain Syed, Casey Takacs, Kayleigh Witkowski, Tiffany Wood, Erica Yunghans
  
• How have early fantasy writers affected today's society? C. Dunn
  
• What do responses to and debates over fantasy reveal (about society, present or past, at large or in particular groups or institutions)? Erica Yunghans
  
• Why do writers choose the genre of fantasy fiction? Eli, Eric Ellison, Adam Glasier, Lizzie Reid
  
• Is fantasy fiction meant merely as a means of entertainment or is it meant to be something deeper? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Josh Jerome, Hannah Morris, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Lizzie Reid, Zain Syed, Casey Takacs, Kayleigh Witkowski, Tiffany Wood, Erica Yunghans
  
• Can fantasy fiction be used as a platform for political, social, or cultural statements? Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Hannah Morris, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Erica Yunghans
  
• What messages are authors of fantasy fiction trying to convey? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Hannah Morris, Erica Yunghans
  
• What messages/attributes are typically included in fantasy books? For example, do they often include philosophical elements? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Eli, Eric Ellison, Josh Jerome, Matt Pisarski
• What is fantasy fiction able to teach us? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, Hannah Morris, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Kayleigh Witkowski
  
• Why are some of the key conventions of fantasy (world-building, good vs. evil, quest, coming of age, rise and fall of civilizations) so enduringly popular? anonymous, Kayla Carucci, Tiffany Wood
  
• Why do we retell previous stories through fantasy? Lizzie Reid
  

Studying Fantasy

• What is the state of the art in fantasy criticism?
  
• What value can scholarly study of fantasy bring to the university, to the industry, to fan communities, to regular readers? Matt Pisarski
• How is the study of fantasy fiction viewed?
  
• What can scholars learn about fantasy from those outside academia?
  
• Are we really learning anything relevant by studying fantasy fiction? anonymous, Mike Bayba, Christine Botham, Kayla Carucci, Eli, Eric Ellison, Kristian Everett, Gabrielle Fletcher, Josh Jerome, Matt Pisarski, Audrey Putney, Casey Takacs, Kayleigh Witkowski, Tiffany Wood
  

HOW FANTASY WORKS

• Is magic in fantasy analogous to science/technology in science fiction?
  
• What role does religion play in the writing of fantasy fiction? Mike Bayba, Josh Jerome, Hannah Morris, Casey Takacs, Steph Ward, Erica Yunghans
  
• Are modern authors as heavily influenced by religion as Tolkien and Lewis were? If not, is that a product of our times? If yes, could it be argued that since so many were influenced by Tolkien and Lewis as forerunners of the genre, who were themselves heavily influenced by religion, modern authors are just as heavily influenced by religion, whether they realize it or not?
  
• Why is identity (especially the quest for one's identity) one of the most common themes in fantasy fiction? anonymous, Kayla Carucci, Josh Jerome, Tiffany Wood
  
• How do fantasy fiction stories relate to their time period and culture? Kristian Everett, George M., Hannah Morris, Matt Pisarski, Erica Yunghans
  
• How many new ideas and stories can a fantasy author come up with, without repeating a story?
  
• There are only so many mythological creatures, and it seems like the good v. evil story is getting redundant. How do fantasy writers stay original? Gabrielle Fletcher
  
• What is the process of writing a fantasy fiction novel? How much time and commitment goes into fabricating a new world? Adam Glasier, Tiffany Wood