My Spring 2012 Near-Future Science Fiction Schedule of Assignments

You can find my ENGL 216 syllabus at http://www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/sf3/, but just in case the Fredonia site ever goes down, here's the (insane) schedule of assignments for my Spring 2012 Near-Future Science Fiction course.  OK, maybe it's not as insane as it looks, at least for writing assignments:  in addition to ongoing participation on our discussion board, students have to write at least two critical essays (not all four listed!)

T 1/24 Introductions, Overview, Set-up.
Th 1/26 Near-Future? Science Fiction?

The Bad Old Century

T 1/31 Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part One-Two (1-230)
Th 2/2 Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part Three-Appendix (231-323)

T 2/7 Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Part I-XI (1-253)
Th 2/9 Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Part XII-Historical Notes (254-395)

T 2/14 Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, Part One-Two (1-203)
Th 2/16 Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, Part Three (204-288)

The Bad New Century

T 2/21 Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Part One-Two (1-110)
Th 2/23 Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Part Three-Coda (111-190)
F 2/24 CRITICAL ESSAY I due by 11:30 pm in CE Drop Box on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

T 2/28 Butler, Parable of the Sower, 2024-2026 (1-133)
Th 3/1 Butler, Parable of the Sower, 2027 (134-295)

T 3/6 MacLeod, The Execution Channel, Part One-Three (1-184)
Th 3/8 MacLeod, The Execution Channel, Part Four-Five (185-285)

M 3/12-F 3/16 SPRING BREAK: NO CLASSES.

The Corporate Century?

T 3/20 Brin, Earth, Part I-IV (1-218)
Th 3/22 Brin, Earth, Part V-VIII (219-481)
F 3/23 CRITICAL ESSAY II due by 11:30 pm in CE Drop Box on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

T 3/27 Brin, Earth, Part IX-Afterword (482-667)
Th 3/29 Stephenson, Snow Crash, Ch. 1-16 (1-138)

T 4/3 Stephenson, Snow Crash, Ch. 17-43 (138-325)
Th 4/5 Stephenson, Snow Crash, Ch. 44-71 (326-468)

T 4/10 Morgan, Market Forces, Prologue-File #3 (1-289)
Th 4/12 Morgan, Market Forces, File #4-#5 (290-441)
F 4/13 FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL due by 11:30 pm on discussion forum on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

The Asian Century?

T 4/17 Gibson, Neuromancer, Part One-Three (1-156)
Th 4/19 Gibson, Neuromancer, Part Four-Coda (157-271)
F 4/20 CRITICAL ESSAY III due by 11:30 pm in CE Drop Box on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

T 4/24 McHugh, China Mountain Zhang, China Mountain-Homework (1-208)
Th 4/26 McHugh, China Mountain Zhang, Daoist Engineering-Three Fragrances (209-310)

T 5/1 Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl, Ch. 1-18 (1-182)
Th 5/3 Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl, Ch. 19-Epilogue (183-359); course evaluations
F 5/4 CRITICAL ESSAY IV due by 11:30 pm in CE Drop Box on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

TBA Final Project presentations
F 5/11 FINAL PROJECT due by 11:30 pm in FP Drop Box on course ANGEL site (attach as .rtf, .doc, .docx, or .pdf document, please).

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.