DEPARTMENT
OF ENGLISH, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, 2006-07
Instructor: Professor Ian Lancashire
Office: Room 122, Wetmore Hall,
Phone: 416 978-8279
Office Hours: Wednesday 12-2
E-mail: ian.lancashire@utoronto.ca
Course URL: www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ian/237f20032007.htm
A selection of major works
in speculative fiction published from 1954 to 2003 and intended for a mass
audience.
sf or speculative
fiction consists of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Whenever sf
imaginatively extends the hard (technology-based), social and human (medical,
psychological) sciences, it can be called science fiction. This extrapolates
from late 20th-century knowledge or takes a mythic perspective on scientific
issues. sf that favours an animate, mysterious or
supernatural universe can be called fantasy whenever it ends in escape and joy,
and horror whenever it ends in entrapment. We will read different forms of
post-WW2, largely North American sf. Most writers discussed in this course are
active in publishing. They include winners of the field's prestigious Nebula
and Hugo awards. Canadian writers have a high profile among speculative fiction
writers internationally.
Some works on this course return to themes
of traditional sf: AI (Adams, Clarke, Gibson), space
and time travel (Adams, Clarke, Wilson), utopias and dystopias (Amis, Atwood,
The defining work of postwar fantasy and
horror, the counterweight to science fiction, is Tolkien's 3-volume Lord of
the Rings. Typical themes of fantasy and horror include the world of
"faerie" (Tolkien) and time distortions (Amis) .
Two striking attempts to fuse the three
forms, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, are Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy (AI, talking sperm whale, and the end of the world)
and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (biogenetics, personal gods, and
the end of humanity).
The fiction (all paperback)
is available at the university's textbook store. It will also stock Understanding
SF, a collection of my essays on which my classes are based.
1.
Douglas Adams, The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
2. Martin Amis, Time's Arrow (1991)
3. Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
(2003)
4. Greg Bear, The Forge of God (1987)
5. Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
(1994)
6. Ted Chiang, Studies of Your Life and Others
(2002): see also "Division by Zero" online.
7. A. C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
8. Philip K. Dick, Man in the
9. William Gibson, Neuromancer
(1984)
10. Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let me Go
(2005)
11. Joanna Russ, The Female
Man (1975)
12. Nevill Shute, On the Beach (1957)
13. J. J. R. Tolkien, The
14. Robert Charles Wilson, The
Chronoliths (2001)
The following schedule of
lecture/discussions is subject to change at short notice.
The course grade will
consist of term work and a final exam, divided as follows:
The test on February 12 will cover Tolkien, Shute, Dick,
Clarke, Russ. It will consist of short-answer questions, such as
identifying and commenting on passages from these works. The test will offer
choice. Here is a sample passage:
We walked down to
the freeway -- the 118 -- and turned west. We would take the 118 to the 23 and
the 23 to U.S. 101.
Author:
Novel:
Speaker:
Significance:
Length: 2250
words.
Topic: Invent
a sf world that extrapolates significantly from scientific ideas as expounded by
one of the popular science books in list (a), that draws intelligently on mythological
or spiritual things in list (b), and that alludes strikingly
but indirectly to one film or television series. You may pair any one book from
list (a) with any one item from list (b). You may add a second book or myth of your choice. The film or television
series is up to you. Do not imitate an sf world of a work on this course.
(a) Alan Baddeley, Your Memory: A
User's Guide (cognitive psychology; Firefly, 2004); Paul Davies, Are We Alone? (extraterrestrial life; BasicBooks,
1995); Hans Moravec, Mind Children: The Future
of Robot and Human Intelligence (AI; Harvard UP, 1988); Matt Ridley, The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of
Human Nature (biology; Penguin, 1993); Peter D. Ward, Gorgon (palaeontology; Penguin, 2004); James D. Watson, The Double Helix (genetics; Norton,
1980).
(b) Kali; Gitche Manitou; the Book
of Revelation (Bible); T. S. Eliot's The
Essay Structure: your essay should have four parts—(i) a 1500-word synopsis of
characters and plot, aimed at submission to a literary agent; (ii) a 500-word
analysis of what you extrapolated from the popular science book and what drew
from mythology or religion; (iii) 250 words on the relationship of your
invention to the sf supergenre; (iv) a select bibliography of works cited or
used (use the MLA style): see the Purdue OWL summary.
Due date: Wednesday April 4. All essays must be
handed into me personally in class or left for me at the Porter's Lodge at
Wetmore Hall, where they will be date-stamped. Essays may not be submitted by
e-mail or other means.
Lateness Penalty: 5% per working day. Students who do not submit an essay by Friday
April 13 at 5 pm will receive a zero for this assignment. No essays will be
accepted after April 13.
The compulsary final
two-hour exam will be administered by the Faculty and will cover 12 novels (works
by Bear and