ENGL311

In this class we will explore the literary and cultural phenomenon that is the science fiction short story. You don't have to be a science-fiction reader to enjoy and learn from the work in this course. In fact, a central focus of the class will be to use and to investigate SF-genre reading values and literary reading values simultaneously. We will learn about the deep history of the genre then trace its development from the mid-19th century to the rise of the pulp magazines -- especially Amazing, Galaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction -- before moving into the highly literary and experimental New Wave of the 1960s. We'll end our survey in the 1980s, perhaps with a brief glance at the present. We'll become familiar with such SF historians, critics and theorists as James Gunn, Brian Aldiss, Darko Suvin and Farah Mendelsohn. We'll delve into one short-story collection, Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and we'll read work by such authors as Philip Jose Farmer, Clifford Simak, J.G. Ballard, Harlan Ellison, Bob Shaw, Pamela Zoline, Pamela Sargent and Carol Emshwiller.

WE - WEC (Writing Emphasis Course)

017593