English 334: Science Fiction					

Second Essay

Due:  Monday 12/8; late papers accepted without penalty until Wednesday 12/10

Length: about 8 pages typed, double-spaced

Topics:  As with the first essay, this one should deal with multiple texts:  either three literary texts from the course or two literary texts plus one critical reading from library reserve.  No more than one text for this paper can be repeated from the texts you wrote about for the first essay. Here are some sample topics, but I am open to other possibilities that appeal to you:

1.  Read Ursula LeGuin’s essay “Is Gender Necessary?” (in Language of the Night, on library reserve) and use her essay as a point of departure for discussing the “thought experiments” about gender and gender roles in The Left Hand of Darkness, Butler’s Kindred, and Slonczewski’s A Door Into Ocean.

2.  Displaced persons in science fiction.  “I’m in double exile, you know,” says Nisi in A Door Into Ocean.  The situation of the exile, the refugee, the displaced person is common in texts we’ve studied.  Choose three figures to study from this perspective, such as Nisi or Spinel in Door Into Ocean, Dana in Kindred, Estraven in The Left Hand of Darkness, Ransom in Out of the Silent Planet.

Alternately: Rebels and rebellion in science fiction.  Gully Foyle in The Stars My Destination is an anti-hero who becomes a visionary in a universe populated by powerful and indifferent institutions.  Choose three rebels to examine, such as almost anyone in Neuromancer, the Sharers of Shora, and Captain Nemo.

3.  Strangers in Strange Lands.  Study the settings in science-fictional texts that present other worlds.  How are effects of strangeness and beauty achieved, and how does setting reflect on larger purposes in the narratives?  Suggested examples:  Shora in A Door Into Ocean, Malacandra in Out of the Silent Planet, the planet Winter in The Left Hand of Darkness, Cyberspace or Freeside in Neuromancer, the Scientific People’s asteroid in The Stars My Destination.

4.  Mrs. Brown in Science Fiction.  Read Ursula LeGuin’s essay “Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown” in The Language of the Night (on library reserve), and apply her study of character in science fiction to at least two characters from two different novels we’ve encountered in the course.

5.  Is Reading Science Fiction Really Any Different from Reading Other Kinds of Fiction? Re-read Tom Shippey’s essay “How to Read Science Fiction” (You should have a copy from the beginning of the semester, or you can download again from the website.)  Apply his ideas--or modify them, or argue against them--in relation to how you read any three books in the course.

6.  The Grotesque in Science Fiction.  Read the final chapter, titled “Monster” in Mark Rose’s Alien Encounters (on reserve) and pay attention to his argument about the grotesque being an essential feature of science fiction.  Apply his argument, in whatever ways seem useful, to two instances of grotesque or monstrous beings in works we have studied:  for instance, Frankenstein’s creature, the several species of Malacandrians in Out of the Silent Planet, Molly or one of the other modified humans in Neuromancer.

7.  Write your own ticket.

Guidelines (same as for the first essay):

1)  The suggested topics are all stated quite generally and could be the subject of a book as well as a short paper.  You will, therefore, need to focus and specify the topic in order to treat it effectively in an 8-page essay.  Be concise, be specific, and give relevant examples; do not quote at length.  Quote only relevant phrases to illustrate your ideas, and give page references in parentheses rather than footnotes.  List the editions you are using at the end of the paper, in alphabetical order by author’s last name.

2)  Do not write plot summaries.  Your focus should be analytical and comparative.   Consider questions like these in shaping your essay:  How do your chosen texts treat an issue in ways that are both parallel and contrasting?  What moment in each of the texts could you discuss in some detail as a sample of how that text speaks to the issue you are exploring?  What is distinctive about what each text reveals about this issue?  Which of the treatments seems to you most powerful or most instructive?  Why?

2) Give your finished essay a revealing and interesting title.  Don’t just call it Paper # 2.

3) Revise your drafts and submit the best possible essay you are capable of writing.  Proofread carefully for correctness and for style.  I do not encourage resubmissions of papers for a better grade.

4.  Observe all guidelines on academic honesty.