Syllabus

Laurie Marks English English 334 SCIENCE FICTION

Syllabus (with course calendar)-printer-friendly

Laurie Marks

laurie.marks@umb.edu

Office: Wheatley 6-106

617-287-6742

Office hours: MWF 10-11 and 12-1

Required Texts (in order of publication—not the order we’ll read them)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Pocket), 1818.

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Signet), 1870.

C. S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Scribner), 1938.

Olaf Stapledon, Sirius (Dover), 1944.

Alfred Bester, The Stars my Destination (Vintage), 1957.

Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Ace), 1969.

Octavia Butler, Kindred (Beacon), 1969.

William Gibson, Neuromancer (Ace) 1984.

Joan Slonczewski, A Door Into Ocean (St. Martin’s), 1986.

China Mieville, Un Lun Dun (Del Rey) 2007.

Also, plan to rent (or view in Healey Library) “Blade Runner” (1982) and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954—not the later versions).

Course Requirements and Grades

On the due date of a reading assignment, you need to have completely read the assignment. Since most of the readings are novels, some of significant length, plan ahead. To keep up with the coursework, you need to read 300-500 pages a week.

The quizzes are given in the first 10-15 minutes of class, and if you miss class or arrive too late to do the quiz, you will receive an F. Quizzes cannot be made up. The two lowest grades will be dropped, and the average of the remaining four is worth 20% of the course grade.

The papers are due on the given due date, but may be submitted one class meeting late with no penalty. The paper assignments will be posted to the website ten days before the due date. The first paper is worth 20% of the course grade, and the second paper is worth 25% of the course grade.

The final exam will be a comprehensive essay exam worth 35% of the course grade.

I will give you an individual progress report at mid-semester, but you can request one any time.

Attendance

You may be absent six times with no penalty, and you don’t need to explain or get excuses for those absences. If you’re absent seven times, you will fail the course.

Academic Honesty

I enforce a strict standard of academic honesty. If you plagiarize or engage in other kinds of cheating, you will fail the class. Plagiarism, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct (please review the code at http://www.umb.edu/students/student_rights/code_conduct.html), includes:

Submitting as one’s own an author’s published or unpublished work (e.g. material from a journal, Internet site, newspaper, encyclopedia), in whole, in part, or in paraphrase, without fully and properly crediting the author.
Submitting as one’s own work or materials obtained from another student, individual, or agency without full and proper attribution.
Submitting as one’s own work material that has been produced through unacknowledged or unauthorized collaboration with others.

Materials on Reserve in Healey Library (3rd floor):

1. C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (Harcourt Brace, 1975)

2. Robert Scholes and Eric Rabkin, Science Fiction: History, Science, Vision (Oxford University Press, 1977)

3. Mark Rose, Alien Encounters: Anatomy of Science Fiction (Harvard University Press, 1981)

4. Robert Crossley, H. G. Wells (Starmont, 1986)

5. Tom Shippey, ed. Fictional Space (Blackwell, 1990)

6. Robert Crossley, Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future (Syracuse University Press, 1994)

7. Jane Donawerth, ed. Frankenstein’s Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (Syracuse University Press, 1997)

8. Gwyneth Jones, Deconstructing the Starships: Science, Fiction and Reality (Liverpool University Press, 1999)

9. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. (Novel on which “Blade Runner” is based.)

10. Ridley Scott, director, “Blade Runner” (1982).

11. Richard Fleischer, director, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954).

12. Alex Proyas, director, “Dark City” (1998).

13. Stanley Kubric, director, “2001, a Space Odyssey” (1968).

In addition, you may want to consult the extremely useful Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, available in the reference room on the 4th floor. The Healey Library also owns an extensive run of the scholarly journal, Science-Fiction Studies.

Course Calendar

Date	Due	Activity
W 9/3
F 9/5	Shippey, “How to Read…”
M 9/8 (add-drop ends 9/9)	Chiang, “Story;” Lem, “Seventh;” Otaño, “Gu Ta Gutarrac.”
W 9/10
F 9/12	Shelly, Frankenstein	QUIZ #1
M 9/15
W 9/17
F 9/19	Stapledon, Sirius
M 9/22
W 9/24
F 9/26	Murphy, “Wife”; Film: “Blade Runner”
M 9/29
W 10/1
F 10/3	Verne, 20,000 Leagues	QUIZ #2
M 10/6	Film: “20,000 Leagues”
W 10/8
F 10/10	Lewis, Silent Planet
M 10/13 (Columbus Day)	NO CLASS
W 10/15		Paper #1 due
F 10/17
M 10/20	Butler, Kindred	QUIZ #3
W 10/22 (mid-semester)
F 10/24
M 10/27
W 10/29	Le Guin, Left Hand
F 10/31
M 11/3
W 11/5
F 11/7	Slonczewski, Door into Ocean	QUIZ #4
M 11/10
W 11/12
F 11/14
M 11/17	Bester, Stars my Destination
W 11/19
F 11/21
M 11/24		Paper #2 due
W 11/26	Gibson, Neuromancer	QUIZ #5
F 11/28 (Thanksgiving recess)	NO CLASS
M 12/1
W 12/3
F 12/5	Miéville, Un Lun Dun	QUIZ #6
M 12/8
W 12/10
F 12/12 (Last class meeting) Final Exam TBA

Be prepared to rent on tape or DVD Riddley Scott’s film Bladerunner.

Course Reserves for Fall 2008:

1. Miéville, China. Un Lun Dun / China Mieville.

Call Number: PR6063.I265 U5 2007

2. Slonczewski, Joan. A door into ocean / by Joan Slonczewski.

Call Number: PS3569.L65 D6 1986

3. Gibson, William, 1948- Neuromancer / William Gibson.

Call Number: PS3557.I2264 N48 1984

4. Butler, Octavia E.Kindred / Octavia E. Butler ; with an introduction by

Robert Crossley.

Call Number: PS3552.U827 K5 1988

5. Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929 The left hand of darkness / by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Call Number: PS3562.E42 L4

6. Bester, Alfred. The stars my destination / Alfred Bester ; with a new

introd. by Paul Williams.

Call Number: PS3552.E796 S7 1975

7. Stapledon, Olaf, 1886-1950. Sirius, a fantasy of love and discord, by Olaf Stapledon.

Call Number: PR6037.T18 S5 1944

8. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963 Out of the silent planet / by C. S. Lewis.

Call Number: PR6023.E926 O9

9. Verne, Jules, 1828-1905. Ten thousand leagues under the sea.

Call Number: PQ2469.V4 E5 1991

10. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein; or, The modern Prometheus. (The 1818 text) Edited, with variant readings, an introd., and notes, by James Rieger.

Call Number: PR5397 .F7 1974

11. C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (Harcourt Brace, 1975) PR6023.E6O3 1975

12. Robert Scholes and Eric Rabkin, Science Fiction: History, Science, Vision (Oxford University Press, 1977)

PN3448.S45 S28

13 Mark Rose, Alien Encounters: Anatomy of Science Fiction (Harvard University Press, 1981) PN3433.8 .R6

14 Robert Crossley, H. G. Wells (Starmont, 1986) PR5777 .C7 1986b

15 Tom Shippey, ed. Fictional Space (Blackwell, 1990) PR13 .E4 v.43

16 Robert Crossley, Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future (Syracuse University Press, 1994) PR6037.T18Z6 1994

17 Jane Donawerth, ed. Frankenstein’s Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (Syracuse University Press, 1997) PS374.S35 D66 1997

18 Gwyneth Jones, Deconstructing the Starships: Science, Fiction and Reality (Liverpool University Press, 1999) PN3433.8 .J66 1999

19. Dick, Philip K, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Paperback)

First published in 1968

In addition, you may want to consult the extremely useful Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, available in the reference room on the fourth floor. The Healey Library also owns an extensive run of the major North American scholarly journal, Science-Fiction Studies.