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Semester 2

Reading Science Fiction (ENLI10391)

Course Website

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/honours

Subject

English Literature

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 4 English Literature courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses, and we do not consider civilisation & other interdisciplinary courses, freshman seminars, writing/composition courses or film/cinema/media courses; visiting students who have taken multiple courses in literature in other languages, should have passed at least two courses in English Literature as well. **Please note that this course may incur additional costs to purchase core texts** **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

By projecting possible tomorrows, science fiction poses fundamental questions about the world of today. This course examines the ways in which science fiction narrative constructs, presents and explores who we are, how we engage in community, and how we respond to otherness. It does this by reading and discussing some of the most influential and challenging science fiction texts of the last hundred and fifty years. Through careful analyses of the literature, discussions will work outwards from the texts towards investigations of the ways important scientific, philosophical, social and political ideas are presented. An influential critical definition of science fiction is that it is the literature of 'cognitive estrangement': that it de-familiarises our world by presenting alternate realities that are conceptually explored so as to raise questions about consensus views of reality, technology, consciousness, identity and politics. And these are the topics on which discussion will focus.

Course Description

'Without an image of tomorrow, one is trapped by blind history, economics, and politics beyond our control. One is tied up in a web, in a net, with no way to struggle free. Only by having clear and vital images of the many alternatives, good and bad, of where one can go, will we have any control over the way we may actually get there in a reality tomorrow will bring too quickly.' (Samuel Delany, 'The Necessity of Tomorrows'). **By projecting possible tomorrows, science fiction poses fundamental questions about the world of today. This course examines the ways in which science fiction narrative constructs, presents and explores who we are, how we engage in community, and how we respond to otherness. It does this by reading and discussing some of the most influential and challenging science fiction texts of the last hundred and fifty years. Through careful analyses of the literature, discussions will work outwards from the texts towards investigations of the ways important scientific, philosophical, social and political ideas are presented. An influential critical definition of science fiction is that it is the literature of 'cognitive estrangement': that it de-familiarises our world by presenting alternate realities that are conceptually explored so as to raise questions about consensus views of reality, technology, consciousness, identity and politics. And these are the topics on which discussion will focus. **Rather than offering a broad survey of the history of the genre, this course is analysis-focused and concept-led: taking two or three key themes, we will discuss the forms of presentation used to explore them in a range of science fiction narratives. This semester, we will focus particularly on the following topics: **The idea of 'the human', especially as it relates to gender, sex, race and identity politics: how might conventional accounts of human nature be challenged by encounters with aliens with very different social codes and practices, or with animals that have developed or been given 'consciousness', or machine intelligence? **Perception and reality: can we believe what we experience, especially in the altered states of narcotic intoxication or in a world where the distinction between virtual life and biological existence has begun to dissolve? **Power, surveillance and resistance: in cultures that are increasingly closely monitored by those in power, what possibilities are there for freedom or resistance? Or, alternatively, where all traditional power systems have collapsed, how can human being survive and make sense of their worlds? **Each of these themes will be explored in relation to a selection of very different approaches in the material, ranging from the foundational science fiction work of H.G. Wells, through classic 'Golden Age' writings of Arthur C. Clark, to 'New Wave' counter-cultural authors like Philip K. Dick and experimental Afrofuturists such as Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler, as well as feminist authors such as Ursula Le Guin, James Tiptree jr and Margaret Atwood. The contrasts between the approaches to each of the topics by the various texts, both in terms of style and politics, will be discussed to examine the range of possible futures and accounts of the present that science fiction writing makes possible.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on an English Literature exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one 3rd year English Literature course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed, and students will not be permitted to enrol in three 3rd year English Literature courses in the same semester at any time. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

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