Early Science Fiction Literature and Film module (EN51025)

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Credits

20

Module code

EN51025

The aim of the module is to introduce you to works of science fiction literature and key remediations on film from 1818 to the early 1960s.

You will develop an understanding of the concerns and themes of science fiction, including issues of power, technology, and alienation, super/posthumanism.

We will also examine the way in which these texts and films speculate about the future, or raise ethical questions relevant to the time of their creation.

Indicative topics:

  • Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
  • Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)
  • H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1898)
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915)
  • Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (1921)
  • Katharine Burdekin, Swastika Night (1937)
  • Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (1924)
  • Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
  • George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four (1949)
  • H.P. Lovecraft, Stories
  • Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954)

Assessment

100% coursework

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

  • Perform close reading of science fiction texts at a sophisticated level
  • Show familiarity with the historical development, topical contexts and cultural influence of these texts
  • Show awareness of the variety of genres and themes and how these might be analysed and interpreted using close reading
  • Articulate independent critical responses to these works

Convenor

Dr Keith Williams

Teaching

There are bi-weekly seminars lasting two hours, as well as online discussion boards.