You're Teaching a Course on SciFi...What's On the Syllabus?

[Sandwurm88]

I started this thread cause I'm taking a pretty interesting science fiction literature course right now. If you were a professor teaching a college level course on SF, what novels/ short stories would you require? Obviously there are going to have to be subgenres and periods that you glaze over a little bit --but I'd say 6-10 novels (if some are on the shorter side) is pretty standard, with a few short stories thrown in here and there, and maybe 1-2 films (we did Metropolis in the one I'm taking now).



Since my reading in the genre has been heavily skewed towards novels over short stories, I think I'd probably do something like:

first unit:
Frankenstein
The Time Machine
Star Maker

second unit:
2001: a space odyssey (film)
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Dune
There Will Come Soft Rains
any well known PKD short story

third unit:
Ender's Game
Burning Chrome and Johnny Mnemonic (Gibson short stories)
Revelation Space
Hyperion


Really tough to narrow it down...you have to leave out so much!

[Omphalos]

Not a bad list for identifying important works during certain eras of the genre. The first unit looks pretty solid, though a little light. Id add some shorter works. Maybe Benjamin Buttons or The Machine Stops.

The second unit needs some work. I think you should put in some New Wave stuff, like The Genocides. And there is better known Bradbury; Maybe Fahrenheit 451. For a college course I might consider leaving Dune out. It's too massive a work. Maybe go with some older Niven/Pournelle, like Mote in God's Eye

the third unit needs some work. That stuff is too old. I'd shitcan the Gibson stuff and add some Banks. Shitcan Revelation Space and add some Peter Watts.

But if I were doing this from Scratch I would arrange it not by era, but by theme. Hit on some big SF themes and find great works that way. For example:

Dystopia: The Machine Stops, The Futurological Congress, Arslan, Watchmen, City of Truth
Alternate History: Beyond Thirty, Behold the Man, Farthing
Satire: Harrison Bergeron, Planet of the Apes, Slaughterhouse Five
Colonization: After Worlds Collide, Rocannon's World, the Legacy of Heorot
Dying Earth: Last and First Men, A World out of Time, Lilith's Brood, The Gunslinger
Ecology: Earth Abides, The Drowned World, Ecotopia
Space Opera: something by Banks, a Foundation story, Old Man's War

I know that is too much for a single class, but you get the idea. Look at how SF treats important ideas, then go through them chronologically and show how attitudes about those ideas have changed as time has passed. IMHO that is the best way to teach a bunch of kids who don't know sf well what it is really about.

[Naib]

For early scifi I would add the Lensmen series.

I would also look at foreign scifi with Perry Rhodan (series) and Stanislaw Lem.

As a special unit I would look at the relevancy of classic scifi in a modern world with special attention on The Space Merchants by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl.

[Ampoliros]

I'd add some Verne to part I.

I also second that part III needs some Banks. Probably The Player of Games, or maybe Matter.

[Freakzilla]

Asimov, Foundation or maybe Robots of Dawn

[Robspierre]

Need a Heinlein juvenile in there, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, or Citizen of the Galaxy.

I would probably go with some other Gibson short fiction, something that fits the modern era more...

You also need more women authors, James Tiptree Jr, Anne McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh, Ursula K.Leguin, etc.

Rob

[Freakzilla]

You also need more women authors, James Tiptree Jr, Anne McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh, Ursula K.Leguin, etc.

Julian May

[Naib]

You also need more women authors, James Tiptree Jr, Anne McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh, Ursula K.Leguin, etc.

Julian May

Andre Norton

[Omphalos]

You could have a separate graduate level course on women's contribution to SF, and if there is a brain in your head it will present Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin as the dual centerpieces. Two of the best the genre has to offer, of either gender.

[SadisticCynic]

You could have a separate graduate level course on women's contribution to SF, and if there is a brain in your head it will present Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin as the dual centerpieces. Two of the best the genre has to offer, of either gender.

I've never read any Butler, and a quick look at her Wiki tells me she has a few different series to choose from (besides standalone). Any suggestions on where to start?

[Omphalos]

You could have a separate graduate level course on women's contribution to SF, and if there is a brain in your head it will present Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin as the dual centerpieces. Two of the best the genre has to offer, of either gender.

I've never read any Butler, and a quick look at her Wiki tells me she has a few different series to choose from (besides standalone). Any suggestions on where to start?

Lilith's Brood/Xenogenesis is my favorite. http://www.omphalosbookreviews.com/inde ... ws/info/76" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fledgling is really good too, but it's not really a SF story.

But honestly everything is good. Even the book that she later disowned.

[Robspierre]

The genre lost Butler too soon, she was a true genius and an amazing writer.


Rob

[xcalibur]

Need a Heinlein juvenile in there, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, or Citizen of the Galaxy.

Asimov, Foundation or maybe Robots of Dawn

For a college course I might consider leaving Dune out. It's too massive a work.

I agree, this is what I was going to post.

obviously Dune is one of the greatest of all time and a personal favorite, but it's too rich and deep for a semester. I'd add it to the further reading list, alongside The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Rendezvous with Rama.

[Hunchback Jack]

I would definitely sprinkle in more short works, rather than focusing exclusively on novels. Short stories were the mainstay of SF through much of its history, and you can get a wider range of material, too.