Science Fiction (SF) is a relatively recent literary genre originating in the early nineteenth century and flourishing in the United States after the 1930s. Often maligned by critics and academics, in more recent years SF has been adopted by scholars of Cultural Studies as a means to contextualize scholarly inquiry on a variety of topics of contemporary relevance. SF literature and film is thus reconceived as a portal for engaged critical reflection, dialogue, and writing on, for example: the fragile relationship between humans and the natural world; the political degeneration of enlightened utopian designs into tyrannical dystopian realities; anxieties regarding the future fallout of ongoing changes in the way societies define gender; fears about human technological ambition with regard to social interaction or procreation or surveillance; the proliferation of virtual reality constructs and the impact of this trend on traditional conceptions regarding both morality and mortality.
CLCS 199 is designed as a seminar-style laboratory for literary, cinematic, and theoretical discussion. Equal emphasis will be placed on classic SF short fiction (by authors such as Isaac Asimov, Brian W. Aldiss, E. M. Forster, Karl Capek, Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ) and several contemporary SF films such as A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, Blade Runner, and Gattaca.
- Teacher: Fabio Ferrari