Contrary to what many people assume, science fiction is less about new technologies, faraway planets, or the distant future, than about what it means to be human. It differs from mainstream literature and other genres, however, in how it asks this question from an imagined non-human, transhuman, or posthuman perspective. In approaching the genre from this perspective, we will read stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Philip K. Dick. We will also examine films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blade Runner, Alien, Matrix, and others. This body of literature and cinema will be placed in its social and historical context, as we trace the links between science fiction and the western literary and artistic tradition from antiquity to the 20th century.
- Teaching coordinator: Langlois Laura Hilary
- Teaching coordinator: Robinson Christopher