From: tabron1@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Subject: Re: What _ought_ to be in a proper course on sf?
Reply-To: tabron1@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 00:00:23 GMT

In article <727890934snz@keris.demon.co.uk>, chris@keris.demon.co.uk (Chris Croughton) writes:
>In article <1993Jan20.221624.15742@news.cs.brandeis.edu>
>            tabron1@binah.cc.brandeis.edu writes:
>
>>Well, I'm an educator with every intention of someday teaching a class in
>>science fiction, so I for one would be very interested in seeing what an
>>obviously knowledgeable and devoted group of fans like this group would
>>come up with for a syllabus.
>
>Can I come to your course when you teach it <g>?
>
>>I will say that it's gotta have Heinlein in it somewhere.
>
>And McCaffrey, of course <g>.  Well, if you include 'romantic science
>fantasy' in the genre...
>
>Back to the main subject, how about George Effinger?  I was most
>intrigued with his books that in spite of the large amount of technology
>(which seems to get it labelled as 'cyberpunk') I kept thinking that
>"this isn't SF, it's just a good thriller".
>
>I would agree in keeping away from most of the early Asimov, Clarke,
>etc., as they would just reinforce the general opinion that SF ig
>'gadget-mad'.  However, certainly some short stories from them would be
>a good idea (I might suggest some of Asimov's 'shaggy dog stories', to
>show that SF isn't *all* serious - for instance, "Shah Guido G" or "A
>Niche in Time").
>
>***********************************************************************
>*  chris@keris.demon.co.uk      *                                     *
>*  chriscr@cix.compulink.co.uk  *  FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life)  *
>*  100014.3217@compuserve.com   *                                     *
>***********************************************************************

If you promise not to tell anyone, Chris --

No, I wouldn't include McCaffrey. I like her stuff, as you well know, for a lot
of reasons but I actually don't think (whisper it) that she's a very good
writer. Or at least, I would not want to use her in a lit course.

I also don't think that Johnson, Pope, or Whitman are very good writers. So
that's no great incrimination. :-)

One point:

We probably need to recognize that this course should not be an "overview"
course, that is, it would be impossible to teach The Genre Of Science Fiction
(And Maybe Fantasy) in a semester (or even a year!) I'm looking at this as an
upper-level course for English majors and other interested parties (200 level
or whatever you like) for one semester in which SF/F works are treated as
literature.

To construct a course like this it might be best to decide first: What is it we
want to get across? There's no point in just letting them read a lot of novels
and talk about them each week with no destination or structure to the
discussion. (Well, OK, there is, but students can do that anywhere!) There
ought to be a benefit to constructing a formal class situation with students,
assigned work, and a prof who (hopefully) knows more about the subject than the
students and who has some interesting ideas about it. So what would be the
central theme of the class? Something about the ways in which SF allegorize the
world we live in? SF as the apotheosis of secular humanism? SF as the escape
routes of possibility for those with no escape routes in the "real" world?
What?

I'd like to see a reading list with somewhere around a dozen novels, as many
good short stories as we like, and some secondary or critical reading -- not
that there's much out there (and I do _not_ think much of _Billion Year
Spree_.)

Judith Tabron
tabron@binah.cc.brandeis.edu