POL 440 Fall 2003

Course Objectives

 

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The major goal of this course is to sensitize you to the ways in which politics affects literature and how literary form and substance exert independent influence on public life. A secondary but important goal of the course is to show you how to read science fiction literature in different political contexts and how politics can be written in different literary forms. I hope that each student will develop an appreciation of the science fiction genre as a literary form which introduces readers to multiple future possibilities, complex views of society and the political world. Throughout the semester we will examine science/speculative fiction literature as a medium through which we think politically and thereby further develop your capability for critical thinking. Most of us read literature for the story, without thinking critically about it. Once we look closely at literature, however, we become sensitive to its variety and flexibility, its importance for our political life and political communities. Political analysis of science/speculative fiction literature, clarifying its hidden political presuppositions and assumption, is a step towards understanding the way in which we think. Rationality and rigor, well formed concepts, inferences, and arguments are forms of both science/speculative fiction literature and politics. They need to be understood on their own terms and also by extended comparison with other political literary forms. Students will become comfortable with different types of reasoning including varying assumptions and evidence. A final goal of this course is to will improve your literary and political skills, through reading, writing, and group interaction. All class sessions will center on discussion. The professor will act a facilitator; who will conduct the course as a seminar. This course presumes a high level of maturity and motivation on your part.

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