This unit will introduce students to contemporary discussion and debate about science fiction. It will examine: Various theoretical approaches to the analysis of science fiction. The historical development of the genre from the gothic through to cyberpunk. The debates over the genre's social role, whether as a source for the stabilisation or for the subversion of social norms. A number of key science fiction texts, drawn from the novel, film and television.The approach will be from a cultural studies perspective, which will seek to problematise the conventional binary oppositions between high and low culture, literature and fiction. -- Course Website
Instructor: Professor Andrew Milner
Prerequisites: A first-sequence in English, Literary Studies or Cultural Studies or permission
