HOW TO JUSTIFY SF AS SCIENTIFIC  AND WORTH INCLUDING IN CLASS: Tips from a veteran of the struggle

I work with the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory education outreach committee.  That may not sound like fun automatically, but we are planning a workshop around hard science SF, which is less written today than it was in A…[Read more]

Oh dear, it looks like I accidentally posted twice. Sorry!

There are some amazing conversations going on here. Going back to the initial question, why do so many academics fail to recognize SF as a legitimate literature, part of that stems from the rise of the novel and the idea that social realism is–to paraphrase the literary critic F. R. Levis–the only subject worth writing about. This is tied into…[Read more]

There are some amazing conversations going on here. Going back to the initial question, why do so many academics fail to recognize SF as a legitimate literature, part of that stems from the rise of the novel and the idea that social realism is–to paraphrase the literary critic F. R. Levis–the only subject worth writing about. This is tied into…[Read more]

Anna,

One way to explain the genre of SF is to use some of the grea writers’ words. Although Ray Bradbury only was a part-time SF writer, he made a case for the opening of minds and the stimulating of creativity that going beyond the mundane here and now can achieve.

This one-hour video from Point Loma Nazarene University is excellent and I use…[Read more]

California Baptist University (CBU) in Riverside, CA does not teach a sf lit class, but it does teach a creative writing sff class. It is hugely popular as most of the creative writing students are interested in sf. CBU may not be reading sff, but we are teaching students how to write it. I personally shied away from sf for a long time. I did not…[Read more]

Speaking of “Uncle Isaac” Asimov, I used to be one of his many pen pals.  He was a kind and generous man.

Glo

I think the SF from Central and Eastern Europe is a bit more varied than one or two anthologies exposure will credit.

The countries other than Russia have a variety of writers.  In the older generation Josef Nesvadba is one of the later generation of Czech writers after Karel Čapek, the creator of the word “robot” in his 1922 play R.U.R. (…[Read more]

Spelman College in Atlanta GA, has had a science fiction course on the books since the 1990’s. Just this semester I developed a new course called Butler’s Daughters: Imagining Leadership in Black Speculative Fiction. I team taught this course with speculative fiction writer Tananarive Due.

I only recently began to incorporate my love of…[Read more]

In Georgia the only college or university that I know teaches science fiction literature as a class is Georgia Tech.  As far as I know, it isn’t taught at Georgia State University or the University of Georgia.  If it’s taught anywhere else, I don’t know about it.  I’d like to take an online course in science fiction.  In fact, I’d like to get a P…[Read more]

Hi, Everyone.
In Latin America there is still a very serious disdain for sf, despite a very healthy readership, a long history, and many very well-known writers. There are many reasons for the stigma. However, the issue can be traced to an academic misunderstanding of sf as the byproduct of popular culture for the masses as well as a distrust on…[Read more]

Sorry for the typo marked and corrected at **.  I never know if correcting a typo is worth an extra post, but I felt embarrassed here because of the company of English professional colleagues.  Glo

Hello, all,

I agree that the stigma against science fiction in the classroom seems to be decreasing but the widespread teaching of science f…[Read more]

Hello, all,

I agree that the stigma against science fiction in the classroom seems to be decreasing but the widespread teaching of science fiction in college lit. classes also is declining.  I may be wrong, but I believe  that the number is down.  The number of science fiction course sections any given year or period of time may be keyed to th…[Read more]

Why is it that every time I post here I get a 504 Gateway Timeout message?

Hmm, I received a 504 error and thought it didn’t post, so I re-submitted, but apparently both posts went through.  I edited the second post a bit for clarity.  I’ve also noticed that a lot of sff writers and readers believe that science fiction and religion don’t mix.  This, of course, is nonsense.  I have a list of religious science fiction sto…[Read more]

Gloria:  That reminds me of Galileo as the poster child of the oppressed scientist when he brought a lot of it on himself by making fun of the Pope, calling him Simplicio in a dialogue.  I’m not saying what Galileo’s exile was right, but experiencing negative effects from tweaking the nose of the most powerful man in Europe is as unsur…[Read more]

Gloria:  That reminds me of Galileo as the poster child of the oppressed scientist when he brought a lot of it on himself by making fun of the Pope, calling him Simplicio in a dialogue.  I’m not saying what Galileo’s exile was right, but experiencing negative effects from tweaking the nose of the most powerful man in Europe is as unsurprising as W…[Read more]

Great topic, and good comments!

I may be incorrect, but I feel as though the stigma against SF in literature departments is gradually decreasing, especially since publications like Carl Freedman’s Critical Theory and Science Fiction and Fredric Jameson’s Archaeologies of the Future.  That said, I certainly agree that we still see the effects of…[Read more]

Hello,

I have the history that explains this bias.  In Victorian London, Henry James took up H. G. Wells and hoped to mentor the younger man, even collaborate on a Mars novel.  When Wells–a Cockney from a lower social strata–chafed at the great man image that James cultivated and (horrors!) parodied James in his novel Boon, James broke off t…[Read more]