What Belongs In a High School Sci-Fi/Fantasy Lit Class? 1021
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ScuttleMonkey
from the fantasy-is-thinking-this-class-wont-get-axed dept.
from the fantasy-is-thinking-this-class-wont-get-axed dept.
flogger writes "I have been asked to help develop a literature course for Science Fiction and Fantasy literature. What do you consider to be appropriate selections of short stories and novels in these genres for high school students of all ability levels? I'd also like to know why you choose certain selections. This class will be 'regular' class and not a class for 'flunkies' to earn a credit by sitting docile and listening to lectures. The following is a course description that I have been given as a guideline. This description can change. Any ideas? 'In this Junior/Senior level course, students will focus on the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Students will survey the histories of these genres and recognize how world events have been reflected onto other worlds. From the early formation of the genre, with Verne, and the classics of Clarke, Tolkien, Bradbury, and LeGuin, to the contemporary works of Card, Jordan, and Vinge, the genres have been about portraying humanity in possible scenarios. These works have mirrored events throughout the troubled situations of our history and provided optimistic outcomes and horrifying predictions. Through this course, students will utilize analytical skills and reading strategies to evaluate our current situation and project into the literature of different worlds while sharing and learning of an author's insight. Possible areas of interest will be topics of the environment, energy conservation, war, social issues, and others. '"
Fahrenheit 451 (Score:3, Informative)
Movies (Score:3, Informative)
One thing that might generate extra interest is stuff that has been adapted into a movie. Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" comes to mind, but I'm pretty antiquated.
Enjoyable books, please. (Score:2, Informative)
Took similar course, but as a college junior (Score:5, Informative)
We spanned HG Wells (Time Machine) through Larry Niven (Ring World). A lot of it depends on how the material is presented. My prof at the time was a repressed poet, and went into the deep meaningful relationships in Heinlein's "Double Star" and swore that the author was seeing a shrink while writing the book. We also went through the original Foundation trilogy where the prof kept pointing out how the administrators of the planet were going through a feminization and had an oral fixation. During the discussion of "Dune" (and again later in "Ring World") there was pointing out of the male fear of falling into a hole - especially a hole with teeth.
Personally, I would look at the older scifi (golden age, 30s-50s) for technology that they proposed and see how long it took to actually implement. Then look at technology mentioned in contemporary scifi and see how close we are to getting there.
jerry
Don't forget Bradbury (Score:2, Informative)
The stories are short and insightful and will make for great discussions in this age group. Although it was written in the early 50's the stories are (from what I remember) still very relevant with great social commentary.
Even More Names to Consider (Score:1, Informative)
I actually had a High School lit course that covered some SciFi/Fantasy. The three books they used were:
Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes"
Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War"
John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar"
Re:More classics and sources (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, and for classic fantasy you can't do much better than pre-monotheistic mythology. Gilgamesh, the Iliad and Odyssey... all those fun gods and creatures that form the basis of modern fantasy. Don't forget the Celts and the Norse and the Slavs (Orson Scott Card wrote a book based on Slavic mythology!), and also don't forget African and Asian and pre-European-dominance Australian and American cultures as sources of myths that to this day color horror and fantasy.
Re:More classics and sources (Score:2, Informative)
I agree completely about looking beyond Asimov and company. I can't vouch for the Campbell (never read anything of his before). But here is my list of top picks.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein [wikipedia.org] is an excellent bit of classical literature that deals with topics such as hubris, justice, and divinity. It is also an enjoyable, easy read.
The War of the Worlds [wikipedia.org] is notable for being written in a timeless style. Its parallels to the imperialism of the British Empire is excellent fodder for in depth student research.
Good Omens [wikipedia.org] nicely turns Christian Apocalypse doctrine on its head while providing insights into the battles between bureaucracies and nation-states. May be controversial because of its connection to religious doctrine, but one of the more entertaining pieces on this list.
Gulliver's Travels [wikipedia.org], which is excellent satire, even if some of its messages are a bit heavy-handed. A little harder to read than some of the others, but an excellent piece nonetheless. Plus, there are so many common memes that derive from these tales. The various parts are easily read separately. If you only assign part of it, I would keep A Voyage to Lilliput and A Voyage to Houyhnhnms.
The Lottery [wikipedia.org] is a must-read. You should find out if many of your students have been exposed to this from other literature courses. If not, then go for it! It has so many lessons about peer-pressure, hypocrisy, institutional momentum, and more. Plus, it is the exemplar "twist ending."
The Mandatory Five (Score:3, Informative)
Also, the following should be included as well:
Drakon, by S.M. Stirling
Watermind, by M.M. Buckner
Improbable, by Adam Fawer (not listed as sci-fi, but definitely in the modern genre)
and, of course, A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
As someone who once took such a course... (Score:4, Informative)
I can tell you that you should explore the roots of speculative fiction and what it means. For example, here are the novels that we read in my class(which was admittedly a college-level course).
Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan)
The Invisible Man (Wells)
The Hobbit (Tolkien) - Whatever you do, don't try to do so thoroughly. The Hobbit alone is a lot of material.
The Neverending Story (Michael Ende) - HIGHLY recommend this one.
Divine Right's Trip (Gurney Norman) - This was an excellent book that I still reference today, but is probably the first one on this list that I'd drop.
Neuromancer (Gibson)
We also covered numerous short stories. A few of the more memorable ones:
The Cold Equations (Tom Godwin) - Excellent, if dated. there's a film of it, as well, but it added a lot of side material.
The Celestial Railroad (Hawthorne) - Highly recommended after Pilgrim's Progress.
The Last Question (Asimov) - Required reading.
Heinlein is also an excellent choice, though we didn't cover it in my class.
Nerds (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Enders Game... (Score:4, Informative)
Georgia Tech (Score:5, Informative)
Mervyn Peake (Titus Groan, Gormenghast) (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Don't mix literature courses and SF (Score:4, Informative)
Heck, if you really want to shock the parents with Heinlein, try "Job: A Comedy of Justice". My wife and I were reading it with each other through part of the labor of our second child. I think the monitoring nurse was either religious or a bit fundamentalist - at any rate she was awfully quiet, moreso than other nurses, or even she was before we began reading.
Don't Forget Max Brooks. (Score:3, Informative)
Where Le Guin is concerned... If you dare to subject high school kids to The Left Hand of Darkness, good luck reviving them afterward. I know little about Earthsea, but from what I've heard secondhand, that may be a more viable option for your purposes. If including a female author is what you're looking to do, then go for Mary Shelley, the woman who invented the science fiction novel.
Someone has probably already said it, but show people how wonderful the mind of Tolkien was by giving them The Hobbit, not the trilogy. The Hobbit is the book that made me love to read. As far as I'm concerned, it offers much more memorable people and places in a much tidier package than the drawn-out, song/poem-laden trilogy. One advantage to using LotR, however, would be if you were looking to get into the function of allegory.
For short stories, a nice place to start might be Neil Gaiman's collection Fragile Things.
Dune is awfully hard not to recommend. One of my favorite novels, it wasn't until I read it with others that I started to notice uncanny resemblances to certain modern-day desert conflicts.
And if you get a chance, be sure to fuck their minds up with some Phillip K. Dick and make them laugh with the first installment of Hitchhiker's Guide.
Re:Where was this class for me? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, the protagonist of the book (Juan Rico) was Filipino, as noted at the very end where he mentions they speak Tagalog [wikipedia.org] at home.
(Score: -1, Pedantic)