HIB020n Science, Society, Science Fiction. Bad Literature for Historians

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Dr. phil. Mag. Jan Jakub Surman (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Department of History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of History – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
Language requirements: the exercise will be carried out in English. Longer primary sources are available in Czech as well.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Since the 19th century, science fiction has held a firm place among literary genres. Yet historians rarely use it as a source for discussing historical processes. The seminar "Science, Society, Science Fiction. Bad Literature for Historians" will focus on the literature of the early 20th century to discuss how different products of science fiction can be used as historical sources-from pulp fiction to belles lettres to plays to films. We will discuss both better known authors such as Karel Čapek and lesser known/forgotten authors such as Hugo Gernsback.
Learning outcomes
During the exercise, students will not only gain skills in using various media as historical sources, but also learn key practices of historians such as bibliography, reviewing, formulating research topics, etc.
Syllabus
  • Unit 1: Introduction (2 á 90 minutes)
  • Unit 2: International Science-fictions (4 á 90 minutes)
  • Unit 3: Science fiction in Czechoslovakia (4 á 90 minutes)
  • Unit 4: Scientists’ fictions (2 á 90 minutes)
Literature
    required literature
  • Hugo Gernsback, Ralph 124C 41+, Wildside Press 1958. (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60944)
  • Karel Čapek: Krakatit London, Geofrey Bles, t. Butler & Tanner 1925. (https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.527312/page/111/mode/2up)
  • Rees, Amanda, & Morus, Iwan Rhys (2019). Presenting Futures Past: Osiris, 34(1), 1–15. doi:10.1086/704131
  • Tolstoy, Aleksey Nikolayevich. Aelita translated by Lucy Flaxman. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1950.
  • Karel Čapek: Rossum’s universal robots (R.U.R.) : a collective drama in three acts with a comedy prelude. London : Hesperus, 2011 [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59112]
    recommended literature
  • Pospíšil, Tomáš. 2008. “The Bomb, the Cold War and the Czech Film.” Journal of Transatlantic Studies 6 (2): 142–47. doi:10.1080/14794010802184341.
  • John Cheng, Astounding Wonder: Imagining Science and Science Fiction in Interwar America, Philadelphia 2012
  • Gary D. Stark, „Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Literatur für die Geschichtswissenschaft:. A Historian's View,“ German Quarterly 1/63, 1990, 19-31.
  • Karheinz Steinmüller, Science fiction and science in the twentieth century, in: John Krige, Dominique Pestre (Hg.), Science in the Twentieth Century, New York 2013, 339-360
  • Mike Ashley, The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950. Liverpool 2000.
  • Ambros, Veronika (2009). America Relocated: Karel Čapek’s Robots between Prague, Berlin, and New York. In: Jestrovic, S., Meerzon, Y. (eds) Performance, Exile and ‘America’. Studies in International Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.or
  • Race in American science fiction. Edited by Isiah Lavender. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011, xiii, 269. ISBN 9780253005137. info
  • KLÍMA, Ivan. Karel Čapek : life and work. Translated by Norma Comrada. 1st English-language ed. Nort Haven: Catbird Press, 2002, ix, 259. ISBN 0945774532. info
Teaching methods
Discussion of theoretical texts, literary and visual sources will be combined with students’ reports and on-site group work.
Assessment methods
Students will be assessed on the basis of group work, oral presentations and small written assignments. Regular attendance is required.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: blokově.
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