LMKB_a443 Speculative fiction between media and cultures

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Tereza Dědinová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Tereza Dědinová, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Veronika Bromová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Wed 12:00–13:40 B2.22, except Wed 15. 11.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 15/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The seminar explores speculative fiction, a broad field of the cultural production of non-mimetic art forms, including both genre and non-genre works. After an initial introduction to the context, we will focus on the role and forms of speculative fiction in three thematic blocks: digital technologies and artificial intelligence, remaking myth and returning to the past, and reflecting on contemporary environmental and social issues.
Each thematic block is based on a critical theoretical text and several works of art, among which we will choose the main themes to work on together in the seminar. We will draw on literary works, films, series, graphic novels and anime.
The interactive curriculum in IS will include extension materials of varying difficulty for those interested in a deeper insight into the subject.
Within individual topics, we will reflect on the approaches of transhumanism and posthumanism, Afrofuturism, solar- and hope punk, and solastalgia. We will follow the dystopian and utopian tendencies of contemporary work and the role of humour and satire. We will also draw on insights from cultural studies, adaptation and intermediality, ecocriticism, environmental psychology and other disciplines.
We will base our discussion on our knowledge of the works selected for each class (short story, excerpt from a novel, film, serial episode, etc.), and we will supplement the classical model of presentations and collaborative discussions with less traditional methods (pros and cons, roundtable, collaborative creation of a 3D collage).
The final form of the seminar, especially the selection of primary literature, will be finalized early in the semester based on participant discussion.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the seminar, students will be able to:
- orient themselves in the broad category of speculative fiction;
- use the theoretical approaches outlined in analyzing and interpreting a wide range of cultural production;
- formulate and problematize the fundamental questions of contemporary speculative fiction in relation to the current world;
-interpret fantastical elements in a work of art;
- place the topics discussed in the seminar in a broader social and cultural context;
- expand the knowledge gained from relevant sources.
Syllabus
  • Introductory lesson and selection of topics.
  • Science fiction short story The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang and the film adaptation: Arrival
  • Digital technology and artificial intelligence (3 hours);
  • - Transhumanism and Posthumanism, - Selected texts: episodes from the Black Mirror series, Nnedi Okorafor: Noor, Paolo Bacigalupi: Flute Girl, Zuzana Stožická: Rubin's Treatment, Ted Chiang: The Life Cycle of Software Objects
  • - Debate for and against
  • Ramaking the Myth and Returning to the Past (3 hours);
  • - Fantasy as the remaking of Myth (Brian Attebery: Stories about Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth, Zdeněk Neubauer: Do světa na zkušenou čili O cestách tam a zase zpátky) - Ursula K. Le Guin: The Telling, Octavia Butler: Kindred, Connie Willis: Fire Watch, Jalmari Helander: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, Guillermo del Toro: The Faun's Labyrinth.
  • - Round Table
  • Reflection on contemporary environmental and social issues (3 hours);
  • - Art and Ecology (Timothy Morton: All Art is Ecological, Marek Oziewicz, Brian Attebery, Tereza Dědinová (eds.): Imagining Futures and Dreaming Hope in Literature and Media) - Shaun Tan: Tales from the Inner City, Hayao Miyazaki: Princess Mononoke, China Miéville: Un Lun Dun, Ambelin Kwaymullina: The Tribe Series, - Neal & Jarrod Shusterman: Dry, Johanna Sinisalo: Birdbrain.
  • - 3D Collage.
Literature
    required literature
  • MORTON, Timothy. All art is ecological. This extract published in Pe. London: Penguin books, 2021, 104 stran. ISBN 9780141997001. info
  • CLARK, Timothy. The value of ecocriticism. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, 186 stran. ISBN 9781107095298. info
    recommended literature
  • Afrofuturism :the world of black sci-fi and fantasy culture. Edited by Ytasha Womack. First edition. 1 online r. ISBN 9781613747964. info
  • Fantasy and myth in the Anthropocene : imagining futures and dreaming hope in literature and media. Edited by Marek Oziewicz - Brian Attebery - Tereza Dědinová. First published. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 1 online. ISBN 9781350203358. URL info
  • DĚDINOVÁ, Tereza, Weronika ŁASZKIEWICZ and Sylwia BOROWSKA-SZERSZUN. Images of the Anthropocene in Speculative Fiction : Narrating the Future. první. New York, London: Lexington Books, 2021, 276 pp. Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy. ISBN 978-1-7936-3663-8. URL info
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Stories about stories : fantasy and the remaking of myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 240 s. ISBN 9780199316069. info
  • MORTON, Timothy. Hyperobjects : philosophy and ecology after the end of the world. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013, x, 229. ISBN 9780816689224. info
  • BRAIDOTTI, Rosi. The posthuman. First published. Cambridge: Polity, 2013, 229 stran. ISBN 9780745641577. info
  • Dark matter : a century of speculative fiction from the African diaspora. Edited by Sheree R. Thomas. New York, NY: Warner books, 2000, xiv, 427. ISBN 0446525839. info
  • MEEKER, Joseph W. The comedy of survival : literary ecology and a play ethic. Third edition. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1997, x, 133. ISBN 0816516855. info
  • NEUBAUER, Zdeněk. Do světa na zkušenou, čili, O cestách tam a zase zpátky : malá rukověť k trilogii J.R.R. Tolkiena Hobit - Pán prstenů - Silmarillion. Praha: Doporučená četba, 1990. ISBN 8071110000. info
Teaching methods
Readings on the topic, discussions, participation in collaborative projects, teacher input, presentations.
Assessment methods
Reading, preparation of the selected assignment and its presentation, maximum of two absences.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Teacher's information
The seminar will be held in hybrid form in the room equipped with new technology for hybrid teaching.
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