LITR 4632: Literature of the Future                            Summer 2007

Instructor: Craig White                                             M,T, & Th 9am-noon, Bayou 1213

Office: 2529-8 Bayou      Phone: 281 283 3380                 E-mail: whitec@uhcl.edu

Office Hours: Mondays & Thursdays, 12-1, 6-6:30, and by appointment

Course webpage: http://coursesite.cl.uh.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4632

 

Reading & Presentation Schedule--LITR 4632, Summer 2007

(BC = Burning Chrome; FP = Future Primitive; VN = Virtually Now)

 

Tuesday, 29 May: course introduction; narrative: apocalypse. Begin Genesis and Revelation (handouts)

 

Thursday, 31 May: narrative: apocalypse conclude Genesis and Revelation

Future-vision presenter: Pam Richey

 

Monday, 4 June: narrative: apocalypse begin Parable of the Sower (through p. 191, or through chapter 17)

Discussion-starter: Whitney Evans

Future-vision presenter: Patty Coleman

Future-vision presenter: Holly Bailey

 

Tuesday, 5 June: narrative: apocalypse finish reading Parable of the Sower (through p. 296)

Discussion-starter: Ashley White

Future-vision presenter: Paula Upham

Web-highlighter (midterms concerning Parable of Sower): Lindsey Kerckhoff

 

Thursday, 7 June: narrative: apocalypse conclude Parable of the Sower; narrative: evolution "Stone Lives" (handout) and "Bears Discover Fire" (FP 17-28)

Future-vision presenter: Jenna Zucha

Future-vision presenter: Lindsey Kerckhoff

 

Monday, 11 June: narrative: evolution "Somebody up there Likes Me" (VN 208-237); begin The Time Machine ("Life of H. G. Wells," v-viii; "Introduction," ix-xvi; pp. 1-64 (through ch. 5).

Future-vision presenter: Ashley Schaller

Future-vision presenter: Jennifer McCord

Web-highlighter (midterms on evolution and/or Time Machine): Paula Upham

 

Tuesday, 12 June: narrative: evolution conclude The Time Machine (65-120; ch. 6 through epilogue; "Afterword," 121-125; narrative: alternative futures Bruce Sterling & Lewis Shiner, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" (handout)

Future-vision presenter: Jenny Aleman-Spray

Future-vision presenter: Ashley White

Web-highlighter (midterms on alternative futures): Ashley Schaller

 

Thursday, 14 June: narrative: alternative futures "Garden of Forking Paths" (handout); "The Gernsback Continuum" (BC 23-35); "Better Be Ready 'bout Half Past Eight" (VN 22-47);

Discussion-starter: Cheryl Voskamp

Future-vision presenter: Tracie Gipson

Future-vision presenter: Whitney Evans

 

Monday, 18 June: midterm exam on apocalyptic, evolutionary, and alternative narratives of the future

 

Tuesday, 19 June: scenario: high tech; virtual reality (style: cyberpunk, anti-romance): "Johnny Mnemonic," (BC 1-22);  "Burning Chrome," (BC 168-191); "The Logical Legend of Heliopause and Cyberfiddle" (VN 159-180).

Discussion-starter: Emily Sevier

Future-vision presenter: William Bazemore

Web-highlighter (final exams from previous semesters): Ashley Jones

 

Thursday, 21 June: low tech (traces of organic human nature and traditional culture in high tech world; style: romance): "The Onion and I," (VN 8-21)."Drapes and Folds," (VN 126-139)."Speech Sounds"(VN 91-108).

Discussion-starter: Holly Bailey

Future-vision presenter: Emily Sevier

 

Monday, 25 June: scenario: utopia / dystopia / ecotopia: K. S. Robinson, “Introduction” to Future Primitive. "Chocco," (FP 189-214); "House of Bones," (FP 85-110)

Future-vision presenter: Karol Davis

Future-vision presenter: Brooke Goodson

Web-highlighter: Jenny Aleman-Spray

 

Tuesday, 26 June: scenario: off-planet; alien contact & near-contact: Ursula K. Le Guin, "Newton's Sleep" (FP, 311-338); "Men on the Moon" (VN 238-247); "Hinterlands" (BC 58-79).

Discussion-starter: Jennifer McCord

Future-vision presenter: Ashley Jones

Future-vision presenter: Ashley Bedford

 

Thursday, 28 June: scenario: alien contact & near-contact: "Homelanding," (VN 3-7)."They're Made out of Meat," (VN 69-72)."The Poplar Street Study" (VN 140-148); "The Belonging Kind" (BC 43-57).

Discussion-starter: William Bazemore

Future-vision presenter: Laura Moran

Future-vision presenter: Cheryl Voskamp

 

Monday, 2 July: final exam (in-class or email)