LITR 4632: Literature of the Future  Summer 2003, UHCL

Instructor: Craig White M,T, & Th 9am-noon, Bayou 1408

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

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

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

Reading & Presentation Schedule--LITR 4632, Summer 2003

Initial guide to course anthologies:

BC = Burning Chrome

FP = Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias ed. K. S. Robinson, (1994)

VN = Virtually Now: Stories of Science, Technology and the Future

Tuesday, 27 May: course introduction; begin Genesis and Revelation (handouts)

Thursday, 29 May: narrative: apocalypse conclude Genesis and Revelation

Future-vision presenter: Sandy Murphy

Future-vision discussion recorder: Kathy Martin

Discussion-starter: Jennifer Davis

Monday, 2 June: narrative: apocalypse Parable of the Sower (through p. 133—up to year “2027”)

Future-vision presenter: Kate Payne

Future-vision discussion recorder: Kimberly Kimmel

Discussion-starter: Sandy Murphy

Tuesday, 3 June: narrative: apocalypse finish reading Parable of the Sower (through p. 297)

Future-vision presenter: Travis Kelly

Future-vision discussion recorder: Sandy Murphy

Discussion-starter: Sara Sills

Thursday, 5 June: narrative: apocalypse conclude discussion of Parable of the Sower; narrative: evolution "Stone Lives" (handout) and "Bears Discover Fire" (FP 17-28)

Future-vision presenter: Sara Brito

Future-vision discussion recorder: Travis Kelly

Discussion-starter: Kimberly Kimmel

Monday, 9 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: Sara Sills

Future-vision discussion recorder: Jonathan Lazerus

Discussion-starter: Heather Meza

Tuesday, 10 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: Kimberly Kimmel

(10 June continued) Future-vision discussion recorder: Kate Payne

Discussion-starter: Kathy Martin

Thursday, 11 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);

Future-vision presenter: Susie Gibson

Future-vision discussion recorder: Sara Brito

Discussion-starter: Sara Brito

Monday, 16 June: midterm exam on apocalyptic, evolutionary, and alternative narratives of the future

Tuesday, 17 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).

Future-vision presenter: Kathy Martin

Future-vision discussion recorder: Heather Meza

Discussion-starter: Travis Kelly

Thursday, 19 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).

Future-vision presenter: Jennifer Davis

Future-vision discussion recorder: Corrie Lawrence

Discussion-starter: Susie Gibson

Monday, 23 June: scenario: utopia / dystopia / ecotopia: K. S. Robinson, “Introduction” to Future Primitive. "Chocco," (FP 189-214); "House of Bones," (FP 85-110) "from Shikasta" (VN 194-207).

Future-vision presenter: Heather Meza

Future-vision discussion recorder: Susie Gibson

Discussion-starter: Jonathan Lazerus

Tuesday, 24 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).

Future-vision presenter: Corrie Lawrence

Future-vision discussion recorder: Jennifer Davis

Discussion-starter: Kate Payne

Thursday, 26 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); "Hinterlands" (BC 58-79).

Future-vision presenter: Jonathan Lazerus

Future-vision discussion recorder: Sara Sills

Discussion-starter: Corrie Lawrence

Monday, 30 June: final exam (in-class or email)