CJLB606 Speculative Fiction in the Changes of Time

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Tereza Dědinová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Zbyněk Fišer, 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
Tue 10:00–11:40 D22, except Tue 16. 4.
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 110 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 52/110, only registered: 0/110, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/110
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 22 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
In this lecture series, we will focus on the transformations and development of speculative fiction with special attention to its genre realizations, science fiction and fantasy.
In the introductory classes, we will present different approaches to defining and internally structuring speculative fiction/fantasy literature and illuminate their limits. We will follow by tracing the transformations of major genres - science fiction, fantasy, and anti-utopia - in the context of historical, social, and cultural developments. Although we will primarily draw on world literature, we will devote two lectures to the transformations and present of Czech literature.
We do not aim to cover the entire history of speculative fiction, but to outline the essential themes and the changes in their artistic reflection.
We will rely mainly on the theory and history of speculative fiction and its individual genres and on the findings of cognitive science.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
- identify key points in the development of speculative fiction in the world and in the Czech context;
- distinguish between modern speculative fiction and its root texts; identify the founding works of SF;
- interpret texts of speculative fiction in relation to their historical context;
- understand literary and cognitive approaches to  speculative fiction; - illuminate the differences between these approaches based on the theoretical foundation gained;
Further, the student will be able to actively add to other relevant foundational and theoretical literature, and will be aware of the developing possibilities for the study of speculative fiction.
Syllabus
  • Where speculative fiction begins and ends (approaches to defining and delimiting boundaries from psychological, historical and social perspectives);
  • How to subdivide speculative fiction (perspectives on genres and crossing them);
  • From utopia to antiutopia (and back again?);
  • The Transformations of Science Fiction - 2 hours;
  • The origins and development of fantasy, from J.R.R. Tolkien's legacy to the present - 2 hours;
  • Czech Fantastic Literature under Totalitarianism - The Karel Čapek Prize and social criticism of a grey world;
  • Czech fiction v today, train entertainment or something more?
  • Speculative fiction as a challenge to today's world and a vision of the future.
Literature
  • climate change and contemporary
  • Helen Young: Race and Popular Fantasy Literature Habits of Whiteness, Routledge, 2016.
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Fantasy : how it works. First edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, 198 stran. ISBN 9780192856234. 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. The Anthropocene and Speculative Fiction : Introduction. In Images of the Anthropocene in Speculative Fiction : Narrating the Future. první. New York, London: Lexington Books, 2021, p. 1-24. Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy. ISBN 978-1-7936-3663-8. URL info
  • HOGAN, Patrick Colm. Literature and emotion. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018, 209 stran. ISBN 9781138185203. info
  • LEVY, Michael M. and Farah MENDLESOHN. Children's fantasy literature : an introduction. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016, viii, 274. ISBN 9781107018143. info
  • DĚDINOVÁ, Tereza. Po divné krajině: charakteristika a vnitřní členění fantastické literatury (Through a Strange Landscape: Characteristics and Inner Structuring of Fantastic Literature). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2015, 228 pp. Spisy Filozofické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity, sv. 433. ISBN 978-80-210-7871-0. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
  • NIKOLAJEVA, Maria. Reading for learning : cognitive approaches to children's literature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2014, viii, 247. ISBN 9789027201577. info
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Stories about stories : fantasy and the remaking of myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 240 s. ISBN 9780199316069. info
  • Parabolas of science fiction. Edited by Brian Attebery - Veronica Hollinger. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2013, xv, 312. ISBN 9780819573681. info
  • OZIEWICZ, Marek. One earth, one people : the mythopoeic fantasy series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle and Orson Scott Card. Edited by Brian Attebery. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2008, vii, 263. ISBN 9780786431359. info
  • Rhetorics of fantasy. Edited by Farah Mendlesohn. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2008, xxv, 306 p. ISBN 9780819573919. info
  • CSICSERY-RONAY, Istvan. The seven beauties of science fiction. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2008, xi, 323. ISBN 9780819568892. info
  • TOLKIEN, J. R. R. Netvoři a kritikové a jiné eseje. Translated by Jan Čermák. Vyd. v tomto souboru 1. Praha: Argo, 2006, 266 s. ISBN 8072037889. info
  • HOGAN, Patrick Colm. Cognitive science, literature, and the arts : a guide for humanists. New York: Routledge, 2003, 244 stran. ISBN 9780415942454. info
  • The Cambridge companion to science fiction. Edited by Edward James - Farah Mendlesohn. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, xxvii, 295. ISBN 9780521016575. info
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Decoding gender in science fiction. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2002, xi, 210. ISBN 0415939496. info
  • The encyclopedia of science fiction. Edited by John Clute - Peter Nicholls - Brian M. Stableford - John Grant. 1st pub. London: Orbit, 1993, xxxvi, 137. ISBN 1857231244. info
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Strategies of fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992, xiv, 152. ISBN 0253310709. info
Teaching methods
Lecture, discussion, textual analysis.
Assessment methods
Granting the credit is conditional upon handing over the portfolio of tasks assigned during the semester.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
General note: Předmět bude otevřen a vyučován při minimálním počtu 6 zapsaných studujících.
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