This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
This module examines the development of science fiction from the second half of the nineteenth century to its current global status in both serious and popular culture. It explores how science fiction has developed via the interaction of different genres, different media and different national cultures. The module begins with the work of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells since their fiction is at the root of international variants of science fiction. Special attention will be paid to the comparative analysis of science fiction from the Americas, Western and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Consideration will also be given to the relationship of literature to film, especially surrounding topics such as aliens and alienation, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, dystopia and apocalypse.
2 hours per week
100% coursework
Indicative Reading List -
J.G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition, HarperPerennial, 1979
Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Invention of Morel, NYRB Classics, 2003
Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Gollancz, 2011
Stanislaw Lem, The Futurological Congress, Harcourt, 1985
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic, Gollancz, 2012
Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, Wordsworth, 2011
H.G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, Penguin, 1993
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, Penguin, 1972
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key works of science fiction in relation to their national, cultural and historical contexts
2. engage a set of key interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science fiction as a global art-form
3. demonstrate knowledge of the development of science fiction in relation to other genres and to critically assess this understanding
University of Kent makes every effort to ensure that module information is accurate for the relevant academic session and to provide educational services as described. However, courses, services and other matters may be subject to change. Please read our full disclaimer.
