CHSTM

HSTM20301 [10 CREDITS]/HSTM20801 [20 CREDITS]

FROM FRANKENSTEIN TO THE MATRIX: SCIENCE FICTION AND FILM

Semester 1, 2008-2009

Lecturer: Dr David KirbyCentre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Room 2.26 Simon Building

1

Tel: 275-5837; Email: david.kirby@manchester.ac.ukLecture/Seminar: 1-3pm Monday, Simon 4A

If you enjoy this course and would like to continue with study in this area at postgraduate level, CHSTM runs two Masters degrees and has a strong PhD and

MPhil programme.

The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), is a major international focus for research in the history of modern science, technology and medicine.  It includes the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and the National Archive for the History of Computing.  The interests of Centre staff lie predominantly in 19th and 20th century history, mostly in Britain, Europe and the USA, but also including STM in developing countries. It gained a 5 in the 2001 RAE.  The department is small and informal, with a lively postgraduate community, and strong formal and informal seminar programmes.

MSc/Dip History of Science, Technology & MedicineThis innovative MSc course aims to provide a comprehensive historical introduction to 19th - and 20th Century science, technology and medicine in their wider social, economic, cultural and political contexts, including training in historical and social science methods. A variety of option courses are available.  Assessment is by essay, examination and a 15,000-word dissertation. (1year full-time, 2-3 years part-time)

MSc Research Methods in History of Science, Technology & MedicineThis new MSc course also provides a historical introduction to 19th - and 20th Century science, technology and medicine in their wider social, economic, cultural and political contexts, but places special emphasis on systematic and wide-ranging training in historical and social scientific approaches. A variety of option courses are available. Assessment is by essay, coursework exercises and a 15,000-word dissertation. Students accepted for this degree are able to apply for Economic and Social Research Council studentships. (1year full-time, 2-3 years part-time).

Research degrees: PhD/MPhilTwo research degrees are offered: PhD (3 years full-time, 6 years part-time) and MPhil (1 year full-time, 2 years part-time).  The MPhil can be regarded as a preparatory degree for the PhD, or as a free-standing research Master's.  We expect PhD applicants to have a strong background in HSTM (e.g. a good MSc in the subject, or considerable exposure to HSTM at undergraduate level). Alternatively, students can take one of our taught postgraduate courses before applying to go on to do research. These courses are designed to give you the intellectual grounding and practical skills you need to do original research in HSTM. 

Full details of all CHSTM’s activities and courses can be found at www.manchester.ac.uk/chstm

2

Course Outline*

Week Date Lecture/Seminar Book(s)/Films Deadline

1 29 Sep Introduction

2 6 Oct The Origins of Science Fiction

Scientists in Literature

Frankenstein

3 13 Oct Victorian HorrorDegeneration

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde

4 20 Oct Utopias Looking BackwardHerland

5 27 Oct Early SFEvolutionary Biology

The Time Machine

6 3 Nov Reading week

7 10 Nov British Dystopias Brave New World

8 17 Nov American Dystopias Religion and SF

Ideology and the Cold War

A Canticle for Leibowitz

9 24 Nov Feminist SFSF and Cultural Studies

SF and Genetics

Xenogenesis: Dawn 28 Nov: Deadline for set essay (Friday)

10 1 Dec Cyberpunk BladerunnerThe Matrix

11 8 Dec Ecology and the Built Environment

Red Mars

12 15 Dec Exam Revision 19 Dec: Deadline for 20 credit project (Friday)

(*I reserve the right to deviate from this outline at any time.)

3

IntroductionDo scientists play God? Is it possible to understand an alien? Will machines develop such sophistication that they enslave humans? Do science and technology show the way to a future utopia? Or dystopia? Or neither? Literature and film provide a means of exploring fundamental fears and hopes about science and technology. Also, science and technology have meant different things to different people at different periods of time. Again the study of literature helps: by placing novels, plays - even films - in the context of their times, we can understand the place of science and technology in different contexts.

Aims and ObjectivesThe aim of this course is to explore through literature and film the ways that ordinary people have reacted to developments in science and technology, and their fears as well as hopes for the future. This course takes a selection of classic texts and films from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries to see what continuities and differences there have been in the public imagination of science and technology over this period.

By the end of this course you will be able: to show an appreciation for historical approaches to science, technology and

medicine in literature and film to develop skills in critically interpreting themes in literature and film to demonstrate knowledge of the chronology of changes in popular responses to

science, technology and medicine over the 19th and 20th centuries to have a critical appreciation of the debates about the relationship between

literature and science to take part in informed discussions of these topics and issues to reflect critically on the cultural meanings of science, technology and medicine

In addition, 20-credit students will be able: to find and research a topic of their own choosing; to find and assess critically primary and secondary sources; to write, with full scholarly apparatus, a report on their individual research project.

TeachingThe module will be taught in 12 weeks in semester 1. Each week there will be a two-hour lecture/seminar. The two hours will be divided between 1) a lecture, 2) a general discussion of the lecture, various media texts, and required readings and/or 3) small group discussions of students’ reports on the required readings/viewings and time for individual questions. Lecture material is useful in putting SF texts in context and will help students on essays and the exam. You should take careful notes during lectures since the lecturer will not give out lecture notes at the course's conclusion. Copies of each lecture’s powerpoint presentations will be online but these represent skeleton guidelines and are insufficient for revision.

The seminar component of the course is crucial to your comprehension of science fiction. Therefore, attendance at these seminars is compulsory. This also means that everyone does the reading and everyone comes to class prepared to explore the readings. To “explore the readings” means you've read the required texts, you've thought about them, and you're

4

ready to dissect their themes in relation to larger issues. You will be expected to justify your reactions to the texts with specific references to the texts or, when relevant, to other texts. There are also suggested academic readings which will help you analyzing our required texts. I have included some notes on critical reading at the back of this syllabus. Please read through these tips as they will help you in understanding and analyzing academic texts. They will improve our discussions and will help improve your written responses.

All students are responsible for meeting the course requirements and deadlines. These are clearly spelled out in this course outline so ignorance is not an excuse for missing deadlines. Please check the course description first before contacting the lecturer with questions about course requirements. The lecturer will be available for questions during office hours (to be announced) and after the lecture/seminar on Mondays.

ReadingsEach week has one SF text which is the “required reading.” Required texts are just that, required for that week’s seminar. The “further reading” lists are useful for the discussion at hand and I strongly urge you to examine a few of these before our seminar. The further reading will also be important for your seminar coursework, for your longer essay work, and for the exam. If you have difficulty getting the readings from SLC, use Google to check their availability on the internet. Most of the required readings are also available in local bookshops and public libraries. It is your responsibility to obtain copies of the required readings.

Students should prepare for the lecture/seminar by reading each week’s required reading in light of the list of questions given for each lecture topic in this syllabus. Consider the required readings with respect to the following overall course themes:

a) depiction of scientistsb) the relationship between humans and machinesc) utopias/dystopiasd) inner space vs outer spacee) race/gender/class in relation to science/technology/medicine

Take brief notes on your readings and your ideas about the questions/topics given at the bottom of each lecture description in this outline. Use these notes in the class discussion and as a way to begin to structure your essay and/or project.

Plagiarism Plagiarism is a very serious offence, comparable to cheating in exams. It consists of passing off others’ work as though it were your own (e.g. lifting passages – either word-for-word or closely paraphrased – from books, articles, the internet, etc.). Even ‘recycling’ parts of your own work, which has been submitted for assessment at this University or elsewhere, constitutes plagiarism. It is not difficult for staff, who are all professional academic writers, to recognize instances of plagiarism. Likewise, software for detecting material lifted from the internet is regularly employed in this regard. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself

5

with the University’s policy on plagiarism before you prepare and submit any coursework so that you do not inadvertently commit this offence. Please see the University’s guide to avoiding plagiarism:www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/assignments/plagiarism/#topHere, plagiarism is defined, and various misuses of sources are analyzed for their errors. Since academic writing typically draws on the work and specific language of other writers, it is vital that you understand the (often subtle) distinctions between ethical use of others’ texts and unethical appropriations of the work of others. The penalties for plagiarism range from being required to resubmit the piece of work in question (with a maximum possible mark of 40%) for minor instances to expulsion from the University in serious ones.

DisabilityThe University of Manchester is committed to providing all students access to learning in the way most beneficial to them. It is important to tell us about any additional support that you need. If you have a disability, a learning difficulty or any condition that YOU FEEL may affect your work then you might want to tell us about it. Please feel free to approach us to discuss any additional needs that you have. You may wish to email us, or we can arrange a meeting. Any discussion we have will be confidential. If you wish, you can also inform the Disability Support Office. It is based on the lower ground floor of the John Owens Building. You can drop in, but for appointments/enquiries telephone 0161 275 7512, or email disability@manchester.ac.uk.

AssessmentThere are two modes of assessment for this course:

For undergraduates taking the course as a 10-credit module (HS20301), assessment is by means of a set essay and an exam.

For undergraduates taking this course as a 20-credit module (HS20801), assessment is by means of a set essay, an exam, and a longer project.

10 credits (HS20301)(50%) Continuous assessment: set essay(50%) Exam

20 credits (HS20801) (25%) Continuous assessment: set essay(25%) Exam(50%) 3000 word research project based on a case study

1. Exam (required for all students): There will be a two hour examination for this class, which will count towards 50% of the overall course mark for 10-credit students and 25% of the overall course mark for 20-credit students. The date, time, and location of the final examination will be announced as soon as it has been determined. The scheduling and administration of the final examination will follow standard University procedures.

The exam will ask you to respond to essay questions which will require you to draw on both the lecture material and the seminar reading. The final examination will not contain

6

multiple choice questions. All examinable material will be covered by the lectures, the seminar discussions, and the required readings. You must not use the same material to answer more than one question; an answer that does not directly address the question will be severely penalised. This course is about developing skills in interpreting literature and film and the exam will test these skills. The format for the exam will be reviewed in more detail at the final class meeting on Monday, December 8. At that meeting, we will discuss the exam format, review the central themes of the course and discuss study strategies.

2. Set Essay (required for all students in HS20301 and HS20801): You will be expected to produce an essay of 1,500 words (essay title below). The essay must be typed with 1.5 or double spacing between lines – do not single space your final essays. Hand written assignments will not be accepted under any circumstances. PC clusters are available on campus for those who do not own computers.See www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/pcclusters/pcclusterlocations/ for locations.

Essays should conform to the Essay Guidelines at the end of this outline. Late essays, or essays which ignore the Guidelines, will lose marks. Essays handed in late without a good explanation will not be marked, and you will receive no credit.

Two separate copies should be handed in, with one anonymous cover sheet attached to each. Use a paper clip to keep the two copies together. The essay is to be posted in the CHSTM essay box outside room 2.21 in the Simon Building by 3.00pm on Friday 28 November. It will be returned at the last class.

Bear in mind that you will have a good deal of other work at this time, so don’t leave your essay until the last minute. You will need to allow considerable time for reading around your subject and for planning and writing the essays. Other students will be working on the same topic and there will be considerable demand for books. You should therefore start work on your essay early. Bear in mind that you will also need to balance the demands of writing an essay with your work for other courses, so note the deadlines well and plan your work accordingly.

Set Essay Title (1500 words; required of all students; due 28 November)One of the alternative descriptions of science fiction is “speculative fiction.” This term focuses on SF literature’s tendency to project future developments based on contemporary conditions. However, much of the literature we explore in this course looks to the past (social, technological, and economic) in its explorations and projections of the future. It is no coincidence that Edward Bellamy’s book was titled Looking Backwards and not “Looking Forwards.” For this essay I want you to address this question: How do science fiction authors look to the past while creating futuristic visions whether they are utopian or dystopian? Although you are encouraged to include other novels in your essay, you must incorporate at least one of the required readings from this semester.

3. Project (HS20801 students only)For those taking the 20-credit version of the course, there is an additional piece of assessment. This will a more extended 3,000 word research project. This project is a

7

substantial piece of work, and is intended to allow you to explore in depth issues of interest to you, and to allow you more scope for independent research and creative writing.

All students intending to take the 20 credit version of this course must attend a meeting with me in the first few weeks of term. A sign-up sheet will be circulated in Week 2. We will then meet regularly throughout the semester to discuss your progress and work on any emerging issues.

Topics are outlined below; other topics or forms of assessment may be agreed in consultation with the lecturer. The 3000-word project is to be submitted (two copies with anonymous cover sheet) to be posted in the CHSTM essay box outside room 2.21 in the Simon Building by 3.00pm on Friday 19 December.

The essay must be typed with 1.5 or double spacing between lines – do not single space your final essays. Hand written assignments will not be accepted under any circumstances. PC clusters are available on campus for those who do not own computers.See www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/pcclusters/pcclusterlocations/ for locations.

Essays should conform to the Essay Guidelines at the end of this outline. Late essays, or essays which ignore the Guidelines, will lose marks. Essays handed in late without a good explanation will not be marked, and you will receive no credit.

Two separate copies should be handed in, with one anonymous cover sheet attached to each. Use a paper clip to keep the two copies together. The essay is to be posted in the CHSTM essay box outside room 2.21 in the Simon Building by 3.00pm on Friday 19 December.

ATTENTION: All essays or projects that are improperly referenced will be returned to the student unmarked and will receive a zero unless returned with all sources properly cited. See ‘citing sources’ under essay guidelines (below) for proper referencing requirements.

Project Titles (to be used by 20-credit students, due 19 December)For all projects, please use additional novels and films that go beyond those listed for each week’s lecture. You are also encouraged to use scientific and academic articles. You are responsible for obtaining any novels or films used in your project so please plan accordingly.

1) Read Andrea Barrett’s The Voyage of the Narwhal and compare her description of a scientific expedition and its consequences with the scientific expeditions in Frankenstein, Herland and The Time Machine. How is the image of the heroic explorer gendered in the fiction of different historical periods and what effect does this have on a society’s image of science?

2) Read three of Iain M. Banks’s “Culture” novels: Consider Phlebas (1987), Excession (1996) and Look to Windward (2000). Compare his depiction of technology to those in Looking Backwards, Brave New World, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and in cyberpunk fiction.

8

Is the Culture a utopian society? Is this due to technological and/or sociological development?

3) Compare Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series with Bellamy’s Looking Backward and Gilman’s Herland, including their historical contexts. Is it possible to write a convincing utopian novel today, one that can inspire a political, scientific or social movement, or is dystopian fiction the only reasonable response to the problems we face in the 21st century?

4) Read three seminal cyberpunk texts: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984), Bruce Sterling’s Islands in the Net (1988), and Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash (1992). Compare the depiction of cyberpunk themes in these novels with representations in movies like Blade Runner and The Matrix. How do they treat these themes in similar ways and how do they treat the same themes in different ways? What role does the visual nature of film and the descriptive nature of literature play in these depictions?

5) Read Nancy Kress’s Beggars trilogy which was written during the same time frame as Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. Compare how these trilogies treat issues of gender, race and biotechnology. Do these novels share similar views of these issues and how do these novels reflect cultural concerns in the late-1980s and early 1990s?

6) Read four novels that were all published in 1959: Kurt Vonnegut’s Sirens of Titan, Gordon R. Dickson’s Dorsai, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. How do these novels convey similar and different cultural concerns about the Cold War?

General Reading for the Course

Material covered during the course can be found in the shortloan collection in John Rylands

Library. The following books are general and cover more than one week's material:

Roslynn D. Haynes, From Faust to Strangelove: Representations of the Scientist in Western

Literature, Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. JRUL:

809/H315

Ludmilla Jordanova (ed.), Languages of Nature: Critical Essays on Science and Literature,

London : Free Association, 1986. JRUL: 809/J70

Gillian Beer, Darwin’s Plots: Evolutionary Narrative in Darwin, George Elliot and

Nineteenth-century Fiction, London: Routledge, 1983. JRUL: 823.09/B63. See also

Beer’s Open Fields: Science in Cultural Encounter, Oxford: OUP, 1996. JRUL:

820.9/B318

9

Jon Turney, Frankenstein’s Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture, New Haven

and London: Yale University Press, 1998. JRUL: 501.45/T1

Rosalind Williams, Notes on the Underground: An Essay on Technology, Society and the

Imagination, Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1990

Brian Aldiss, The Billion Year Spree, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973

Hilary Rose, "Dreaming the future: other worlds." chapter 9 of Love, Power and Knowledge:

towards a Feminist Transformation of the Sciences, Bloomington: Indiana Press, 1994,

pp. 208-229.

Adam Roberts, Science Fiction: The New Critical Idiom, London: Routledge, 2000. JRUL:

809.3/R59.

Geoff King & Tanya Krzywinska, Science Fiction Cinema, London: Wallflower, 2000.

JRUL: 791.459/K6.

Vivian Sobchack, Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film, London: Rutgers

University Press, 1987. JRUL: 791.4673/S17.

Gregg Rickman, ed., The Science Fiction Film Reader, New York: Limelight, 2004. JRUL:

791.459/R10.

Useful information is also available on the internet, but remember that all sources, and

especially web pages, should be read critically!

For the history of science context the following are excellent reference works:

Robert Olby et al (eds.), Companion to the History of Modern Science, London; Routledge,

1990. JRUL: 509/O16 and SLC 509/O17

Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind (history of medicine). JRUL: 610.9/P24

Roger Smith, The Fontana History of the Human Sciences. JRUL: 301/S341

Peter Bowler, The Fontana History of the Environmental Sciences. JRUL: 550.9/B32

W.H. Brock, The Fontana History of Chemistry. JRUL: 540.9/B26

John North, The Fontana History of Astronomy and Cosmology, JRUL: 520.9/N17

Donald Cardwell, The Fontana History of Technology. JRUL: 609/C2

Ivor Grattan-Guinness, The Fontana History of the Mathematical Sciences. JRUL: 510.9/G67

Lewis Pyenson and Susan Sheets-Pyenson on Science and Society. (not in JRUL)

10

Week 1 - Lecture: IntroductionFor today’s class we will outline the broad aims and scope of this course.

Required Viewing/Reading: None

Discussion QuestionsWhat is science fiction? What science fiction authors/novels are you familiar with? What are some common themes in science fiction?

11

Week 2 - Lecture: The Context of Frankenstein (1818)Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a remarkably influential book - and not just on twentieth-century horror films. It asks many of the questions raised in this course: the scientist as creator, science and technology out of control, monsters, experiments that go disastrously wrong, and the ‘mad scientist’ archetype. In this lecture we will discuss the impact of the Enlightenment on 19th century notions of science as well as the anti-science elements of the Romantic movement.

Background Reading:Roslynn D. Haynes, ‘Chapter Seven’, From Faust to Strangelove: Representations of the

Scientist in Western Literature, Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. JRUL: 809/H315

Samuel Holmes Vasbinder, Scientific Attitudes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ann Arbor: UMI, 1976. JRUL: 823.79/Sh44/34

Jon Turney, Frankenstein’s Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. JRUL: 501.45/T1

Required Reading: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, in the Penguin Popular Classics Edition (one pound!).

Discussion Questions What sort of “science” and “scientists” influence Victor Frankenstein? What is the significance of the electrical storm? How does the monster learn? Why does he go ‘bad’? Pay close attention to who is in isolation and who is in social groups. What are the

dangers of isolation? Does Victor Frankenstein play at being God? Is Victor Frankenstein the monster’s ‘father’? If so, what kind of father is he? What is the effect of presenting different characters' viewpoints on the novel’s

themes, especially those of Victor and the monster? Do the monster's eloquence and persuasiveness make it easier for the reader to

sympathize with him? Why do you think most film versions of the story present the monster as mute or inarticulate?

How are Victor and the monster similair? Do Victor and the monster become more similar as the novel goes on? How does their relationship with each other develop?

Victor attributes his tragic fate to his relentless search for knowledge. Is this the true cause of his suffering? In what ways does the novel present knowledge as dangerous and destructive?

What is a “monster?” Is Victor a monster? What is the role of the framing story in the novel? How does the novel depict women? Who was Prometheus? Why is the novel subtitled "the Modern Prometheus?"

12

Week 3 – Special Lecture by Dr. Neil Pemberton

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and Degeneration in Late Victorian Imagination

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel tapped into concerns about the nature of human nature by

exploring the origins of evil in the human psyche. We will also discuss other novels of the

time like Dracula (1897) and The Portrait of Dorian Grey (1891) which address notions of

“degeneration” in humanity as well as the construction of disease/personality and

animal/human boundaries in literature.

Background Reading:Christopher P. Toumey, ‘The Moral Character of Mad Scientists: A Cultural Critique of

Science’, Science, Technology & Human Values, 17(4), 411-437, 1992.Nils Clausson, ‘Degeneration, Fin-de-Siecle Gothic, and the Science of Detection: Arthur

Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and the Emergence of the Modern Detective Story’,

Journal of Narrative Theory, 35(1), 60-87, 2005.David Skal, The Monster Show, New York: Macmillan, 1994.

Required reading: Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Penguin Popular Classics Edition (one pound!). Also available through JRUL shortloan.

Discussion Questions How does Utterson perceive the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde for most of

the novel? Is his interpretation understandable? What are the limits of his knowledge?

Paying particular attention to Stevenson's descriptions of the city at night, discuss How does Stevenson uses descriptive passages of the city at night to evoke a mood of dread? How does this fit into his vision of human nature?

What characterizes the way events in the novel are reported for the reader? How does this method of narrative contribute to the thematic development of the novel?

How does Jekyll interpret his relationship to Hyde? Why does Stevenson chose to tell the story from Utterson's point of view rather

than use Jekyll's from the beginning? How is Henry Jekyll both similiar to and different from Victor Frankenstein? What is the relationship between physical deformity and evil in Stevenson’s view? Where do issues of class or social status influence the characters’ actions, treatment

of one another, or the advice they give? How might Jekyll’s formula be compared to modern pharmacology?

Week 4 - Lecture: Context of Looking Backward (1888) and Herland (1915)

13

Edward Bellamy imagined the world of the year 2000 as one in which advances in technology would solve the problem of class and allow all humans to enjoy a life centred on creative self-fulfilment rather than the onerous industrial labour and radical disparities in wealth and education that characterized his Victorian context. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland is a feminist utopia that questions the ability of scientific rationality to solve human problems. Unlike Bellamy, Gilman pointed to changes in human socialization as the key, rather than advances in technology. Both of these utopias challenged social hierarchies and dealt optimistically with the evolutionary concerns that increasingly troubled social theorists in the latter part of the 19th century (and which would be addressed in a far less positive way by H.G. Wells’s Time Machine).

Background Reading:Hilary Rose, "Dreaming the future: other worlds." chapter 9 of Love, Power and Knowledge:

towards a Feminist Transformation of the Sciences, Bloomington: Indiana Press, 1994, pp. 208-229. (has bits on Herland)

Daphne Patai (ed.), Looking Backward, 1988-1888: Essays on Edward Bellamy, Amherst, Mass.; London: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

Sheryl L. Meye, ed., Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Woman and her Work, 1989.Jill Rudd and Val G., eds., Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Optimist Reformer, 1999.

Required reading: Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 2000-1887, pp 97-113 in Penguin Classics edition. Another edition is available in the JRUL: 813.49/B414/62. Also read Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland, Chapters 1, 5-8. Herland is also on the internet: etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/GilHerl.html

Discussion Questions Bellamy wrote in 1887, describing the year 2000. In what ways do you think he was

right or wrong in this description? What problems does Gilman see in scientific rationality, expressed in the character,

Vandyck, the sociologist? Which is more realistic in their plan for Utopia – Gilman, who wants to change the

way children are socialized, or Bellamy, who relies on technology to achieve a better world?

What are the beliefs and expectations of the men about women in both novels? What are their stereotypes about women? How do Bellamy and Gilman challenge them? How do they not?

How does Gilman treat Motherhood and the nurture of children? What is the role of social transformation in each novel? What role does economic development play? Is there any sense of hierarchy remaining in these utopias? Why does it bother the men that the Herlanders don't treat them like “men?” Why is it significant that Bellamy’s novel is set in the future while Gilman’s is ste

in the present? Which utopia would you prefer to live in? Why?

Week 5 - Lecture: Context of The Time Machine (1895)

14

First published in 1895, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine deals with themes of evolution, class struggle and the nature of progress - topics of general concern and increasing self-doubt in Victorian Britain at the end of the 19th century. This is reflected in his bleak predictions about the future of the human race. In this lecture we will discuss themes of progress and evolution in the context of Wells and Jules verne.

Background Reading:Michael Coren, The Invisible Man: The Life and Liberties of H.G. Wells, Bloomsbury,

1993; especially Chapters Two and Three; JRUL 823.91, W461/181.John R. Reed, The Natural History of H.G. Wells, Ohio University Press, 1982; especially

Chapter Two; JRUL 823.91, W461/184.John Carey, The Intellectuals and the Masses, Faber & Faber, 1992. JRUL: Cres

820.9/C182David C. Smith, H.G. Wells: Desperately Mortal, Yale, 1983. JRUL: 823.91/W461/149Mark R. Hillegas, The Future as Nightmare: H.G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians, Oxford,

1967. JRUL: 823.91/W461/136

Required reading: H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.

Discussion Questions Who is the Time Traveller? What can you deduce from his narrative about his

political, social, educational background? What does the Time Traveller’s relationship with Weena suggest about Wells’s

ideas about women’s roles in his own society? Describe the Time Traveller’s role as a scientist exploring the future. Does he have

any obligations or codes of conduct he follows? What does the Time Traveller find in the year 30,000,000? How does this fit with

Wells’s beliefs as a Darwinist? How does the relationship between the Eloi and the Morlocks fit into Wells’s

social, biological and political beliefs? Where does the Time Traveller fit in the social hierarchy? How does this affect his

observations of the future? What evolutionary assumptions does the Time Traveller make about the Eloi? What is symbolic about Weena’s white flowers in the narrative? How does this novel relate to Wells’s later utopian fiction? How does it relate to his

other ‘scientific romances’ like War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man?

Week 6: Reading Week

15

Week 7 - Lecture: Context for Brave New World (1932)Brave New World presents a startling view of the future in which technological and political developments strip humanity of its freedom. What makes Huxley’s interpretation different from other dystopian visions is the fact that his fictional society not only lives in this totalitarian government, but embraces it like mindless robots. The novel addressed several issues relevant to the 1930s including the use of pharmaceuticals, state surveillance, the creation of social castes, and the role of science in progress. In addition, we will look at the way in which George Orwell addressed notions of totalitarianism and fascism in the context of Nazism in Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949).

Background Reading:Keith Booker, Dytopian Literature Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994.Katie De Koster, Readings on Brave New World, San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999.Tom Moylan, Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia, Boulder,

CO: Westview Press, 2000.

Required Reading: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Full text can be found online at: <www.hedweb.com/huxley/bnw/>.

Discussion Questions• What does the Director mean be saying that, ‘Bokanovsky’s Process is one of the

major instruments of social stability!’ • What role does John the Savage play in the novel? Why does Huxley have John the

Savage commit suicide?• What is the significance of the World State's motto: ‘Community, Identity,

Stability’? How does the government maintain ‘social stability’ in the novel? • What is the significance of Huxley's use of "Ford" as a substitute for "God"?• What is the attitude about sex in the brave new world? How do John, Lenina, and

Linda handle their sexual relations in the novel?• Why would this world be considered “evil?”• What are the problems with utopian literature?• How do dystopias discuss the balance between individual freedom and the needs of

the State?• How is the World State’s motto “Community, Identity, Stability” reflected in the

novel? How might this relate to Soviet Communism?• What does the Director mean be saying that, ‘Bokanovsky’s Process is one of the

major instruments of social stability!’ How is reproduction tied to social control?• What role does John the Savage play in the novel? Why does Huxley have John the

Savage commit suicide?• What is the significance of the World State's motto: ‘Community, Identity,

Stability’? How does the government maintain ‘social stability’ in the novel? • What is the significance of Huxley's use of "Ford" as a substitute for "God"?• What is the attitude about sex in the brave new world? How do John, Lenina, and

Linda handle their sexual relations in the novel?• How is psychology employed in the World State?• How are the characters names reflective of Huxley’s time?

16

Week 8 - Lecture: Context for A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

Written during the height of Cold War concerns over the danger of nuclear war, A Canticle

for Leibowitz is widely considered a SF classic and won the 1961 Hugo Award. Part of the

novel's success derives from its richly realized setting, a post-apocalypse America where

scraps of pre-war knowledge are gathered and preserved by a Catholic Church which no

longer understands the knowledge. Most SF is highly critical of religion, but Canticle is

distinguished by its serious consideration of religious issues. The novel also addresses

issues of technological inevitability and the circularity of history in human development.

We will also explore ideology in SF by examining the writings of the ‘grandfather’ of

‘hard-SF’ Robert Heinlein who was a staunch libertarian and anti-communist. His books

such as Starship Troopers (1959) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) argue for the

role of service in citizenship and the importance of militarism.

Background Reading:

David Seed, American Science Fiction and the Cold War, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press, 1999. JRUL: 813.09/S112.

Frederick Kreuziger, Apocalypse and Science Fiction, Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1982.

JRUL: 809.3/K65.

The Spring 2000 issue of Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture, 35(2) is devoted to

‘A Canticle for Leibowitz at Forty’.

Michael Strada, ‘Kaleidoscopic Nuclear Images of the Fifties’, Journal of Popular Culture

20 (3), 179–198, 1986.

James Berger, After the End: Representations of Post-Apocalypse, Minneapolic, U. of

Minnesota Press.

Required reading: Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz.

17

Discussion Questions After centuries of preserving human knowledge, why are some of those in the

Church not entirely happy about its spread? In what ways does history seem to be repeating itself?

What is the motive for the ‘Great Simplification’? Do you find it probable or credible? Why or why not?

What evidence is there that Benjamin is the ‘Wandering Jew’, or some variation on that theme? What evidence is there that he doesn't fit the Wandering Jew tradition precisely?

How does this story leave you feeling about humanity? Is it optimistic? Pessimistic? Purely nihilistic?

After centuries of preserving human knowledge, why are some of those in the Church not entirely happy about its spread? In what ways does history seem to be repeating itself?

What is the motive for the ‘Great Simplification’? Do you find it probable or credible? Why or why not?

What evidence is there that Benjamin is the ‘Wandering Jew’, or some variation on that theme? What evidence is there that he doesn't fit the Wandering Jew tradition precisely? What evidence is there that he fits the role of ‘Lazarus’?

How does this story leave you feeling about humanity? Is it optimistic? Pessimistic? Purely nihilistic?

What religious symbolism is evident in the novel? In what ways might Miller be questioning his own religious beliefs?

What does the story convey about Miller’s thoughts on the threat of nuclear war? In what ways does history seem to be repeating itself? Why is Benjamin sceptical of the value of re-emerging technology? After centuries of preserving human knowledge, why are some of those in the

Church not entirely happy about its spread? How does the argument between Thaddeo and Dom Paulo relate to Miller’s overall

argument about the importance of knowledge? Does Miller consider our own age a dystopia? What elements of the society in the third section can be considered utopian? What is the significance of the two-headed mutant Mrs. Grales/Rachel? Does she

have two souls? Is miller suggesting Rachel may be the ‘messiah’? Is she ‘Mary’?

18

Week 9 - Lecture: Context of the Xenogenesis Trilogy (1987-89).Writers from minority groups in society began to grapple with science fiction in the 1960s, using the genre to create new worlds in which race, ethnicity and other identities were no longer stigmatised. Most explored the ‘inner space’ of future transformed societies rather than the ‘outer space’ of the more popular technology-driven science fiction novels and films. In the 1980s, however, minority writers began to challenge the white male exclusivity of the scientific and technical fields through imaginative fiction. Octavia Butler’s novels pose difficult questions about race, gender and new biotechnologies.

Background Reading:Ziauddin Sardar & Sean Cubitt, Aliens R US: The Other in Science Fiction Cinema,

Londomn: Pluto Press, 2002. JRUL: eBook.Marleen Barr, Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond, Chapel Hill,

N.C: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.Ron Eglash, ‘Race, Sex, and Nerds: From Black Geeks To Asian American Hipsters’,

Social Text, 20(2), 49-64, 2002. JRUL: eJournal.Jose Van Dijck, Imagenation: Popular Images of Genetics, NY: NY University Press,

1998. JRUL: 576.5/DIJ.

Required reading: Octavia Butler’s Dawn: Xenogenesis (1987)

Discussion Questions Is the main problem confronting the characters in Dawn one of humans vs aliens, or

whites vs blacks, or men vs women? Compare Butler’s vision of the future development of the human race with that

portrayed in The Time Machine and Brave New World. Is she creating a utopia? What is Butler’s impression of new genetic technologies? How would your reading of this book change if I told you that Octavia Butler was a

man? Or white? Difference is a major theme for this novel. How does Butler deal with this concept? Is

it good or bad in her view? Is the main problem confronting the characters in Dawn one of humans vs aliens, or

whites vs blacks, or men vs women? Compare Butler’s vision of the future development of the human race with that

portrayed in The Time Machine and Brave New World. Is she creating a utopia? What is Butler’s impression of new genetic technologies? How would your reading of this book change if I told you that Octavia Butler was a

man? Or white? Why are the human resisters so concerned about what is “human?” What is the “human contradiction” in this novel? Why are the Oankali afraid of

awakening men? What role does compromise play in this novel? In what ways is this story an “origin” story? Is Lilith’s character Judas, Eve, or

Mary? Why are the Oankali afraid of awakening men? How might Lilith be construed as a “slave?” In what ways might she reject this

categorization?

19

Week 10: - Lecture: Context of Blade Runner (1982, 1992) and The Matrix (1999)Cyberpunk developed in the mid-1980's and it narratives envision near-future worlds dominated by information technology and global corporations. It is generally seen to have started with the writings of William Gibson, especially Neuromancer (1983). A central theme of cyberpunk is the relationship between man and machine - specifically, what makes us human as we interact and depend on machines at a more and more personal level. The Matrix takes cyberpunk themes to their extreme as human life becomes nothing more than information. While Blade Runner shows a future in which corporations dominate the world and cyborgs do not even know if they are human or machine. In this lecture we will explore all of these themes as well as religious symbolism in both films.

Background Reading:Paul M. Sammon, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, 1996. Emmanuel Carrere, I am Alive and You are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K.

Dick, 2004 (1993), Bloomsbury Press.Larry McCaffery, ed., Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and

Postmodern Science Fiction, Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. JRUL: 810.8/M62.Veronica Hollinger, ‘Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and Postmodernism’,

Mosaic, 23(2): 29-44, 1990. JRUL: eJournal.Gerogre Slusser & Tom Shippey, eds., Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk and the Future of Narrative, Athens: U of Georgia Press, 1992.

Required viewing: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (The Director’s Cut) and Andy and Larry Wachowski’s The Matrix (Store VCR 262 and Store VCR 263 in JRUL on overnight loan).

Discussion Questions How is the nature of capitalism treated in each of these movies? How does

science/technology fit into these visions? How do these films deal with the question: What is the difference between real

memories and artificial memories? How could you tell the difference? Would it really make a difference if your memories were not your own?

How do these films deal with the question: What does it mean to be Human? What is The Matrix suggesting about the nature of truth? How is the nature of capitalism treated in each of these movies? How does

science/technology fit into these visions? How do these films deal with the question: What is the difference between real

memories and artificial memories? How could you tell the difference? Would it really make a difference if your memories were not your own?

What is the relationship between memory and information in these films? How do these films deal with the question: What does it mean to be Human? What is The Matrix suggesting about the nature of “truth?” How do the religious themes in The Matrix relate to other religious themes in SF? How do these dystopias relate to the dystopias in Brave New World and A Canticle

for Leibowitz? Do the societies in these films have any utopian aspects? What role does advertising play in dystopian SF?

20

Week 11 - Lecture: Context of Red Mars (1993)The damage that human economic systems, warfare and population growth might do to Earth’s environment has long been a subject of science fiction, particularly in the New Wave dystopias of the 1960s and ‘70s. Most of these novels and films were influenced by fears of nuclear warfare and its aftermath (the background of Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, for example). The fictional accounts of the 1980s onwards, however, have dealt increasingly with fears of global climate change, playing out different scenarios of Earth’s destruction. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars (1993) details the scientific and commercial exploration of Mars by the beleaguered population of an overcrowded Earth. This interplanetary migration of global capitalism and human conflict naturally leads to revolution on the newly colonised planet. As in much previous science fiction (Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles or Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, for example), Mars works its own magic on the human psyche. The subsequent books in the Mars trilogy tell a story rather different from the usual dystopian scenarios.

Required Reading: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars.

Discussion Questions Is Robinson using a fictional depiction of Mars to argue about the effects of global

capitalism on Earth? Why or why not? What does Robinson’s portrayal of the characters and politics of the scientists

involved in the Mars exploration team tell us about the politics of science? Is it ethical for humans to terraform other planets, even uninhabited ones? What motivates each character to go to Mars? What motivates them once they are

on Mars? Does Robinson privilege any character’s ideas about Mars over the others? What is the role of religion in the novel? Do any of the characters have a “spiritual”

relationship with the planet? How does this novel encompass themes from previous novels we have studied? This novel is classified as “hard” science fiction. Why? How does it differ from a

“soft” science fiction novel? What role does genetic engineering play in Red Mars? How does this compare to

genetic manipulation as done by the Onkali in Xenogenesis? Could Robinson have explored these themes in a shorter novel? How? How does this novel relate to themes of exploration encountered in other novels? Is the phrase “built ecological system” an oxymoron? Why or why not?

Week 12: Exam Revision

21

Essay and Project Writing Guidelines

1. PresentationType your essay, double-spaced, on one side of the paper only.

Number the pages and leave margins - left, right, top and bottom - of one inch for marker’s comments.

Course outlines will specify the word-length. Hand in two copies of your essay, either directly to your lecturers or at a place designated by them.

Essays which ignore these guidelines will lose marks.

2. Planning the essayCheck the course outline to find out how much reading is expected for an essay. (You will be expected to go well beyond required lecture and seminar readings.)

Prepare an outline of your argument. The outline should list in abbreviated form (e.g. on one side of A4), the points you wish to make, and the kind of evidence which you will cite. Once this outline is coherent, then draft the essay from it.

3. Writing the essayThe first paragraph should introduce the overall aims of the essay, and the last paragraph should briefly summarise your conclusions.

In order to help the reader, your paragraph structure should mirror the structure of your argument. Avoid a succession of very short paragraphs (one or two sentences) or long ones (more than one page).

Although your essay may refer briefly to required readings or lectures, your argument will need to go well beyond these sources. Simply re-iterating points already made therein will be heavily penalised.

4. Citing sourcesIf you use an author’s argument or evidence, you must cite the author and title of the work you have used. You may cite these sources at the bottom of the page (footnotes), at the end of the essay (endnotes) or in the text in brackets (….). Since the full reference will be in your bibliography (see 4d below), you need only use an abbreviated form of reference, e.g. ‘Pickstone, Medicine & Industrial Society, p. 123’.

Do not bother to quote an author directly unless his/her particular phrasing is important for your argument.

22

If you do take text directly from a work, however, you must signal that fact; failure to do so constitutes plagiarism (see below). Quotes of 3 lines or less should be enclosed with inverted commas; longer quotes should be indented as a bloc. In addition you must cite the author’s name, title and the page where the quote appeared.

Attach a bibliography at the end of your essay. Include only those sources you have used, following this model

Book: J.V.Pickstone, Medicine and Industrial Society (Manchester 1985).

Article: D.Edgerton, “Science and Technology in British Business History”, Business History, vol.29 (1987), 84-103.

Use your sources critically. Simply reproducing what an author says does not impress markers. Noticing where an author’s argument is weak does.

5. MarksOnce the essay has been marked, you may collect it from the lecturer responsible or the appropriate tray in the CHSTM Office. The mark given at this stage is provisional only; it does not become final until approved at the examiners’ meeting in June.

Marks are awarded according to the following criteria:

Coverage of the relevant literature: have you drawn upon a reasonable number of sources from the reading list?

Understanding (of lectures, required readings, and readings used in your essay).

Structure of the argument: have you set out your argument or analysis in a clear way and supported it with relevant evidence?

Critical capacity: have you noticed the weaknesses in some authors’ work? Have you reflected upon the weak points in your own argument?

Quality of prose: have you used complete sentences properly punctuated? Is your meaning clear?

Organisation of the material: does the sequence in which you present material make sense? Have you started a new paragraph each time you make a new point? Have you included an introduction and a concluding paragraph?

Format: have you followed the essay guidelines?

23

Faculty of Life Sciences CRITERIA FOR MARKING THEORY PAPERS

K KnowledgeC CoverageU UnderstandingA AwarenessR Reading

Percentage Marks Criteria100 20/ Outstanding answer with high degree of

originality/flair/insight. Possibly considered “perfect” because a better answer could not be given even by the examiner.

K Contains all of the relevant information with no errors or only insignificant errors

C Addresses all aspects of the subject

U Displays an excellent understanding of the subject within a wider context

A Gives extensive evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R Has read extensively beyond the essential material

9519 Outstanding answer with clear evidence of

originality/flair/insight.90 18

85 17 Excellent answer, with evidence of supplementary reading and some originality /insight in its approach

K Contains all of the relevant information with no or very few minor errors and no major errors

C Addresses all aspects of the subject

U Displays a good understanding of the subject within a wider context

A Contains evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R Has read beyond the essential material

80 16 Very good answer, well presented with clear, logical arguments, and conveying a clear depth of understanding or breadth of coverage. Evidence of some original thought.

7515

Generally accurate, organised and well-informed, logical and thorough. Definite indication of extra study, attempts to analyse70 14

65 13 Reasonably comprehensive – covering most important points , even if limited to lecture material. Possibly some minor omissions

Iii/IIii borderline

K Contains most of the relevant information but may include some minor errors though no major ones

C Addresses all aspects of the subject but might not give adequate coverage to all aspects

U Displays an understanding of the subject within a wider context but this might not be substantial

A Contains some evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking but depends

60 12

24

mainly on factual information

R Has read and understood at least some of the essential material

55 11 Adequate answer, but limited to lecture material, with some minor errors or omissions. Little or no cross referencing between lectures.

K Contains the central core of essential information but may include some minor errors and a few major errors

C Does not address all aspects of the subject and might not give adequate coverage to the aspects that are addressed

U Has some understanding of the subject within a wider context but this might be limited

A Little evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R Might have read the essential material, but probably with limited understanding

50 10

45 9 Incomplete answer. Information is Sparse, possibly poorly organised with some or many inaccuracies.

K Contains only a limited amount of the relevant information and may include minor and major errors

C Addresses some aspects of the subject but coverage of these aspects is incomplete

U Has only a limited understanding of the subject within a wider context

A Very little, if any, evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R No evidence of having read the essential material

40 8 Pass/compensatable fail borderline. This mark is the bare minimum required for a clear pass and represents attainment of the minimal standard requisite with intended learning objectives

35 7 Deficient answer. Many omissions. Some relevant facts and general approach sensible.

K Contains very little relevant information, though some is present, and may include minor and major errors

C Addresses a few aspects of the subject but coverage is very incomplete

U Has little or no understanding of the subject within a wider context

A No evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R No evidence of having read the essential material

30 6 Compensatable fail/outright fail borderline. Deficient answer. Many omissions. Some relevant facts and general approach sensible. This answer is barely enough to achieve above an outright fail having barely achieved some of the intended learning objectives

25 5 Answer largely irrelevant, but displays some understanding of the general subject

K Contains very little relevant

25

information and what is present is incomplete and probably out of context, and there may be many minor and major errors

C Coverage is sketchy and unfocussed

U Has no understanding of the topic within a wider context

A No evidence of critical awareness and independent thinking

R No evidence of having read anything

20 4

Answer largely irrelevant, the information may be poorly structured, confused with many errors15 3

102

Answer mostly irrelevant, a very poor answer which may only vaguely address one aspect of the question.

K Just a few relevant words and phrases and there may be many minor and major errors

C Coverage is wholly inadequate

U Has no context

A Totally lacking in critical awareness and independent thinking

R No evidence of having read anything

5 1 Hardly any answer – maybe one or 2 key words implying the most basic awareness of the subject

0 No answer, or answer totally irrelevant/incorrect. (including cases where the question has been mis-read).

CHSTM Resit Policy(This policy applies only to those students who have failed the entire course.)a) If the student failed just the exam, a resit exam is set.

b) If the student failed because coursework was of poor quality, s/he must resubmit coursework in August. Where the original coursework submitted was an essay, the resit essay should be on a new topic - specified by the lecturer - so that the student is not effectively given two goes at the same original topic. Where other kinds of coursework were failed, lecturers should use their discretion in setting the resit-task.

The deadline for resubmitted coursework will be the first day of the August resit-period in order that resit marks can be sent to home-departments in time for their early Sept. examiners meetings.

If the student failed because coursework was not submitted by the final deadline (generally the date of the exam), the student must resubmit coursework in August (as per previous paragraph), but a penalty will be levied (on the grounds that the indolent should pay a price), namely: maximum mark achievable is 40%.

c) If the student failed both the exam and coursework, s/he must sit the resit exam and submit new coursework.

26

Some Notes on Critical Reading of Academic Texts

Critical writing depends on critical reading. Most of the papers you write will involve reflection on academic texts - the thinking and research that has already been done on your subject. In order to write your own analysis of this subject, you will need to do careful critical reading of sources and to use them critically to make your own argument. The judgments and interpretations you make of the texts you read are the first steps towards formulating your own approach.

Critical Reading: What is It?To read critically is to make judgements about how a text is argued. This is a highly reflective skill requiring you to "stand back" and gain some distance from the text you are reading. (You might have to read a text through once to get a basic grasp of content before you launch into an intensive critical reading.) THE KEY IS THIS:

* don't read looking only or primarily for information* do read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter

When you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists of evidence, lists of facts and examples. Avoid approaching a text by asking "What information can I get out of it?" Rather ask "How does this text work? How is it argued? How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text reach its conclusions?

How Do I Read Looking for Ways of Thinking?1. First determine the central claims or purpose of the text (its thesis). A critical reading attempts to assess how these central claims are developed or argued.2. Begin to make some judgements about context . What audience is the text written for? Who is it in dialogue with? (This will probably be other scholars or authors with differing viewpoints.) In what historical context is it written? All these matters of context can contribute to your assessment of what is going on in a text.3. Distinguish the kinds of reasoning the text employs. What concepts are defined and used? Does the text appeal to a theory or theories? Is any specific methodology laid out? If there is an appeal to a particular concept, theory, or method, how is that concept, theory, or method then used to organize and interpret the data? You might also examine how the text is organized: how has the author analyzed (broken down) the material? 4. Examine the evidence (the supporting facts, examples, etc) the text employs. Supporting evidence is indispensable to an argument. Having worked through Steps 1-3,

27

you are now in a position to grasp how the evidence is used to develop the argument and its controlling claims and concepts. Steps 1-3 allow you to see evidence in its context. Consider the kinds of evidence that are used. What counts as evidence in this argument? Is the evidence statistical? literary? historical? etc. From what sources is the evidence taken? Are these sources primary or secondary?5. Critical reading may involve evaluation. Your reading of a text is already critical if it accounts for and makes a series of judgments about how a text is argued. However, some essays may also require you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an argument. If the argument is strong, why? Could it be better or differently supported? Are there gaps, leaps, or inconsistencies in the argument? Is the method of analysis problematic? Could the evidence be interpreted differently? Are the conclusions warranted by the evidence presented? What are the unargued assumptions? Are they problematic? What might an opposing argument be?

Some Practical Tips

1. Critical reading occurs after some preliminary processes of reading. Begin by skimming research materials, especially introductions and conclusions, in order to strategically choose where to focus your critical efforts.

2. When highlighting a text or taking notes from it, teach yourself to highlight argument: those places in a text where an author explains her analytical moves, the concepts she uses, how she uses them, how she arrives at conclusions. Don't let yourself foreground and isolate facts and examples, no matter how interesting they may be. First, look for the large patterns that give purpose, order, and meaning to those examples. The opening sentences of paragraphs can be important to this task.

3. When you begin to think about how you might use a portion of a text in the argument you are forging in your own paper, try to remain aware of how this portion fits into the whole argument from which it is taken. Paying attention to context is a fundamental critical move.

4. When you quote directly from a source, use the quotation critically. This means that you should not substitute the quotation for your own articulation of a point. Rather, introduce the quotation by laying out the judgments you are making about it, and the reasons why you are using it. Often a quotation is followed by some further analysis.

28