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The Great Courses Plus

How Great Science Fiction Works

via The Great Courses Plus

Overview

Examine what makes science fiction an enduring phenomenon that has reflected and inspired our highest technological aspirations-as well as our darkest fears.

Syllabus

  • By This Professor
  • 01: Mary Shelley and the Birth of Science Fiction
  • 02: Science Fiction in the 19th Century
  • 03: Science Fiction Treatments of History
  • 04: Evolution and Deep Time in Science Fiction
  • 05: Utopian Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares
  • 06: The Rise of the Science Fiction Pulps
  • 07: The Golden Age of Science Fiction Stories
  • 08: The Spaceship As a Science Fiction Icon
  • 09: The Robot: From Capek to Asimov
  • 10: The Golden Age of the Science Fiction Novel
  • 11: From Mars to Arrakis: The Planet
  • 12: The Science Fiction Wasteland
  • 13: Invasions, Space Wars, and Xenocide
  • 14: Religion in Science Fiction
  • 15: Science Fiction's New Wave
  • 16: Encounters with the Alien Other
  • 17: Environmentalism in Science Fiction
  • 18: Gender Questions and Feminist Science Fiction
  • 19: Cyberpunk and the 1980s
  • 20: The 1990s: The New Space Opera
  • 21: The Artifact as a Science Fiction Icon
  • 22: Science Fiction's Urban Landscapes
  • 23: Science Fiction in the 21st Century
  • 24: The Future of Science Fiction

Taught by

Gary K. Wolfe

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