Sci-Fi Class Offered at AWC in Fall
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 April 2008, 12:00 CDT
Science fiction has its place even on a college campus.
English 220, a science fiction class, will be offered at Arizona Western College for the first time this fall.
Ed Schubert, the instructor, will emphasize "proto-science fiction" -- works of early English literature that dealt with science fiction concepts before the term "science fiction" was coined, AWC officials said in a news release.
Schubert said he selected classic texts as preferred by the college's English department but also because "I think it will be more interesting for students to see how old some science fiction ideas really are."
Pre-20th century works that will be covered in his class include Sir Thomas Moore's "Utopia," published in 1516; Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," published in 1726; Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," 1831; and H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," 1895.
The listed books present early ideas such as aliens, time travel and androids, said Schubert.
But even though the emphasis is on older literature, the class will also study some contemporary science fiction, he said.
"I'm sure I could have done more contemporary text maybe ... but I think my interest as an English teacher is to introduce students to some older text at the same that we're discussing science fiction. And you can do both things because these text do.
"It's intended to be fun. The fact that we're using older text does not mean that it's going to be dull," Schubert said. "If science fiction isn't fun then what's the point of it?"
The class will be held at 3:05 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. This will be a transferrable, general education course.
Students must have completed English 101 to enroll in the class, and it is recommended they also take ENG 102 as a prerequisite.
The texts will cost about $10.
For more information about the class, contact edward.schubert@azwestern.edu.
Source: The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.)
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