(in Polish) Science Fiction, or the Literature of Late Capitalism 1500-SDN-SFOTLOLC

The seminar Science Fiction, or the Literature of Late Capitalism is dedicated to students interested in science fiction and postmodernism, as well as the intersection of late capitalism and dystopia. During the classes we discuss a number of science fiction texts (stories and book chapters) by, mainly, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and William Gibson in the context of science fiction criticism and ecocriticism. Ecoanxiety, the technological uncanny, and the alleged impact of capitalism on mental health and other scientific concepts are discussed as literary motives. Roger Luckhurst’s and Peter Fitting’s essays on sci-fi help to frame our discussions. During our classes we discuss the following topics:

Class 1

Introductory class: key terms and concepts

Class 2

J.G. Ballard “The Subliminal Man”
Peter Fitting „The Modern Anglo-American SF Novel: Utopiam Longing and Capitalist Cooptation”

Class 3

- J.G. Ballard „The Terminal Beach”
- DO „J.G. Ballard’s depiction of Global Psychodynamics: „The Terminal Beach” and Pre-Traumatic Stress”

Class 4

- J.G. Ballard “The Low-Flying Aircraft”
- Roger Luckhurst “The Many Deaths of Science-Fiction: A Polemic”

Class 5

- J.G. Ballard “The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista”
- Bruno Latour “Agency at the Time of Anthropocene”

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Class 6

- Philip K. Dick „The Days of Perky Pat” and “War Game”
- Olga Tokarczuk “The Tender Narrator”

Class 7

- Philip K. Dick „The Electric Ant”
- Carl Freedman “Towards a Theory of Paranoia: the Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick”

Class 8

- Philip K. Dick “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”
- Timothy Clark “What on World is the Earth? The Anthropocene and the Fictions of the World”

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Class 9

- William Gibson “Johnny Mnemonic”
- Slavoj Zizek “Cyberspace, or The Virtuality of The Real

Class 10

- William Gibson. Agency (selected)
- Michelle Bastian “Inventing Nature: Re-Writing Time and Agency in a More-than-Human World”

Class 11

- Ruth Ozeki “A Tale for the Time-Being” (selected)
- Youngsuk Chae “Buddhist-Ecofeminist Spiritualities: Beyond the Entanglement of New Materialism and Engaged Buddhism in Ruth Ozeki “A Tale for the Time-Being”

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Class 12-14

- Ursula K. Le Guin The Word for World Is Forest
- Søren Baggesen “Utopian and Dystopian Pessimism: Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest and Tiptree’s “We Who Stole the Dream”
- Maria Ojala “ECO-ANXIETY”
- Jan Zalesiewicz “Old and New Patterns of the Anthropocene”