This course will explore important works and concepts in
nineteenth-century American literature that influenced later science
fiction. The texts we read will discuss social and technological changes
in the United States through plots involving time travel, unexplored
worlds, and fantastic inventions. Covered authors include: Washington
Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Griffith, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Martin
Delany, Mark Twain, Mary Bradley Lane, and Charles W. Chesnutt. We will
focus on the ways in which these authors address nineteenth-century
debates about race, gender, and the growing American empire. This course
will teach students to identify key texts in the history of science
fiction in the United States, analyze their connections to nineteenth
century American social movements, and appreciate the complex sources of
later science fiction texts.
- Docente: Katie Googe