English: Evolution of Modern Fantasy

Topics in Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. Subjects vary by semester. Representative topics: Tolkien's Middle Earth; The Hobbit; Survey of Science Fiction and Fantasy. May be repeated for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years.

Open to Degree and PACE students

Students in this course will survey fantasy literature in English from its beginnings in the eighteenth century through the post Harry Potter world of the twenty first century. We will explore how fantasy emerged out of a creative dialogue with pre-modern magical narratives (such as the Arabian Nights, the Arthurian legends, and the legendary Icelandic sagas), began to assume a recognizable shape in the Victorian period, and metamorphosed into a bestselling genre in the decades following the Tolkien explosion of the 1960s. We will examine how works from the past nearly three centuries came to embody the themes and tropes of modern fantasy, and where they stood in the worlds they grew out of.

The course will combine lecture and both full and small group discussion. Each student will be involved in one group oral presentation. Lectures will be primarily a means of providing background information, and initiating some discussion. Students should expect to spend at least 6-8 hours a week on regular course work, plus time spent composing a final essay, and preparing a group oral presentation. (There may be minor emendations to this.)

Attendance is required, and students are expected to be prepared to discuss the reading assigned for the day. Grades will otherwise be based on a final essay, two tests (including an essay and short passage IDs), the group oral presentation, and sporadic informal in-class response writings. (There may be minor emendations to this.)