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LITR 4368 Literature
of the Future lecture notes |
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pre-midterm + models; narrative, symbols, metaphors obj. 3
questions now?
email w/ questions > phone number?
show three narratives of future
Parable of Sower as evolution / creation-apocalypse
Last week's questions for Parable of the Sower
2. Discuss blending of apocalypse and evolution in Parable of Sower (and later texts like Time Machine).
2a. How are both present? How account for co-presence instead of mutual exclusion? [Culture-Wars model is either one or the other]
[concluding discussion] 2b. Where do apocalypse and evolution diverge? Where do they meet? Can you reconcile seeing the world as both apocalypse and evolution, rather than one excluding the other? If so, how?
Answer to #2
Lauren and Parable talk a lot about evolution
change (child going beyond shadow of parent)
but also continuity (children resemble parents)
survival
adaptation
Bubonic plague in Middle Ages seemed like end-times, then recovery under different terms
apocalyptic events may be "inflection points" in evolution
possible mutation of hyperempathy as useful development for limiting social aggression
> creation-apocalypse story / narrative in Scriptural Texts of Creation & Apocalypse + Parable of the Sower
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Creation / birth /
childhood |
exile into human history, adulthood |
end-times, apocalypse,
death |
rebirth, immortality? (human & divine re-united) |
| Genesis: God as father, humans as innocent children in garden fulfilling needs, human union with God; "tree of life" (immortality) | serpent introduces knowledge of sin, sex > exile from garden > labor for sustenance, procreation |
Revelation: continued
sin, decline, lack of faith > fire, death, division of
damned and saved "a sea of glass mingled with fire" |
new heaven and new earth, heaven as restoration union b/w human and God, restoration of "tree of life" (immortality) |
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| Parable: "Preacher-Dad" as father, children on brink of sexuality, walled community as garden with trees that sustain life (acorns > acorn bread); | Bad people threaten, force learning, enter and destroy garden (fire) > exile > journey, survive (labor?) |
"Sea of fire," devastation some die, some survive |
ideal community ("Acorn") founded trees planted from seeds from original garden |
Answer to 2a: symbols
2a. How are both present? How account for co-presence instead of mutual exclusion? [Culture-Wars model is either one or the other]
We don't have to understand symbols and narratives for them to work on us. They work on our unconscious as well as our conscious. (Writers themselves may not be entirely conscious of all their symbols and narratives are doing.)
Literary studies as making the unconscious conscious, gaining control of language, managing conflict.
learn to distinguish new stories from same old stories, or how old stories recombine to form new ones (evolution)
2b. . . . Can you reconcile seeing the world as both apocalypse and evolution, rather than one excluding the other? If so, how?
[apply to midterm question bullet about "whole understanding"]
Discussion Questions: 1. What key terms, symbols, or ways of thinking signal that these stories operate in a world built on evolutionary premises? (Consider terms or ideas like change, adaptation, survival, + plenty of animal characters and symbols.)
Stone p. 179 top paragraph
Serengeti water hole . . . business . . . jungle
179 middle paragraph
Bronx Jungle, a. k. a. the Bungle
179 survive another day in the Bungle. Survival is his main—his only—concern
197 primary interest of business is growth and dominance
197 reverted to a primary struggle, which continues to this day
[social darwinism: fusion of biological and cultural terms]
196 beautiful, gaudy, exciting—but basically unfair
196 I may have increased the disparity
rich richer, poor poorer
213 Slithering beast of commerce, it’s a snakepit out there.
evolution + creation-apocalypse
181 Parents? What're they?
199-200 fire
Bears
21 first new species in recent history = newberry
21 warm winters changed hibernation cycle, now remember from year to year
“Bears may have discovered fire centuries ago but forgot it”
22 mother first woman school bus driver in state
2. What picture of humanity
do these stories (and evolutionary models) create? What assumptions about the way nature, time,
and society are
organized, esp. in contrast to
creation-apocalypse?
199 your ancestor and mine
192 Alice 152 years old
195 June over sixty
194 June < German + Vietnamese
187 underdwellers
192 higher off the grasping earth
cf. heaven and hell, Time Machine
3. Preview high tech / low tech scenarios (29 March, 5 April): Are "Stone Lives" & "Bears" high tech or low tech sf? What different appeals?
high tech
183 eye system, charge-coupled devices
[human as machine, organic > mechanical]
194 subdermal pattern of microchannels
189 mnemotropin—encoding of long-term memories > brain expands
[enhancement, wearable technology]
Low tech
19 in front of TV, flickering soothes them down [cf. Fire]
20 theory: following I-65 down from forests of Michigan and Canada
family: brother, mom, school bus drivers
4.
"Stone Lives"
is our most
typical science fiction story all semester—How? Discuss
formulaic gender,
depiction of
world, and esp.
romance narrative
(esp. superhero protagonist tasked with saving a pre- or
post-apocalyptic scene while babes swoon and die).
cf. Time Machine end
5. "Bears" is an unusually humorous sf story—how? What makes it amusing? How does its narrative fit the definition of comedy? How may humor or comedy serve science fiction's function of making science familiar or comfortable to non-scientific readers? (comic theory)
18 light coming from 2 bears, holding torches
19 Looks like bears have discovered fire
20 minister + real estate
Question for evolution presentation:
How do today's stories make the subject more familiar, less threatening?
Literature as entertainment + instruction, science fiction as Literature of Ideas
Question: How do people describe the world of business as a biological-evolutionary world?
213 Slithering beast of commerce, it’s a snakepit out there.
Discuss “Bears Discover Fire”
Hypothesis: Science fiction can introduce non-scientists to important ideas about nature, technology, the future
Question 1: How does "Bears Discover Fire" exemplify sf as a way to make a topic like evolution "friendly" to average readers?
Question 2: What are the "signs" of evolution in the story?
“Bears Discover Fire”
17 old-fashioned one in family
18 light coming from 2 bears, holding torches
19 Looks like bears have discovered fire
19 in front of TV, flickering soothes them down [cf. Fire]
20 theory: following I-65 down from forests of Michigan and Canada
20 don’t hibernate, make a fire for winter
20 minister + real estate
21 first new species in recent history = newberry
21 warm winters changed hibernation cycle, now remember from year to year
“Bears may have discovered fire centuries ago but forgot it” [large time scales]
22 mother first woman school bus driver in state
22 your mother has escaped
26 rude to whisper
27 only a few bears knew fire, and carried others along [cf. Tire]
Question 1: How does "Bears Discover Fire" exemplify sf as a way to make a topic like evolution "friendly" to average readers?
17 old-fashioned one in family
19 Looks like bears have discovered fire
(folksy speech + Prometheus myth)
Question 2: What are the "signs" of evolution?
21 first new species in recent history = newberry
21 warm winters changed hibernation cycle, now remember from year to year
(conditions change, environment changes > species adapt or go extinct)
"Stone Lives"
preview evolution readings
3 short stories in very different settings
how are they all about evolution? What key terms signal the worldview?
what assumptions about the way the world, nature, time are organized?
what picture of humanity?
compare / contrast apocalyptic narrative
Evolution in “Stone Lives”
197 civilized world = large-scale bungle
199 re-creation bsed on dead fossil cells
199 your ancestor and mine
179 Bronx Jungle, a. k. a. the Bungle
179 survive another day in the Bungle. Survival is his main—his only—concern
197 primary interest of business is growth and dominance
197 reverted to a primary struggle, which continues to this day
[social darwinism: fusion of biological and cultural terms]
Technological / economic / political change
184 union of Free Enterprise Zones
186 built in the Oughts, during the boom period following Second Constitutional Convention
196 beautiful, gaudy, exciting—but basically unfair
196 I may have increased the disparity
rich richer, poor poorer
187 underdwellers
188 bungle > multiplex, extravagant, pulsating world
189 terminal = magic window on the world > to almost every other in world
191 flight plan, Mexico City
193 Mexico City, 35 million < relief from Houston and Dallas locations
Modern economics must always grow
Human populations or markets must also grow
"Social Darwinism"
196 I may have increased the disparity
rich richer, poor poorer
apocalypse and evolution?
Evolutionary future in “Stone Lives” and “Bears”
"Stone Lives"
178 Immigration office—the Bungle
178 Citrine rejuve
178 imprint
179 Bronx FEZ
179 Bronx Jungle, a. k. a. the Bungle
179 deeply memorized
179 survive another day in the Bungle. Survival is his main—his only—concern
180 a refined woman’s voice
181 subtle component, sense of life
181 return to known dangers of Bungle
181 [Stone blinded]
181 Parents? What’re they?
181 proof of citizenship and access to system
182 a job? A contract?
182 hot central pleasure of having survived
183 another, kinder century
183 eye system, charge-coupled devices
[human as machine, organic > mechanical]
184 mnemonic keywords > several functions
184 union of Free Enterprise Zones
185 cyber-therapist
185 frack—processed krill
186 land that did not even exist a century ago
186 built in the Oughts, during the boom period following Second Constitutional Convention
187 vast age clinging to her
187 underdwellers
187 reading, writing—outmoded skills
188 machines to read to you and transcribe your speech
188 bungle > multiplex, extravagant, pulsating world
188 discovery of history
189 Stone persists
189 terminal = magic window on the world > to almost every other in world
189 each path he follows has a branch every few steps
189 June, Asian eyes aglow
189 mnemotropin—encoding of long-term memories > brain expands
190 the vain and powerful woman sees her life as the dominant theme of the modern era, a radiant thread passing through time, with critical nodes of action strung on it like beads.
191 “Just like Alice.”
191 flight plan, Mexico City
192 Higher off the grasping earth . . . wild and rich and free
192 Alice 152 years old
192 America still states rather than FEZ and ARCadias
192 Free Enterprise Zones
192 carbon chips, near total rejuvenation
192 make a difference. Matter
193 Mexico City, 35 million < relief from Houston and Dallas locations
193 why not step in before collapse? > refugees
194 subdermal pattern of microchannels
194 June < German + Vietnamese
194 Reunification Germany
195 June over sixty
195 lifelike pictures of things that never existed, Stone a living camera
196 Avernus? [Roman entrance to Hell]
196 beautiful, gaudy, exciting—but basically unfair
196 I may have increased the disparity
rich richer, poor poorer
197 avoiding assassination
197 primary interest of business is growth and dominance
197 reverted to a primary struggle, which continues to this day
197 civilized world = large-scale bungle
199 re-creation based on dead fossil cells
199 your ancestor and mine
199 bungle instincts take over
200 Alice died instantly
201 June kills self with implant
201 Blood of my blood
“Bears Discover Fire”
17 old-fashioned one in family
18 light coming from 2 bears, holding torches
19 Looks like bears have discovered fire
19 in front of TV, flickering soothes them down [cf. Fire]
20 theory: following I-65 down from forests of Michigan and Canada
20 don’t hibernate, make a fire for winter
20 minister + real estate
21 first new species in recent history = newberry
21 warm winters changed hibernation cycle, now remember from year to year
“Bears may have discovered fire centuries ago but forgot it”
22 mother first woman school bus driver in state
22 your mother has escaped
26 rude to whisper
27 only a few bears knew fire, and carried others along [cf. Tire]
Assignments for Time Machine
Ideally, read Time Machine first, then stories for today, but this way you get the weekend for Time Machine
Time Machine as "sf classic"
After classes on Revelation, can’t just call Literature of the Future a science fiction course
but science fiction indispensable to course concept and objectives
book only 100+ pages, a few may not like it, but most will race through it
8.
To distinguish distinct temporal dimensions of the future
·
Near future; short-term; day-after-tomorrow (often
dramatic or apocalyptic change, such as alien contact)
·
Deep future,
long-term (usually evolutionary change involving natural or artificial
adaptations to new or changing environments)
· Various depths of future between, beyond, parallel, or skew
Deep future, as in very deep
1.
To
identify, describe, and criticize
narratives or
stories humans tell about the future:
a.
Apocalyptic
b.
Evolutionary
c. Alternative
All 3 of our narratives can be found in Time Machine, but primarily an evolutionary narrative
Apocalyptic: dramatic, sudden, personal
Evolutionary: usually slow, hard to witness, impersonal
objective
5.
To interpret literature of the future
as reflections of
the present in which it is written.
The Time Machine ("Life of H. G. Wells," v-viii; "Introduction," ix-xvi;
Wells 1866-1946
background: late 19th century first coming to terms with Darwin's new theoretical framework for biology, life on earth
Darwin's voyage to South America, South Seas 1831-1836
1859: Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
questions or issues that can help understand how engrained evolution is in our minds and lives, even if many reject it for theological reasons
What is "Social Darwinism?"
separation of society into winners and losers (cf. Darwinism: “survival of fittest”)
late 19th century (when Wells was writing)—robber barons, captains of industry, financiers (Carnegie, Mellons) x heavy industrial workers
Two species of humans in deep future of Time Machine
Eloi& Morlocks
Descendants of privileged classes & working people