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LITR 4632: Literature of
the Future
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Student Presentation, 2003
Sara
Brito
5 June 2003
The
Female Man
Objectives to keep in mind:
1) To identify, describe…
the narratives…humans tell about the future: apocalyptic, evolutionary,
alternative 2c)To identify describe…visions of the future utopia/dystopia/
ecotopia 3)Is the future written or “being written”? 5) To interpret
literature of the future as reflections of the present in which it is written.
Introduction to the Book: Joanna
Russ’ novel The Female Man is a veeeeeery feminist text. In it she
follows four women that the reader eventually finds out are different
possibilities for the same person had they followed “alternative” paths. She
plays with the idea of different societal effects on the same individual. The
following passage shows in detail Russ’ idea of alternative futures…
1“Sometimes
you bend down to tie your shoe, and then you either tie your shoe or you
don’t; you either straighten up instantly or maybe you don’t.
Every choice begets at least two worlds of possibility, that is, one in
which you do and one in which you don’t; or very likely many more, one in
which you do quickly, one in which you do slowly, one in which you 5don’t, but hesitate, one in which you hesitate
and frown, one in which you hesitate and sneeze, and so on. To carry this line
of argument further, there must be an infinite number of possible universes
(such is the fecundity of God) for there is no reason to imagine Nature as
prejudiced in favor of human action. Every displacement of every molecule, every
change in orbit of every electron, every quantum of light that strikes here and
not there- each of these 10must somewhere have its alternative. It’s possible,
too, that there is no such thing as one clear line or strand of probability, and
that we live on a sort of twisted braid, blurring from one to the other without
even knowing it, as long as we keep within the limits of a set of variations
that really make no difference to us. Thus the paradox of time travel ceases to
exist, for the Past one visits is never one’s own Past but always someone
else’s; or rather, 15one’s visit to the Past instantly creates another
Present (one in which the visit has already happened) and what you visit is the
Past belonging to that Present- an entirely different matter from your own Past.
And with each decision you make (back there in the Past) that new probable
universe itself branches, creating simultaneously a new Past and a new Present,
or to put it plainly, a new universe. And when you come back to your own
Present, you alone 20know what the other Past was like and what you did there.
Thus
it is probable what Whileaway- a name for the Earth ten centuries from now, but
not our Earth, if you follow me-will
find itself not at all affected by this sortie into somebody else’s past. And
vice versa, of course. The two might as well be independent worlds.
Whileaway,
you may gather, is in the future.
25
But not our future.” (Russ
6-7)
Question: Would there be a need for God
or what would replace it? Would accepting Russ’ view of fate be considered
evolution, is it a step forward, (progressive) a utopian view? Is utopia
obtainable without a God?
Question: If the view Joanna Russ
expresses in The Female Man were a prevailing view, what would happen to
apocalyptic literature? What might replace it? Can we see her view becoming
prevalent in society today?
Question: Why can’t
we have our Earth, why does it have to change?
Discussion:
Dr.White
said one person’s utopia is another person’s dystopia.
Sandy
said the theme of the past and present ties in nicely with the “God is
change” motif in Parable of the Sower.
Dr.
White said creating your own future would implicitly mean that the future only
has meaning to yourself.
Kimberly
said multiple possible futures could create an apocalyptic network rather than
the classic linear progression to apocalypse.
Jennifer
said the characters in video games mirror the alternative realities presented in
The Female Man.
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