LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Web-Highlight 2009

Faron Samford

July 7, 2009

  LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student final exams 2007

Jennifer McCord 

A Shift in Mindset

In class we discussed how the American society seems to be motivated by the more apocalyptic stories of the future. Professor White made the suggestion that maybe our society should begin to learn from other kinds of stories. I personally agree with this contention. The American society seems to be motivated primarily by individual needs and desires. Maybe we could all benefit from a shift in our mindset. Community is an important human need and has been since the beginning of time. We are social animals but we act in selfish ways. This is a main theme that we see through out stories that we have read this semester. Bryan Hyde says this nicely in his 2005 final. “This is one of the main focuses of any good literature, and literature written about the future is no exception because, when all of the technology and complex terminology is stripped away, the reader is left with the human condition in the future, laid bare and found to be just as vulnerable and isolated as it has ever been.”

            One of the interesting concepts that this class made me think about was the concept of the past and the impact it has on the community. No matter what kind of future we are looking towards the past will always be there to either remind us of better times or warn us of past mistakes. In Chocco the people looked to the past to see how technology brought the “machine people” to their demise. In Contrast to that, the grandmother in Drapes finds herself missing the way things used to be, finding her only comfort from her memories. In some of the stories the past is something that the people are trying to run away from but find that they can’t. This was the case in Newton’s Sleep. They were trying to leave the disaster of earth behind, but found that there was too deep a connection to cut away from.

            One of the things that I noticed, was that it seemed that the more high tech the stories, the more individualistic they seemed. In both Cyberfiddle and Johnny Mnemonic the characters were loners. They both also longed to find their humanity. In Cyberfiddle, Pryer tries to connect with humanity through music when he makes and plays a fiddle. Johnny tries to reach a level of humanity by being able to retain his own memories. I found myself empathizing with the dad in The Onion and I, the way he missed the small details in life. I find it interesting that with technology we can get to know people who live on the other side of the world, while at the same time we don’t know the people who live right next store. This also seems like one of the most likely possibilities of our future, and for me one of the more scary, cold, and impersonal possibilities.

Sample Student final exams 2007

William Bazemore

Fiction for a Dose of Reality

If there is one important thing in developing a relationship, be it between lovers, friends, or species, communication is the key.  Communication is also dependant on these two group’s or individual’s ability to relate to one another.  The two most contrasting examples of this come from the narratives They’re made of Meat and Homelanding.  In Homelanding, the narrator was successful because she was able to recognize there is a certain quality that all being share in the universe.  That is their ability to recognize and experience death.  The shared experience of loss then becomes the beginning of understanding.  It seems a fitting point to consider how those who morn the passing of others are able to find solace in each other.  There are also narratives of contact that fails to even develop into communication for lack of understanding.  Such is the case of the story They’re Made of Meat.  This is a story of two aliens who come across a planet in their galactic scans whose residents are being made completely out of meat.  Being creatures made from energy of some sorts, they thought of meat as a foreign concept; almost a novelty.  Because of this limited perception and lack of relation took precedence in their judgment of humans, they decided to ignore these oddities of nature than even consider the idea of communication.  Can we say we wouldn’t react the same way if put in the same position?  Most people already hold limited stock in narratives involving aliens because most are willing to ignore the issues brought by such a chance meeting for the safe and stable reality.  Also considering that most individuals learn from empirical knowledge, our current observations just prove we are “special” in this universe.

If you were to ask me of the probability of occurrence one of these narratives has over another, I would probably say that it is a redundant point.  Why not ask me the limits of human achievements or how foolish some people might be?  We cannot even share the luxury of hoping for rationality in human behavior or a measured pace in technological and social development.  I believe the writers would view such lofty expectations superficial at best.  Is the future being written?  I believe there are different degrees of possibilities.  Are we going to end up in cyberspace?  If we do, will that occurrence come as a state sponsored program like that in The Onion and I or will it be more like Burning Chrome?  We will no less be living in cyberspace with only the circumstances changing.  Psychological and philosophical conundrums will no less exist in either of these narratives because their forms of reality are one in the same.