LITR 4632  
Literature of the Future

Final Exam assignment 2013		   

Format & schedule: In-class or email; open-book and open-notebook

Relative weight: 40-50% of final grade

Content: 2 essay questions (details below)

Essay lengths: Better essays are usually longer, more substantial, more developed—usually 6-10 paragraphs, depending on paragraph length.

Special requirements:

(Final exam samples 2011; Final exam samples 2009; Final exam samples 2007)

Special Advice: Don't hurry to email exam. When finished, take a break, then edit, revise, develop ideas and analysis further.

Need more content? Try examples, then comment and connect.

Since the course has more material before the midterm, don't hesitate to use pre-midterm texts + discussions—only connect to final themes.

Essay 1: Compare, contrast, and evaluate Scenarios of the Future

Referring to 4 (or more) texts mostly since the midterm, organize a discussion of 1 or more of objective 2's “visions or scenarios of the future.”

Obj. 2—Visions / Scenarios of the Future

2.     To identify, describe, and criticize typical visions and scenarios of the future (seen from 2013).

a.      high tech; virtual reality—slick, cool, unreal, easy with power (+ cyberpunk style)

b.     low tech; actual reality—rough, intimate, messy, hungry, warm, real

c.    utopia / dystopia / ecotopia—perfectly planned worlds / dysfunctional world / + ecology

d.     off-planet / alien contact—exploring and being explored

 

Possible prompts: alternative terms for "visions and scenarios": dimensions, aspects.

 

Rationale for your choice(s)? What did you know or sense of these scenarios before? Refer to previous readings, films, or other media.

 

What did you learn about how these scenarios are presented? What appeals to readers? What downsides or repulsions?

 

What kind of future is modeled? Decline or progress? Hope or fear? On what basis?

Essay 2: Develop a personal/professional topic in our course or readings (extended from midterm)

Extend or continue Essay 2 from your midterm, reviewing and rethinking what you wrote then and applying your theme to 2 or more texts since the midterm.

You may continue to refer to and analyze pre-midterm texts, especially if you have additional material; otherwise review what you accomplished in the midterm. Make connections between pre-midterm and post-midterm texts—e.g., comparisons and contrasts, similarities and differences.

If you feel that your midterm Essay 2 topic no longer works for you, review your situation and transition to a fresh or related topic. You can refer to texts throughout the summer session.

In brief, you must refer to your midterm Essay 2, but you can extend or vary from it in whatever way suits you best.

Some past final exam Essay 2s actually rewrote parts of their midterm for inclusion in the final exam Essay 2. That's not automatically a problem as long as you make it work for you and your reader. (Don't just copy and paste the midterm materials, but improve them at least a little.)

(Midterm assignment for Essay 2:) [everything from here to next rainbow line is from midterm]

Essay 2 (1 hour): Isolate a personal / professional topic in our course or readings (to be extended in final exam) (4-7 paragraphs?)

Connect personal and / or professional reactions to course contents, 1+ course objectives, and 2-3 texts, unifying material to focus on how this course or its materials can work for your future.

Question: What themes, ideas, aspects, or element(s) of our course intrigue you or matter most? Why? What issue(s) seem most important and worth reading and discussing? What do you learn about your interests or assumptions? How can you imagine Literature of the Future playing into your future?

Your emphasis may be literary, cultural-social-historical, or both, but use examples from texts to illustrate and develop insights, and use terms and objectives to connect to the course.

Overlap with Essay 1 is possible.

Optional prompts: What difficulties or cautions naturally attend comprehension and expression regarding the future?

What difference do such stories make? Especially considering how long we've been telling them? Do all of us manage alternative futures?

Connect examples from texts to contemporary-future scene.

Possibly connect your theme to Literature of Ideas

Don't feel pressure to conform to views of instructor. The point of the essay is to show yourself learning.

Required textual references: Across the exam you must refer to at least 7 texts overall, and at least four stories since the midterm (see Essay 1). References to texts before the midterm are encouraged, but your choices of contents may dictate otherwise.

Welcome to refer to texts in abbreviated form, e. g. "The Logical Legend of Heliopause and Cyberfiddle" > "Cyberfiddle."

No page references necessary unless you're citing something very surprising or obscure.

You are welcome to refer briefly to outside readings, films, other pop or serious culture, but not required.

Texts since midterm

"Johnny Mnemonic," (BC 1-22);  "Burning Chrome," (BC 168-191); "The Logical Legend of Heliopause and Cyberfiddle" (VN 159-180)

"The Onion and I," (VN 8-21)."Drapes and Folds," (VN 126-139)."Speech Sounds"(VN 91-108).

K. S. Robinson, “Introduction” to Future Primitive. "Chocco," (FP 189-214); "House of Bones," (FP 85-110)

"Hinterlands" (BC 58-79). "They're Made out of Meat," (VN 69-72)."The Poplar Street Study" (VN 140-148); "The Belonging Kind" (BC 43-57).

Texts before midterm

Genesis and Revelation; Parable of the Sower; Time Machine; "Stone Lives"; "Bears Discover Fire"; "Somebody up there Likes Me"; "Garden of Forking Paths"; "Gernsback Continuum"; "Mozart in Mirrorshades"; "Better Be Ready 'bout Half Past Eight"

Evaluation standards: As in most Literature courses, quality of reading and writing is the key to judging excellent work from competent work—not just reproducing data but organizing it into a unified, compelling essay. Don't just march through—connect the parts to make a larger whole. Demonstrate reading by extended reference to texts, terms, objectives,

Unity and transitions are essential. The best exams connect parts to form larger ideas. Pause between paragraphs to review what you've written or to preview what comes next. Summarize. Explain. Explore.

Combine your language with the language of the course, which is expressed most directly in the course objectives but also in class discussions and lectures.

Audience: Write so someone in our class can recognize your terms and explanations and enjoy your personal contributions or styles. The instructor has to be kept in sight—connect with shared terms, objectives, and texts, and "write up" in terms of organization and ambition of thought.


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