Welcome to the Course!

 \

“...fairy-stories deal largely, or (the better ones) mainly, with simple or fundamental things, untouched by Fantasy, but these simplicities are made all the more luminous by their setting.  For the story-maker who allows himself to be “free with” Nature can be her lover not her slave.  It was in the fairy-stories that I first divined the potency of the words, and the wonder of the things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass; house and fire; bread and wine.” (J.R.R. Tolkein, Tree and Leaf) 

Welcome to the first post of the Spring 2015 semester!  I look forward to sharing this course with the 20-odd students courageous enough to enroll in it.  This is a class I've long considered teaching, and have taught in bits and pieces, but was reluctant to make an entire class (mostly for fear it wouldn't make).  However, with that fear behind me, we can now tackle two of the most important genres in modern literature (fantasy and sci-fi), both of which have ancient origins--and might easily be seen as two leaves from the very same tree.  We'll spend a lot of time this semester discussing the uses of fantasy and science fiction, and whether or not "escapism" can illuminate our experience of the so-called "real world."  From vigilantes, Orcs, Monoliths, and even Merlin himself, this class has it all--though sadly, we can only scratch the surface of the true history of both genres.  The seven books for class will at least give us a way of thinking about and responding to the British tradition of fantasy and science fiction, and will offer your own avenues of discovery.  Be sure you have the books for the course (listed below) so we can start reading next week.  Also bookmark this site since all your daily responses will be posted here, along with other assignments and research links.  As Bilbo Baggins once sang, "The road goes ever on..." and this class will be the beginning of what I hope is an exciting and often discursive journey.  

Required Texts & Editions:

• Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (any edition)
• Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems (Dover)
• Lord Dunsany, In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales  (Penguin)
• Moore/Gibbons, Watchmen (DC comics)
• Tolkein, The Hobbit (any edition)
• Wells, The Invisible Man (any edition)
• White, The Once and Future King (any edition)