Monday, June 09, 2008

Collectivism and Science Fiction Syllabus

Positive Liberty has posted a syllabus for an up-coming blog class. I've never heard of a blog class. The course is divided into several sections, and each section has both fiction and non-fiction readings. These are the fiction readings:
Cordwainer Smith, “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard”

Isaac Asimov, Foundation

Stanislaw Lem, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub

Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We

Katharine Burdekin, Swastika Night

Gene Wolfe - sections on the Ascians from The Book of the New Sun; especially “Loyal to the Group of Seventeen’s Story,” included in this work.

Philip K. Dick, “The Faith of Our Fathers,” in The Eye of the Sibyl

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing

Charles Stross, Accelerando


There are three films, all of which I've seen.

The non-fiction reading is heavy on philosophy books I don't have and haven't read, and I probably won't make much of a financial investment in this study. It will be interesting to keep up with the related posts, though, and read along as I can.

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