New Undergraduate Courses

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FALL 2009

ENGLISH 412A

STUDIES IN GENRE:  SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY

Professor Dennis Barbour, CLO 217A, 989-2261, barbour@calumet.purdue.edu

Fall, 2009   TR, 2:00-3:20 p.m.

“A study of literary or cinematic works that share distinctive formal features.”  This course will offer readings beginning with classic authors such as Mary Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe through lesser known practitioners in this field such as H.P.Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Stephen King  to the graphic novel The Watchmen. 

The course will explore a subject that until recently has been considered as merely a manifestation of popular culture but has in recent years established itself as both a popular culture and an academic discipline.  Under the umbrella of imaginative fiction, these works have often commented on social, political, and cultural trends.

TEXTBOOKS:  Roberts, The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy
                                            The Watchmen