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Spacebooks. An Introduction To Extraterrestrial Literature
- Self-paced
- Free Access
- Free certificate
- 8 Sequences
- Introductive Level
Course details
Syllabus
Main Source: Jonathan Swift,
MODULE I: CONSTRUCTING OTHER WORLDS
Learning objective: Literature is not a interstellar medium of a secondorder, but organizes outer space as we see it.
Main Source: Johannes Kepler, (1609/1634)
Lesson 1: The Book And The Telescope - Kepler vs. Galilei
Lesson 2: The Demon And The Mind's Eye - Kepler's "Dream"
MODULE II: TRAVELLING THE EARLY MODERN COSMOS
Learning objective: The early-modern age reflects interstellartravelling as a journey made possible by literature and literary imagination.
Main Sources: Francis Godwin, (1629/1638) / Cyrano de Bergerac, (1657)
Lesson 3: Godwin or The Secret Passage Of Fantasy
Lesson 4: Cyrano or The Universe As A Literary Market
MODULE III: THE 18TH CENTURY ALIEN
Learning objective: The idea of an inhabited solar system evokes acosmical hierarchy of morals.
Main Sources: Eberhard Christian Kindermann, (1744) / Immanuel Kant, (1755), Part Three, paragraphs 1-12 / Emanuel Swedenborg,
Lesson 5: The Golden Chain Of The Cosmos - Kindermann's Trip To The Martian Moon
Lesson 6: Kant, Swedenborg, And The Nature Of The Alien Reader
MODULE IV: READING MARS
Learning objective: The Age of the Martians is linked to the galacticexpansion of evolutionary theory.
Main Sources: Kurd Lasswitz, (1897) / H.G. Wells,
Lesson 7: The Canals or The Rise (And Fall) Of Martian Utopia
Lesson 8: Colonizing Earth, Colonizing Mars
MODULE V: CULTURE INDUSTRY AND THE 20th CENTURY ALIEN
Learning objective: The organization of Space Fiction in magazines shapes the perception of the genre - and the perception of its consumers as well, including sexual stereotypes. While the superficialnotion of space fiction registers a vivid tradition of sexist clichés, outerspace is in fact a fertile ground for diversive concepts of sexual identity.
Main Sources: Pulp / Donna Haraway,
Lesson 9: The Cosmos Of Pulp
Lesson 10: The Gender Of Space
MODULE VI: EMPIRE - OUTER SPACE AS A POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND
Learning objective: As outer space becomes an arena of politicalconflicts, wars become an integral element of space fiction. However: The emergence of the Galactic Empire shows us that space politics have less to do with enemies and warfare than with control and communication.
Main Sources: Robert A. Heinlein, (1959) / Frank Herbert, (1965)
Lesson 11: Empire As A Drug - Frank Herbert's Dune
Lesson 12: Empire As A Suit - Robert A. Heinlein's Starship troopers
MODULE VII: EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL LIBRARIES
Learning objective: Organizing cosmic knowledge is not longer abureaucratic task, but a story in itself, a turning point in literaryconsciousness.
Main Sources: Ludovico Ariosto:
Lesson 13: The Dump
Lesson 14: The Archive
MODULE VIII: POST-TERRESTRIAL LITERATURE
Learning objective: Despite being confronted with »true« interstellarmedia, literature finds its place in an earthless universe.
Main Source:
Lesson 15: Books Vs. Signals or The End Of Human Totalitarianism
Lesson 16: Man Beyond Earth, Books Beyond Man
Prerequisite
Instructors
- Philipp Theisohn - German Department
- Krystina Schaub - Philosophy/ German Language Studies
- Julia Nauer - Literature / Philosophy
Editor
Platform
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