Fictional Modes
Objectives
The seminar is focused on the idea of fiction and its relation to the social context where it is produced, the ways how it varies throughout the genres and media of expression (with a special attention given to the literary matrix, but touching other media, such as cinema, comics, etc.), something that is akin to most contemporary fiction, with abundant and relevant illustrations. More specifically, it will be given a particular attention to the mutual rapports: from modern to contemporary times: between fiction and technology, materialized in genres as science fiction and dystopias.
The student should be able to:
a) Understand and discuss the modes of fiction and the different ways to analyse them;
b) Understand and discuss genre theories and their scope;
c) Master the main theoretical tools to understand the diverse fictional genres;
d) Understand and discuss the cross-breeding between genres and the theoretical issues raised by that phenomenon;
e) Apply those competences, with a critical perspective, to contemporary reality, particularly to their chosen case study, to be presented by the end of the seminar;
f) Apply all those competences, originally and autonomously, to their own research, to be presented in a clear and articulate form.
General characterization
Code
722011064
Credits
10
Responsible teacher
Available soon
Hours
Weekly - 3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Total - Available soon
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
None.
Bibliography
GUNN, James e CANDELARIA, Matthew (orgs.), Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction, Lanham (MD), The Scarecrow Press, 2005.
JAMES, Edward e MENDLESOHN, Farah (orgs.), The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Cambridge e Nova Iorque, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
ALKON, Paul K., Science Fiction before 1900: Imagination Discovers Technology, Nova Iorque e Londres, Routledge, 2002.
GENETTE, Gérard e TODOROV, Tzvetan (orgs.), Théorie des genres, Paris, Seuil, 1986.
SCHOLES, Robert, Structural Fabulation: An Essay on Fiction of the Future, Notre Dame (IN), University of Notre Dame Press, 1975.
Teaching method
Being a post-graduate seminar, the teachers presentations must be previously prepared by students, that must read the supporting bibliography, to potentiate critical discussion. The students presentations will enrich the seminar, by introducing other cases and perspectives related to fictional modes.
Evaluation method
The evaluation consists in the participation in class and in the preparation and execution of a final research paper, in three stages: a written project, with a workplan and preliminary bibliography (60h, 20%); an oral presentation in class and its discussion (42h, 30%); the final written essay (110h, 50%).
Subject matter
1. Thinking fiction, its modes and its relation to the real. Ontologies of fiction. Perspectivism and rapport to reality.
2. Thinking the relations between fiction and technology. Modernity, rationalism, technology and fiction.
3. Between fiction and technology: an historical perspective.
4. Between fiction and technology: contaminations between genres.
5. Case-study.