Syllabus
16 Feb- Intro 23 Feb-Ken MacLeod-The future will happen here too/Descent 2 Mar -Neil Williamson- The Moon King 9 Mar Charles Stross- Halting State 16 Mar- Paul Johnstone- The Body Politic 23 Mar-Michel Faber- Under the Skin/ Book of Strange New Things 30 Mar-Douglas Thompson- Apoiedeia 6 April -Jenni Fagan- Sunlight Pilgrims 13 April- No Dominion -Louise Welsh 20 April-Alan Bissett- The Death of a Ladies Man 27 April -James Robertson- The Testament of Gideon Mack 4 May January-Iain Banks- Hydrogen Sonata 11 May-Course Conclusion and Admin matters.
Annotation
Summer Term 2021
Tuesdays 9:10-10:40
Instructor: Colin S Clark MA
This course seeks to introduce students to what is arguably the dominant genre of modern literature-the speculative. This literature explores the boundaries of the possible and provides solutions, from the pragmatic to the fantastic to the various stress- fractures and impasses of the modern Scottish nation-stateless, imagined and yet culturally robust and politically virile.
The texts taught here are as contemporary as possible and range across political, fantastic, sci-fi and slipstream literatures to equip the student with a coherent overview of the modern ‘question of Scotland ‘ and it’s ‘claim of right’.