A moderate argument for keeping sf in the gutter

[supergee]

11 science fiction books that are regularly taught in college classes. No Le Guin, Asimov, Heinlein, or Clarke. No Fahrenheit 451 (maybe that's high school). The same mediocre PKD book Hollywood started with. A Princess of Mars*interrobang* Srsly?

Thanx to File 770

Comments

[thistleingrey]

Le Guin continues to be taught here and there. I could not figure out how to teach Heinlein even-handedly fifteen years ago despite having read quite a lot of his work during my early teens: there were no points of reference for building an appreciation to overcome the "Wow, these people were wrong about the present/future" factor, or the gender roles. Clarke didn't fit with my course themes for any of the syllabi I put together. I did teach Sturgeon once, productively, and Delany's Einstein Intersection.

To put it another way, my students were too young for Buffy, even then, and I didn't want to offer readings merely to frown at them simplistically.

[wild_irises]

That's a depressing list.

[bibliofile]

[insert sarcastic comment about all that uplifting & happy SF&F that could be taught instead]

[bibliofile]

I thought that that the iO9 list would be a lot worse, including actual crap. I can see skipping SOME of the classic authors to provide something more relatable. (I still see Handmaid's Tale as all too possible; that's only seemed more likely as time goes on.)