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EL45UJ: IRISH AND SCOTTISH SCIENCE FICTION (2021-2022)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05


Course Overview

The course offers students the opportunity to study a genre (science fiction) in the context of modern Irish and Scottish literature, science fiction is a genre developed by major Scottish writers – such as Robert Louis Stevenson – and also popularised by Irish writers such as C.S.Lewis. It has been a key element in some of the most innovative work by modern Irish and Scottish novelists – such as Flann O’Brien, Alasdair Gray and Iain M. Banks – and has been adopted as the medium of feminist critique by writers such as Naomi Mitchison and A.L. Kennedy who have built on the early and pioneering work of Mary Shelley. Science fiction, as a genre, is closely allied with imperialism and its consequences, and the relationship of Ireland and Scotland to the British Empire has made science fiction a particularly pertinent way of addressing such issues.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Term Second Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Professor Cairns Craig

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • English (EL)
  • Either Programme Level 4 or Programme Level 5
  • Any Undergraduate Programme

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The course provides a historical overview of the development of the science fiction genre in Ireland and in Scotland. The course begins from the classic origins of science fiction in Jonathan Swift’s satirical representation of scientific experiment in Gulliver’s Travels and in Mary Shelley’s gothic exploration of scientific ambition in Frankenstein, and concludes with (near)-contemporary science fiction by writers such as Iain M. Banks, Ken Macleod and A.L. Kennedy. It explores a variety of different kinds of science fiction, from the classic space travel of A Plunge into Space from the 1890s, to the psychological science journeys of David Lindsay’s Voyage to Arcturus or Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman from the 1920s and 30s, to the ‘Culture’ novels in which Iain M. Banks envisages a distant future in which a Utopian society has to confront its dystopian rivals.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Oral Presentation: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 70
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Word Count 4500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Word Count 1500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualRememberILO’s for this course are available in the course guide.

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