I suspect I’m not the only middle-aged English professor who first became a passionate reader through devouring book upon book of science fiction. While pre-teen me loved J. R. R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth the most, when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, there was not yet a wide selection of published fiction in the fantasy mode that The Lord of the Rings helped create. There was, however, a thriving body of science fiction, much of it fairly old school and technophilic. Among the best of the bunch, and the woman who brought science fiction to a new level in the late twentieth century, was the Portland-based writer Ursula K. Le Guin. It was a big moment for American literary culture when she received the “major author” treatment in the Library of America edition of her Hainish (sci fi) novels in 2017. I’m excited that our senior seminar for F24 focuses on her works, in the Library of America collected edition.
As Dr. Steve Sicari describes the course in his syllabus,
Le Guin is famous for extending the range, or the depth, of what is called “science fiction.” We will certainly try to understand the nature of this genre and its relation to more traditional literary modes of story-telling. But she is not merely a great writer of science fiction, she is a great writer, full stop. The thematic diversity and richness of her fiction will give us plenty to talk about, and write about.
Our 4900 senior seminar courses, which change every semester as different faculty teach the course, represent a deep dive into a particular area of literary or cultural interest. I’m excited to see our students diving into this wonderful material, and I look forward to hearing about the new ideas they develop.
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