RUSS 364 - Robots, Aliens, Progressors: East European Science Fiction and Beyond

Did you know that the word “robot” was invented by the Czech author Karel Čapek or that the most exciting and provocative science fiction in the twentieth century was written in Polish and Russian? This and so much more is what you will learn in this course. We’ll begin with the groundbreaking speculative works composed in the 1920s in Eastern and Central Europe and proceed with the renaissance of science fiction in Poland and the Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia) after World War II. The bulk of the course will be devoted to the works of the Polish Jewish author Stanislaw Lem, arguably the most important science fiction mind of the twentieth century, and his disciples in the Soviet Union, such as the Strugatsky brothers, Gennady Gor, Ariadna Gromova, Ilya Varshavsky, Boris Shtern and others. We’ll investigate how they envisioned the fiascos of contact with the interplanetary forces, the potential and failures of AI, the possibilities of parallel universes, and so much more. We’ll also uncover the links between their works and American sci-fi, by Philip K. Dick and others.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 220 or equivalent.
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 364
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).