The Word for World is Information: Ideologies of Language in Science Fiction & Film
COL 258
Spring 2021
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 260 |
By the middle of the 20th century, it had begun to seem possible to produce a grand theory of communication that would use language as a basis for understanding all of human thought, behavior, and culture. As competing versions of such a theory circulated through academic disciplines as disparate as anthropology, neurophysiology, and the emerging field of computer science, they also filtered out--sometimes in strangely warped or oversimplified forms--into popular culture.
This course will examine the most interesting and influential of these theories, both in their scholarly origins and in their most puzzling and promising elaborations in works of literary and filmic science fiction. We will be particularly attentive to the ways that the narrative logic of science fiction texts can gloss over certain logical and philosophical inconsistencies in these theories while revealing others. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(CSCT)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
will likely include scholarly works by Norbert Wiener, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Roman Jakobson, Noam Chomsky, Warren Weaver, and others alongside science fiction texts by George Orwell, Damon Knight, Samuel Delaney, Ursula K. Le Guin, Suzette Haden Elgin, Neal Stephenson, Koji Suzuki, and Ted Chiang (with special attention to television and film adaptations).
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Fitzpatrick,Joseph J. Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: ONLINE; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 8 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 5 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 2 |
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