Short Essay Topics [20%]
3-5 pgs (700-1200 words)
Due by 5pm Friday, October 17th

0. Cognitive Estrangement
   Edward James discusses Darko Suvin's notion of Cognitive Estrangement as combining estrangement (arousing the "interest of readers by presenting them with something jarringly different from their experience") and cognition ("the process of acquiring knowledge and of reason"). Look over James's elaboration of these ideas (follow the link above), and then think about the ways one or two of the works we've read might fit this framework.

   How have the novels we have been reading deal with this process? James also discusses Suvin's term 'novum' in terms of the narrative structure that forces the cognitive estrangement. What novums are employed and to what end? What is the effect of the estrangement on the reader?

1. SF and Other Genres
   Earlier in the essay above, James posits a number of binary oppositions that separate sf from mainstream fiction. Do the novels observe or enact these boundaries? How do they move beyond the boundaries? What techniques do they use to do this? Should we consider them to be sf then?

2. SF and Woman
   Each of the books we have read so far have traced the intellectual/social/emotional development of a woman. Pick two of the books and explore how it is these women learned, what they learned, and why what they learned is important.

3. SF and "Technology"
   Drawing from our readings and conversations thus far in the course, develop a definition of technology (after all, our course subtitle is "From Organotech to Metaltech"); and then explore how your definition applies/doesn't apply to several examples from our novels.