Subverting Genre

It is often the writer who dwells on the future that shows us the darkness of our own age. In this seminar we will be surveying multiple facets of genre fiction to discover what is possible outside the confines of “traditional” literature. Our goal will be to observe both the strengths and the weaknesses of each novel we explore to better understand what can be learned, borrowed, or adapted to our own work. Special care will be given to the prejudices or problematic aspects that may or may not exist within each novel with an aim of learning to subvert such tropes. While it is beyond the bounds of this course to be all-encompassing, the booklist has been designed to give solid introductions to Afro-futurism, historical speculative fiction, Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and 1960’s American science fiction.  

Participants must access their own copies of the following texts:

October 9: Clay’s Ark, Octavia Butler
November 6: Ledfeather, Stephen Graham Jones
December 4: The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle
January 8: VALIS, Philip K. Dick  

When: On Zoom, Saturdays, 10a-12p 10/9, 11/6, 12/4, 1/8
Cost: $125
Register by Oct 8: https://bit.ly/3jT8aKC