Course programme
Friday
Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
19:00 Dinner
20:30 Session 1: The History of Modern Science Fiction: An Overview. Lecture, with a discussion of Clifford D. Simak’s “Desertion” (1944).
22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Session 2: Science Fiction in the 1950s. A discussion of Cordwainer Smith’s “The Game of Rat and Dragon” (1955), Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” (1956), and Damon Knight’s “Stranger Station” (1956).
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Session 3: Science Fiction in the 1960s. A discussion of Harlan Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965), Frederik Pohl’s “Day Million” (1966), and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” (1971).
12:30 Free
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Free
16:00 Tea
16:30 Session 4:Science Fiction in the 1970s. A discussion of Joanna Russ’s “When It Changed” (1972). James Tiptree Jr.’s “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972), and George R.R. Martin’s “Sandkings” (1979).
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Session 5: Science Fiction in the 1980s and Beyond 1. A discussion of Bruce Sterling’s “Swarm” (1982), Greg Bear’s “Blood Music” (1983), and Octavia E. Butler’s “Bloodchild” (1984).
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Session 6: Science Fiction in the 1980s and Beyond 2. A discussion of C.J. Cherryh’s “Pots” (1985), Karen Joy Fowler’s “The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things” (1985), and Pat Murphy’s “Rachel in Love” (1987).
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Session 7: Science Fiction in the 1980s and Beyond 3. A discussion of Geoffrey Landis’s “Vacuum States” (1988), Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Before I Wake” (1989), and Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” (1998).
12:30 Free
12:45 Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch.
Dietary Requirements
If you have any specific dietary requirements or allergies please inform our Admissions Team on ice.admissions@ice.cam.ac.uk or +44 (0)1223 746262 if you have not already advised us of your requirements.
Additional Requirements
Further information about student support.
