Dr. Michael Delahoyde
Washington State University
I. IDENTIFICATIONS. [Total 26 points.]
This could be a matter of matching Column A with Column B, identifying what work begins "Shambleau! Ha! Shambleau!": that kind of question. This portion of the midterm will be inflicted individually and intracerebrally at the beginning of the designated class period, Monday, February 27th. Put on your thinking cap, turn it up to 11, and press the "fry" button.
II. QUOTATIONS. [Total 50 points; 5 points each.]
A combination of identification and, more importantly, significance questions will follow quotations from the material of the first half of the semester, extracted for their representativeness of our discussions over the key points these weeks. This is not trivial pursuit. If you read the works and paid attention in class, only a close review of notes is necessary for preparation. Otherwise, woe to thee. Partial credit is given for semi-intelligence.
III. TAKE-HOME ESSAY. [Total 24 points.]
DO THIS PART NOW! Respond thoroughly and precisely, with specific references to class readings, to the following question in roughly two (2) pages, double-spaced. Answers should be typed and turned in with the in-class portions of the mid-term exam on Monday.
- A science fiction author has written that
Science Fiction is a story of a place that hasn't yet become but has the potential to be. Always it is a place of some escape from where we are but I find it curious that where we escape to we try and transform it into what we knew and what we fled from.From your own reading experience, would you agree with this assessment? Why do you think this is the case, or, if you disagree, how would you change this author's mind?I also find the need of ownership very curious. In all science fiction that I've come across with human characters there is this desire to own what they come across. Why?
The essay is due at in class on exam day to accompany the other in-class components of the exam.
BIG DAY: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 11:10 pm.
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