READING SKILLS D

概要

In this course students will read essays and novels related to literature and science. Among the texts that you will read, there are H.G.Wells's science fiction novels such as"The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds"(『宇宙戦争』) and scientific books including Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and Percival Lowell’s scientific texts. We will also be looking at a few adaptations of Wells's "The War of the Worlds" such as Ruikō Kuroiwa’s (1862-1929) Hachijūman-nengo no Shakai (『八十万年後の社会』, The Society After Eight Hundred Thousand Years, 1913), one of the earliest adaptations of The Time Machine, and also Junya Yokota’s(1945-2019)Kaseijinrui no Gyakushū (『火星人類の逆襲』, The Rebellion of Martians, 1988).

目標

By reading scientific fiction novels by Wells and texts written by scientists such as Darwin and Lowell, we will be asking questions such as "how did evolutionary theories affect the way we perceive "humanity" across space and time—namely across diverse cultures and also across spectrum ranging from primitivism to civilization?" By reading the supporting texts, academic and journalistic, students will develop their reading skills and also think about key concepts such as evolution and degeneration--which are often used politically as well. Such skills include prediction, skimming, scanning, inferencing, awareness of symbolic meanings.

授業外の学習

Outside class, students will read, research, take notes, and in classes they will be having discussions with their classmates (in groups or pairs). You will also download a few excerpts, essays and stories on moodle. These excerpts will be useful in writing your reaction paper and also deepening your understanding of the stories and their historical and cultural background.

所要時間: 190 minutes per class