ENG 191: Science and Technology: "The Robot (R)evolution"
This course examines literature as a response to scientific and technological change and considers how new scientific discoveries inspire new visions in literature. This section of ENG 191 will use the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a focal point. We will read Shelley's novel as well as modern adaptations including the award-winning Arabic science fiction novel Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) and Victor LaValle's Destroyer (2017), a graphic novel adaptation, wherein a mother resurrects her son who was killed in a police shooting. We will begin with Frankenstein but quickly evolve our focus to examine robotics, androids, and the future of AI, including television and film adaptations such as HBO's West World and the film Ex Machina (2012) as modern evolutions of the Frankenstein narrative.
