RSSS 310 - Red Stars, Cosmonauts, and Robots: Soviet and East European Science Fiction

This course studies a selection of the best and most influential fantastic, marvelous, and uncanny works from the region that brought the world rocketry, Sputnik, and the robot. Students will analyze a variety of media (in translation) from Eastern Europe that posit situations based in a "fantastic" space, time or world to compare how broader cultural concerns are expressed through the genre of science fiction. We will discuss the development of the genre in Eastern Europe from the era of Romanticism to the modern day, with emphasis on the historical-cultural context of the Space Race between the US and USSR and its impact on the genre. This course will explore the view "from the East" of such topics as progress, imperialism, human perfectibility, gender constructs, the nature of communication, human/other identity, and the limits of knowledge as humanity pushes further into the final frontier. Students will read all texts in translation; all films will be available with English-language subtitles.