This module examines the role that technology has played in literature, and how literature engages with discourses of technology. Reading texts from the long-eighteenth century through to the present day—and considering Victorian representations of technology, mechanisation and industrialisation, the optimism of Golden Age SF, cyberpunk and internet culture, and techno-thrillers—we will explore: the social hopes and fears that representations of new technologies encode; what literature reveals about the relationship between humanity and technology (as tool, opportunity, threat, and so on); the extent to which technology is conceived of as a solution, as a problem, or as both simultaneously, in relation to particular cultural concerns; the ways in which technologies and representations of technologies can be understood in relation to issues such as race, gender, disability, sexuality, nationality, wealth, and power; the “fictions” that we tell ourselves ab out technology, and about its impact on society .

(LO1) Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the ways in which a given technology has been situated in relation to social conventions and expectations.

(LO2) Demonstrate advanced skills in textual analysis of a range of texts with detailed attention to the ways in which technology is represented.

(LO3) Analyse, evaluate, and contextualise the ways in which technologies and representations of technology reflect—and may reinforce—established social hierarchies.

(LO4) Critically engage with academic research and/or theoretical discourses about technology, and relate these to specific texts.

(LO5) Present their knowledge in a format appropriate to advanced academic study, and suitable for different audiences.

(S1) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Academic writing (inc referencing skills).

(S2) Critical thinking and problem solving - Critical analysis.

(S3) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Presentation skills – oral.

(S4) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Listening skills.

(S5) Information skills - Critical reading.

(S6) Research skills - All Information skills.

(S7) Skills in using technology - Using common applications (word processing, databases, spreadsheets etc.).

(S8) Research skills - Awareness of /commitment to academic integrity.

Specific texts can vary, but the module comprises a mix of fiction, film, and criticism from across a range of historical periods. Illustrative authors and critics studied include: William Gibson, Pat Cadigan, Isaac Asimov, Homer, Martin Heidegger, Charlie Brooker.   The syllabus covers: Week 1: Questions Concerning Technology. Week 2: The Problems of Literary Precursors.   Technologies Across Time [these topics are indicative, and can vary year-by-year] Week 3: Solar Energy. Week 4: Artificial Intelligence: From Automaton to Algorithm. Week 5: Nuclear Culture.   Humanity & Technology Week 6: Victorian Attitudes to Technology. Week 7: The Rise of the (Social) Machine. Week 8: What do we do (to ourselves and each other) with Technology?   The Uneven Distribution of the Future Week 9: Technological Optimism. Week 10: “High Tech, Low Life”. Week 11: The (Distributed) Future of Work. Week 12: Student presentations.

Teaching Method 1 - Seminar
Description: Screening session (12 x 1hr seminars, 1 x 2hr seminars)
Attendance Recorded: Yes