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University of Michigan, free online Sci-Fi and Fantasy course

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  • 27-04-2012 1:17pm
    #1
    mcgovern
    Registered Users Posts: 4,267 ✭✭✭


    Seen a link for this over on Goodreads. Free online, 10 week course with University of Michigan, doubt you get anything for completing it, but could be interesting. I've signed up, but next course is not until end of July.
    Might interest some people, and if a few of us were to do it, we could help each other out.
    Here's the link


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    #2
    mcgovern
    Registered Users Posts: 4,267 ✭✭✭mcgovern


    Sorry for digging up an old thread, but some more details for anyone who might be interested in doing this the next time its offered.

    Reading list:
    1. Grimm — Children's and Household Tales (Lucy Crane translation with Walter Crane illustrations)
    2. Carroll — Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
    3. Stoker — Dracula (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)
    4. Shelley — Frankenstein
    5. Hawthorne & Poe — Stories and Poems (Hawthorne's Mosses from an Old Manse includes "The Birthmark," "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "The Artist of the Beautiful" and his Twice-Told Tales includes "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"; The Portable Poe includes all the suggested Poe stories and poems
    6. Wells — The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, "The Country of the Blind," "The Star"
    7. Burroughs & Gilman — A Princess of Mars & Herland
    8. Bradbury — The Martian Chronicles (not available for legal, free download)
    9. LeGuin — The Left Hand of Darkness (not available for legal, free download)
    10. Doctorow — Little Brother (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)

    It's pretty tough going, you essentially have 5 days to read that weeks reading, so week 1 was read to read the Grimm's, week 2 was the two Alices and week 3 was Dracula. You then submit a ~300 work thesis, followed by reading and grading at least 4 other students works, and then the next week starts.
    We are just finishing week 3 at the moment, so far I'd give Grimm 1/5, the Alice books 2/5, and Dracula 2/5 (had a great start then went badly downhill).

    The forum is very active, and there are all sorts of people on the course. In fact, a lot of the students are non-native English speakers which can be a problem, and a lot of the others are teachers etc with Literature degrees, so standards vary a lot.
    I'm finding the hardest part having to stick to this reading list and not read whatever I want to be honest!


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