Thank you one and all for attending the Literature Department’s first book club of 2013 that was led Mr. Mark Rozells. His sharing of Science Fiction was insightful and comprehensive and very effective in whetting our appetite and piquing our curiosity to delve deeper into the realms of Sci-Fi.
We would also like to say a special thanks to our librarians for displaying, for our easy retrieval, the extensive range of SF novels for loan.
I cannot speak for all the attendees, but I believe most of us gained a substantial amount of knowledge during the course of this talk. Not only was this novel introduced to us – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick – , the genre of Science Fiction as a whole was explored. The historical context of some Sci-fi was presented; how artificial intelligence, the Mutually Assured Destruction theory and the detonation of atomic bombs in WWII triggered speculation about the future of the human race and influenced literature. Issues on whether mankind has reached its technological peak and will only regress from here on were raised, what defines a human being, whether humans are “playing God” and the repercussions of this. I believe that this talk has enabled us to read and savour Sci-fi with a slightly different perspective.There was quite a bit to ponder about, but all this was presented with a touch of humour, which is always appreciated.
Thanks Wileen for your thoughtful contribution.Do keep a lookout for our next monthly book club in February.
Literature in English at SOTA 