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Archaeologists have long researched the field of garbology, the study of garbage. A central tenet of garbology is that ”what people have owned — and thrown away — can speak more eloquently, informatively, and truthfully about the lives they lead than they themselves ever may” (William Rathje). This is also applicable to the way texts engage with waste and waste spaces.
In this seminar, we will closely read contemporary science fiction texts with a focus on waste, trash and garbage. Locating it in an ecocritical theoretical framework, we will discuss the meanings and contextualisations of waste in these texts while also considering resource management and the spatiality of waste, among other topics.
After a short historical introduction, which will include excerpts (e.g., from Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend), our texts will include a selection of current Doctor Who episodes (11th and 13th Doctor), as well as excerpts from different sci-fi novels, such as China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. We will read one novel in full, Terry Pratchett’s The Truth.
Texts:
Terry Pratchett. The Truth. London: Corgi, 2001. ISBN 978-0-552-14768-2
Please make sure not to buy the stage adaptation, but the novel! Additional material will be provided on moodle. |
