以歷史的角度觀之，世紀變換的年代已成為人們更傾向去檢視現在及思索未來的時刻。現在，並非只是一個世紀而是整個千禧年的流逝，這樣的檢視和思索就不可避免地愈演愈烈。在廿一世紀，什麼樣的未來在等著我們？之後又會是什麼樣子？而那未來的景象又會如何反映及回應我們現在所處的世界？在這個寫作的課程裡，我們將會讀到並寫出一些廿世紀的作家及電影製片如何以想像的方式來關注現在—並警告我們—隨之而來的可能世界。經由我們閱讀及討論的帶領下，我們將會透過深度的原文閱讀以及當代文化的面向來檢視當下，並建構我們自己的未來遠景。 都市及環境危機經濟帝國主義,性及複製人政策,種族及性別爭議,科技迷思,機器人學及生體機械人,媒體飽和, 語言及圖像表徵以及他們在這新千禧年的開端所提出，身為人類的意義為何等等這些持久不衰的問題。Turn-of-the-century eras have historically been times when people are more than usually inclined to scrutinize the present and speculate about the future. Now, the turn not just of a century but of a millennium having recently passed, such scrutiny and speculations inevitably intensify. What will the future that awaits us in this twenty-first century and beyond be like? And how do visions of that future reflect and respond to the world we live in now? In this writing course we will read and write about how some twentieth-century writers and filmmakers have attended to the present as a way of imagining -- and warning about -- possible worlds to come. Guided by our reading and discussion, we will scrutinize our own present and construct our own visions of the future through close readings of the texts as well as of some aspects of contemporary culture -- urban and environmental crises, economic imperialism, sexual and reproductive politics, issues of race and gender, the romance of technology, robotics and cyborg cultures, media saturation, language and representation -- and the persistent questions they pose about what it means to be human at this threshold of a new millennium.
