Eng 2DG – Genre Fiction ISU
For this assignment, you will choose a novel, read a novel, write a paper, and do a presentation. You will write your
paper on your own and your presentation as a group.
Phase One: Choosing Your Novel
You may choose science fiction, detective fiction, or historical fiction. You may choose from the list, or find one on
your own. All choices must be cleared through me. Some novels we can supply; others you will have to find on your
own. You may read the same book as other people.
Phase Two: Reading
I am not going to ask you to do a ton of reading notes or answer chapter questions, but remember you need to be able
to find support for your paper and presentation. When you read the novel, do your best to track ideas that will help
your paper. You will probably not have time to reread your novel and you will need supporting quotations.
Phase Three: Writing Your Paper
Your paper will examine the role of setting in your novel or explain how the conventions of the genre help reinforce
an important idea in the novel. Choose one of the questions below – you can modify the question, but you must clear
this through me.
Phase Four: The Presentation
Your presentation must recreate and explain the significance of the setting of your novel(s). What are the features of
the world of the novel? How does this setting affect the characters? What comment does this novel imply about
society and/or human nature? Be smart. Be creative.
Dates
Novel Chosen
Novel read
final paper
Thesis
outline
draft
presentation
The Paper - A Literary(ish) Review
You are a writer for a serious literary journal or magazine.
Write an article or review that explains why this novel is effective or important. Your main idea will vary depending
on which genre you have chosen. Look at the prompts below, and choose one that fits your novel and interests you.
Address the question, and move on to discussing the broader relevance of the novel. Why is this novel important to
read? What can we better understand or appreciate after reading this novel? What is particularly effective?
This paper is not a formal literary essay. You can bend format as you see fit (we will look at some samples) and write
in a slightly more informal style. Your paper should be approximately 1000 words long and use proper MLA format.
1.
Examine how a main principle of science fiction (extrapolation, speculation) is used to generate or reinforce
social comment. To do this, you have to identify and explain the extrapolation and/or speculation, then go
on to explain the social comment. You may also choose to explain why this comment is valid, important,
particularly effective, and/or interesting.
2.
Explain the effect setting (physical and/or social) has on a major character and explain what the author
demonstrates through this effect. You may also choose to explain why this comment is valid, important,
particularly effective, and or interesting.
3.
Explain how setting is used to generate social comment. To do this, you will have to describe the significant
aspects of the setting then go on to explain the social comment. You may also choose to explain why this
comment is valid, important, particularly effective, and/or interesting.
4.
Show that your novel uses one of the definitions listed on the other side of the paper, and explain what we
learn from this aspect of the work. To do this, you will have to present the definition, explain how the novel
fits this definition, then go on to explain what we can learn or consider from this. You may also choose to
explain why this comment is valid, important, particularly effective, and/or interesting.
The Presentation – The Sense of Setting
Your presentation must recreate and explain the significance of the setting of your novel(s). What are the features of
the world of the novel? How does this setting affect the characters? What comment does this novel imply about
society and/or human nature? Be smart. Be creative. Think of what you would find interesting and thoughtprovoking and design your presentation accordingly.
Your presentation should be between 15 and 20 minutes long and use a range of media.
Definitions of Science/Historical Fiction
Kingsley Amis -Science Fiction is that class of prose narrative treating of a situation that could not arise in the world
we know, but which is hypothesized on the basis of some innovation in science or technology, or pseudo-technology,
whether human or extra-terrestrial in origin. – “New Maps Of Hell“ (London, 1960)Top
Isaac Asimov - Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the
changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions - the branch of literature which is
concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings. - (1952)Top
Ray Bradbury - Science fiction is really sociological studies of the future: things that the writer believes are going to
happen by putting two and two together. Top
Robert A. Heinlein - A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about
possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough
understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method.
To make this definition cover all science fiction (instead of "almost all") it is necessary only to strike out the word
"future."
from: “Ray Guns And Spaceships”, in Expanded Universe, Ace, 1981Top
Alexei Panshin - ... its [science fiction's] attraction lies ... in the unique opportunity it offers for placing familiar
things in unfamiliar contexts, and unfamiliar things in familiar contexts, thereby yielding fresh insights and
perspective. Top
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often
contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional. Writers of stories in this genre
attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due
attention paid to period detail and fidelity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_fiction
Historical novels are stories set in the past and try to recreate the aura of a time past, reconstruct characters, events,
movements, ways of life and spirit of days gone by.
library.thinkquest.org/J0110782/genre/definitions.html
"Fictional dystopias are almost always cautionary tales - warnings of where our political, cultural and social
surroundings are taking us. The novels here all share common motifs: designer drugs, mass
entertainment, brutality, technology, the suppression of the individual by an all-powerful state - classic
preoccupations of dystopian fiction. These novels picture the worst because, as Swift demonstrated in his
original cautionary tale, Gulliver's Travels, re-inventing the present is sometimes the only way to see how
bad things already are." -Robert Collins
Detective fiction, also known as mystery, is generally driven by a single protagonist and follows the process of
detection. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Women's fiction defines it this way: "This genre invites the reader to
engage in the process of detection (most commonly of a murderer) through the interpretation of clues."
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/genrefiction/g/detectivenovel.htm
Allan Pinkerton understood that the public was interested in "the immersion of the eye into an almost surreal
underworld, an underworld to which he must adapt in order to get his work done," as Ruehlmann writes; he "creates
an atmosphere of evil commensurate with a sense of the holiness of the mission and its necessity for the sanctity of
moral order." http://www.detnovel.com/
Eng 2DG ISU
Name:
Novel Title:
If you have not finished your novel, you can still do this exercise – you will have more to add later.
Write down two parts/aspects of the novel that you particularly enjoyed, or two parts that rolled around your brain
for a while after you finished the novel.
What is the setting of this novel? How does this setting help the novel present ideas?
What are two examples of extrapolation present in your novel? If your novel is not SF – what “what ifs” are present?
What are two specific aspects of setting emphasized to create meaning in the work?
Look at the prompts. What are two possibilities for you to write about? What could you use as support?
Put a check along the line to show your novel reading progress.
Have not started
Finished
Essay by:
Editor:
This essay
 makes reference to the title and the author of the work in the introduction
 underlines (or bolds, or italicizes) the title of the novel
 Introduction is
 Thesis is
INTERESTING
clear
EFFECTIVE
universal
INCOMPLETE
complete
unclear
INEFFECTIVE
incomplete
 Each paragraph has clear topic sentences that correspond to the directional statement and are focused on topic
and/or thesis of essay.
 uses specific support from the text
NOT ENOUGH
JUST RIGHT
TOO MUCH
 uses quotations correctly and properly (all are set up and worked in smoothly)
 clearly explains each argument and ties main ideas back to the thesis whenever necessary
 Vertical organization works well
 Horizontal organization is good

Voice is appropriate and effective
This paper should try to/avoid
 shows appropriate vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures: sentences are varied in length and
construction
 refers to the text in present tense
 is free of mechanical errors
 has an effective conclusion
What area(s) needs attention?
What could be added?
Presentation Plan
Group Members:
Novels:
Central Idea:
Introduction/Hook:
Idea/Point/Thought
Questions or Concerns:
Sources (film clip, reading, visual…) and
accompanying explanations
Eng 2DG - ISU Presentation Evaluation
Names:
Sources and Ideas:
Clear, Unifying Idea
1
2
3
4
5
Accuracy/Quality of Information
Tie to Novels
Selection of Sources
Range of Sources/Media
Depth and Twist
Thought and Stretch
Clarity and Organization
Tight?
Delivery
Voices, Posture, Clarity
Professionalism/
Overall Effect
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
2
4
6
8
10
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Total:
/40
2DG Genre Fiction ISU
Name:
Accuracy and depth of
interpretation
Thesis and Focus
1
2
Use of Support
1
2
3
4
5
6
Depth of Thought
1
2
3
4
5
6
Voice, Style, and Organization
1
2
3
4
5
6
3
4
1
Mechanics
3
2
1
Use of essay structure
4
3
2
1
2
Format and Process
4
3
1
5
6
5
4
10
5
7
Total
2DG Genre Fiction ISU
/40
Name:
Accuracy and depth of
interpretation
Thesis and Focus
1
2
Use of Support
1
2
3
4
5
6
Depth of Thought
1
2
3
4
5
6
Voice, Style, and Organization
1
2
3
4
5
6
3
4
Mechanics
Use of essay structure
Format and Process
Comments:
3
2
1
1
17
2
Comments:
1
6
4
3
2
2
4
3
1
5
6
6
5
4
17
10
5
2
7
Total
/40
SF/Fantasy Book List
Author
Title
Piercy, Marge
Lessing, Doris
Pohl, Frederick
Asimov, Isaac
Atwood, Margaret
Bradbury, Ray
Clarke, Arthur C.
Crichton, Michael
Dick, Philip K.
Gibson, William
Golding, William
Harrison, Harry
Heinlein, Robert
Woman on the Edge of Time
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Man Plus
Foundation Trilogy, I Robot, End of Eternity
The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake
Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles
Childhood’s End, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Timeframe and others
Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep, Man in a High Castle
Neuromancer
The Inheritors
Make Room! Make Room!
Puppet Masters
Herbert, Frank
Dune
John Wyndham
Le Guin, Ursula
Miller, Walter M.
Orwell, George
Sawyer, Robert
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, R.L.
Verne, Jules
Vonnegut, Kurt
Wells, H.G.
Wilde, Oscar
Zelazny, Roger
Zemyatin, Vladimir
The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos
The Left Hand of Darkness, The Disposessed
A Canticle for Liebowitz
1984
Frameshift, Hominids and others
Frankenstein
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. .Hyde
20 000 Leagues Under the Sea
Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse 5
The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Time Machine
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Lord of Light, The Dream Master
We
Detective Fiction
There are some very different styles of detective novel, from classic to hard boiled.
Hammett, Dashiell
The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man (HB)
Chandler, Raymond
The Big Sleep, the Lady in the Lake, Farewell My Lovely (HB)
Reichs, Kathy
Deja Dead (CC)
Rankin, Ian
Any of the Inspector Rebus novels (HB)
Christie, Agatha
Any Poirot novel (C)
Tey, Josephine
Any…(C)
Macdonald, Ross
Any Lew Archer novel (HB)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four (C)
Historical Fiction
Atwood, Margaret
Zusak, Markus
Boyne, John
Chevalier, Tracy
C.S. Forrester
O’Brien, Patrick
Steinbeck
Dickens
Crane, Stephen
Dyment, Anita
Jane Uruquart
Findlay
Remarque
Vanderhaghe
Nattel
The Penelopiad
The Book Thief
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
Hornblower
Master and Commander
Grapes of Wrath
Tale of Two Cities, others
The Red Badge of Courage
The Red Tent
The Stone Carvers, Away, The Whirlpool
The Wars
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Englishman’s Boy, Last Crossing
The River Midnight