2025 AM Physics and Fiction

• Modul: ang622 ('Akzentsetzung'), phy355 (physikalische Wahlstudien), pb113, pb114; ang902
• Lecturer: Petra Groß and Anna Auguscik

• Course: 3.02.221
• Time and Venue: regular online Stud.IP/BBB meetings, Wednesday 16-18h (with an option of two longer sessions in presence)

• Course Description:

Physics has often been understood as the opposite of fiction: formulae vs narrative, reality vs constructedness, in short, fact vs fiction. This has not discouraged writers to take up the challenge of merging the two, as a long tradition of science fiction attests. However, the interest in representing physics, physicists and their work on the part of what is considered 'literary fiction' seems to be more recent. This interdisciplinary seminar, co-taught by a physicist and a literary scholar focuses on representations of physics specifically in contemporary fiction. In a rare setting with students from both the English and the Physics departments, as well as across the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, we will read at least one full science novel and several other science-related short stories and poems. This term, our focus will be on the topic of space and specifically on literary representations of the International Space Station (ISS) programme.

Please, buy and read the following novel and short story anthology:

• Samantha Harvey. Orbital. London: Vermilion, 2024. [ISBN: 978-1-5299-2293-6]
• Ra Page, ed. Litmus: Short Stories from Modern Science. Manchester: Comma Press, 2011. [ISBN: 978-1-905583-33-1]

In addition, we will read poetry written for, about and on the ISS by, among others, current US poet laureate Ada Limón.

PLEASE NOTE: Use the time until the beginning of term to immerse yourself in the reading of these primary sources. All of the above can be obtained at our local book shop, Bültmann & Gerriets. Additional materials for preparation, as well as the detailed syllabus, will be made available here and/or on Stud.IP.

Online Session: 16 April

• Introduction to physics & fiction and look ahead at the focus topic on astrophysics, space exploration and the International Space Station

Online Session: 23 April

• Reading and discussion: Alison MacLeod, "The Heart of Dennis Noble"
• Context: Anton Kirchhofer and Natalie Roxburgh, "The Scientist as 'Problematic Individual' in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction" (2016)

Online Session: 30 April

• Reading and discussion: Adam Marek, "In Search of Silence"
• Contexts: Dirk Vanderbeke, "Physics" (2011); Ra Page, "Introduction" to Litmus (2011)

Online Session: 7 May

• Reading and discussion: Trevor Holye, "Monkey See, Monkey Do"
• Contexts: Aura Heydenreich and Klaus Mecke, "Physics and Literature" (2022); Giovanni Vignale, "Physics and Fiction" (2022)

Reading Week: 14 May

• read and prepare Orbital

Online Session: 21 May

• Reading and discussion: Orbital as narrative fiction

Online Session: 28 May

• Reading and discussion: Orbital as science novel

Long In-Presence Session: 4 June

• Input presentations in presence

Online Session: 18 June

• Input presentations online

Online Session: 25 June

• Input presentations online
• Course Evaluation

Online Session: 02 July

• Reading and discussion: Orbital

Online Session: 9 July

• How to write a research paper
• discussion of lit/cult research papers
• Feeback on course evaluation

  [Hand in research papers until 15 September 2025]

Tools

• Handout Narratology
• Handout Literature & Representation
• Handout Key Concepts in Cultural Studies: Culture and Representation
• Handout Key Concepts in Cultural Studies: Discourse
• Handout Key Concepts in Cultural Studies: Identity
• Handout Key Concepts in Cultural Studies: Media
• Handout Traditions in our discourse about literature
• Handout (Non-)literary texts
• Handout Excerpt
• Handout Style Sheet for Literary and Cultural Studies

Primary Reading

• see above

Further Reading

See also Stud.IP/files

• Cain, Sarah. "The Metaphorical Field: Post-Newtonian Physics and Modernist Literature." The Cambridge Quarterly ; 1999; 28(1) 46-64.
• Dihal, Kanta. "New Science, New Stories: Quantum Physics as a Narrative Trope in Contemporary Fiction." pp. 55-74 IN: Engelhardt, Nina; Hoydis, Julia Representations of Science in Twenty-First-Century Fiction: Human and Temporal Connectivities. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (London); 2019.*Engelhardt, Nina; Hoydis, Julia Representations of Science in Twenty-First-Century Fiction: Human and Temporal Connectivities. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (London); 2019.
• Kirchhofer, Anton, and Natalie Roxburgh. "The Scientist as 'Problematic Individual' in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik: A Quarterly of Language, Literature and Culture 64.2 (June 2016): 149-168.
• Leane, Elizabeth. "Knowing Quanta: The Ambiguous Metaphors of Popular Physics." The Review of English Studies ; 2001 Aug; 52(207) 411-31.
• Oppermann, Serpil. "Quantum Physics and Literature: How They Meet the Universe Halfway." Anglia: Zeitschrift für Englische Philologie ; 2015; 133(1) 87-104.
• Vanderbeke, Dirk. "Physics." pp. 192-202 IN: Clarke, Bruce(ed.); Rossini, Manuela(ed.) The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science. London, England: Routledge; 2011. xviii, 550

• Snow, C.P. Two Cultures
• Schaffeld, ZAA
• Haynes
• Narrative Turn in Science
• Aura Heydenreich and Klaus Mecke, "Physics and Literature" (2022)

• Westfahl, Gary. Islands in the Sky
• Vignale, Giovanni. IN: Heydenreich , Aura; Mecke, Klaus; Physics and Literature: Concepts – Transfer – Aestheticization. Berlin, Germany ; De Gruyter; 2021.pp. 139-146.

Links

• https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/
• https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/a-poem-for-europa/
• https://time.com/collection-post/6694507/ada-limon/
• http://srpr.org/past_issues/toc_47.2.php
• https://www.universetoday.com/94567/poetry-from-the-space-station/